At times during 2010, Olly Gavin and Corvette Racing\u2019s season couldn\u2019t have been at a lower ebb \u2013 not a position familiar to either driver or team.\u00a0 The season had its high points, however, and ended with a much needed fillip \u2013 GT2 victory at Petit Le Mans \u2013 and post season testing is now done and dusted.<\/p>\n
With a season of intense GT2 competition under his belt, and the chance for a bit of time at home in Northamptonshire, UK with his wife Helen and three children, the three-time ALMS GT1 Drivers Champion looks back now on some of the highs and lows of the past year.<\/p>\n
Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What was the highlight of the year?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This would undoubtedly have to be winning Petit Le Mans.\u00a0 It was such an amazing race for so many reasons and came at the end of a very long and hard season for Corvette.\u00a0 For all of us in the team, it always seemed that in so many of our races this year, right at the death, luck would go against us and we couldn\u2019t get the result we were all craving.\u00a0 Then at Petit Le Mans it all fell into place.\u00a0<\/p>\n The pressure was on and it all came down to the last five laps.\u00a0 The team did an amazing job with the pit stop; it was quick, slick and straightforward and it managed to get me back onto the track to keep the pressure on the Ferrari.\u00a0 And the pressure told.\u00a0 Risi made a mistake and that enabled us to overhaul them when they ran out of fuel on the last lap.\u00a0 It was very hard for them but fantastic for us.\u00a0 It was an amazing way to finish the season and definitely my highlight of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And where there\u2019s a high, there\u2019s often a low…what was yours in 2010?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think the lowest point was Le Mans.\u00a0 After being in the (GT2) lead for 18 or 19 hours, by a good distance, about a lap and a half, and really controlling the race, to be honest we were just going through the motions to get to the end.\u00a0<\/p>\n We were aware that the other car had a problem with its engine but to have the incident with the Peugeot, that huge crash for Manu [Collard] was so demoralising.\u00a0 The team did an unbelievable job to get it fixed in only 30 minutes and got us back out, and it felt pretty good to me after a lap or two.\u00a0\u00a0 I started banging in our fastest laps of the race; it was a bit frustrating as we were then out of contention for a win but could still get a podium finish.\u00a0 Strangely enough, 9 laps into that run, the Engine Engineer got onto the radio and asked me if everything was okay.\u00a0 I thought \u201cyou\u2019ve never spoken to me before, ever, on the radio.\u00a0 Why now?\u201d\u00a0 He was obviously seeing something on the data and two minutes later it expired.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a nice way for it all to end, after being so competitive and having such a great race with so many different people.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What do you consider the best race move of 2010?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think the two best moves came in one race \u2013 at Mid Ohio.\u00a0 My best move of the year was when I overtook Bill Auberlen just before the end of the race.\u00a0 I tried to pass him going into Turn 2 then had to drag race him all the way out of the turn and all the way down the back straight, then outbrake him round the outside going into T4.\u00a0 That was very satisfying and it was great to pull it off.<\/p>\n But I think the best move I saw in the whole ALMS season was Jaime Melo\u2019s move on the BMWs in that same race, just after the second round of pit stops.\u00a0 I\u2019m still not entirely sure how he managed to pull it off!\u00a0 He drove round the inside of one going into Turn 2 and then muscled his way past the other \u2013 half on the kerb, half on the grass \u2013 and he managed to make it stick.\u00a0\u00a0 He had such belief in the Ferrari, and the tyre \u2013 that the grip would be there straight away \u2013 and it caught everyone napping.\u00a0 He was willing to risk the car, all in that one move, while I think everyone else was still thinking about the rest of the race.\u00a0 He pulled it off and it won them the race \u2013 great racing.<\/p>\n Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What was the hardest moment of the year?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Watching our two cars drive into one another in the pit lane at Sebring!\u00a0 It was one of those moments where you really can\u2019t believe it\u2019s happening…no one in the team or, as we found out later, the whole paddock, could believe their eyes.\u00a0 It took both cars out of contention right there and was utterly gut-wrenching as we were running second at the time.\u00a0 I think it had a really big effect on everyone in the team and it took a while to come back from it.\u00a0 After all the pit stop challenges we\u2019d done, in fact everything that such a professional team as Corvette Racing had done and been successful at in the past, to have this perfect storm where everything went so wrong was such a slap in the face.