Photo by: Darren Pierson
Olly claims podium and points in Mid Ohio lottery
Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin finished second in the GT class in today’s Mid Ohio Sports Car Challenge, closing the gap in the Drivers’ Championship and earning valuable points in the Manufacturers’ and Teams’ title chases.
Olly and team mate Jan Magnussen had led the fiercely competitive class for much of the 2 hour 45 minute race, but torrential rain in the last 30 minutes changed the outcome for many at the head of the leader board and Olly was pleased to be able to bring home the No. 4 Corvette in one piece.
“The race was all going to plan,” says Olly. “Jan had made a brilliant start and got from fifth up into second place by the first corner and then he managed to get past the BMW going into Turn 4 – a phenomenal job. Then it was a case of just running through the laps and, when it was my turn, I managed to get past Pat Long in the Flying Lizard Porsche and built up a nice little lead.
“When the caution period happened I was thinking about how it would close up the field but the most bizarre thing happened – in a day of bizarre happenings. The safety car broke its transmission or something and we had to follow the leader (the Dyson Lola) round instead. It was going very slowly and I got loads of pick up on the tyres so I was a sitting duck to the Porsche as Pat had got that going very well. I managed to hold him off and had pulled out a bit of a lead and then it started to rain.”
The Briton grinned widely as he recounted the closing stages of the race. “Well, it was just crazy then. At one point I thought we could make it on slicks but then I realised the team had made the right call on rain tyres even though we’d dropped to third. At the re-start after another caution period it was absolutely mad. There were rivers running down the track from Turns one to two and I was following Pat [Long] who was sideways for half of the straight. I could see his car crabbing up the road and my car started to do the same which gave me a few hairy moments. He started going off but I straightened up and thought I’d got the lead but Wolf Henzler just flew past me and left me standing. They’d obviously got their rain set up figured out and hats off to Falken for their victory.
“I’m disappointed we haven’t got first but we got second and finished ahead of the BMWs again which closed up the gap in the Championship. Jan and I are a good partnership and are getting the results at the moment, scoring the points and finishing on the podium so let’s hope we can keep this run going.”
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