Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin is hoping that his class success at Le Mans can help propel his team to victory at this weekend’s Sahlen’s 6 Hours of The Glen.
The 42 year old won his fifth class title at the French endurance classic, partnering Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner in the GTE-Pro #64 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.
Returning to his regular season drive in the Tudor United Sportscar Championship, Gavin is confident that he and Milner can turn around their 23 point GTLM deficit at the sweeping 3.4 mile Watkins Glen International.
“We may have had an under-par performance in the previous round of the TUDOR Championship at Laguna Seca but I think we should be able to take the fight to our rivals at The Glen,” said Gavin.
“We’re riding the crest of a wave after the Le Mans victory and feeling ready to conquer all. However, I’m sure when we get back in the car on Friday the honeymoon period will soon evaporate. We will need to knuckle down and not rest on laurels, ensuring we’re fully focused and ready to race, with BMW and Ferrari contingent looking strong and Porsche determined to strike back.”
The C7.R has now won at Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans (Photo Courtesy of IMSA)
Gavin, Milner and Simon Pagenaud recorded an encouraging third place finish at the Rolex 24, but the results have waned since then. Mechanical issues halted a strong early charge at Sebring, while 7th and 6th at Long Beach and Laguna Seca dropped the #4 squad to sixth in the points.
Nevertheless, Gavin believes that he is up to the challenge of performing well at the fourth longest race of the year.
“It’s a race that tests you both physically and mentally and you certainly feel like you’ve done an endurance race at the end of the six hours, especially as it’s usually hot and humid, said Gavin. “We had a good run there in 2014, squabbling over podium positions until we fell out of contention due to a strange officiating call. But the Watkins Glen circuit is an absolutely classic, high-speed and challenging racetrack that is a huge amount of fun to drive.”
The 2015 Sahlen’s 6 Hours of The Glen, which doubles up as a round of both the Tudor United Sportscar Championship and the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup, will get underway at 15:10 BST on Sunday, June 28.
You can follow live text coverage of the race from 15:00 BST onwards at TheCheckeredFlag.co.uk.