\u00a0<\/p>\n Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What was your greatest personal achievement in 2010?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To get under the 3-hour mark in the [London] marathon was something I\u2019d been chasing for a long time.\u00a0 I was delighted to achieve that \u2013 not just by a tad at 2:59 but with a 2:54 which is well under what I\u2019d hoped to do.\u00a0 Running for the BRDC [British Racing Drivers Club] team was a big thing and I was really pleased with how my training went and that all the effort put in resulted in so much.\u00a0 I\u2019m really proud of the fact that I managed to convince the Club Secretary, Stuart Pringle, to go out and get a team together from within the membership.\u00a0 I talked to drivers and got them to sign up to it, trained with some of them, chivvied them and tried to lead everybody along; for us to raise \u00a3100,000 for CLIC Sargent was just amazing.\u00a0\u00a0 Everyone\u2019s generosity blew us away and there was a really good feel factor; from the charity lunch we did in London with Jake Humphrey, which raised a staggering amount of money, to people\u2019s generosity on the Just Giving website.\u00a0 We raised \u00a396K and then Silverstone Circuits kindly bumped it up to the \u00a3100K mark.\u00a0 It was amazing to be able to hand that amount of money over to such a worthwhile charity.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019d also been chasing a pole position at Le Mans and finally got it, although somewhat \u2018luckily\u2019 in some people\u2019s view!\u00a0 The long and short of it was that our car was legal and the Ferrari wasn\u2019t and our time was only a smidge\/two tenths behind them.\u00a0 I came away with pole position for GT2 and was delighted to get that trophy.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019d got a GTS pole with Saleen in 2001 but there was no trophy then and now I\u2019ve got one in pride of place at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t all doom and gloom was it?\u00a0 What were the fun moments during the year?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Racing Jaime at Le Mans in that magical hour or so where we were backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, racing really hard and close with nothing in it.\u00a0 I had a massive grin on my face the whole time and he told me later in the season that he\u2019d been the same.\u00a0\u00a0 Both of us felt fully in control of what we were doing and we were both racing at the top of our game in two cars prepared by two really good teams at the best race track in the world, fighting like it was a 10-lap sprint race.\u00a0 A huge amount of fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n There were some funny moments which had probably best remain unrepeated, but I\u2019d have to class the performance of my crew chief, Brian Hoy, crashing a jet ski at Johnny O\u2019Connell\u2019s house in front of the whole team as quite funny.\u00a0 Once, of course, we\u2019d realised that he hadn\u2019t gone through the boat house but had \u2018merely\u2019 bounced off the side of it, it was very amusing.\u00a0\u00a0 Cruel, but funny.\u00a0 Actually that kind of sums up our season…cruel but also fun, with some amusing moments thrown in for good measure.<\/p>\n Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What do you consider to have been \u2018motorsport magic\u2019 this year?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If we\u2019d finished at Le Mans that would have definitely been up there as magic but it wasn\u2019t to be this year.\u00a0 I think in Formula One Mark Webber\u2019s performance this year, despite being perceived as the underdog, was impressive.\u00a0 He pushed Sebastian Vettel the whole way and has driven brilliantly.\u00a0 Having said that, Vettel was incredible – especially in the last four races.\u00a0 He had all those failures, crashes and problems during the year and was under immense pressure but he never flinched and had supreme belief in himself, and was always able to pull out the big laps when need in qualifying.\u00a0<\/p>\n What has really been magic this year is the competition.\u00a0 I thoroughly and wholeheartedly enjoyed racing against so many good drivers in the ALMS this year and I think the GT class is so much fun to race in.\u00a0 In one weekend you\u2019ll be up against Melo, Bruni, Long, Bergmeister or Auberlen, for example, so many talented drivers in different cars.\u00a0 Everyone has got their strengths at different places on different tracks and you were never really sure who you\u2019d be up against but you knew that it would be someone who was really good.\u00a0 That\u2019s been the magic thing about this year \u2013 knowing that you\u2019d never be able to take your foot off the gas at any time.\u00a0 It\u2019s been flat out the whole time, a real battle.\u00a0 Fantastic.<\/p>\n \u00a9 RIF | Miller Media<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At times during 2010, Olly Gavin and Corvette Racing\u2019s season couldn\u2019t have been at a lower ebb \u2013 not a position familiar to either driver or team.\u00a0 The season had its high points, however, and ended with a much needed fillip \u2013 GT2 victory at Petit Le Mans \u2013 and post season testing is now 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