We continue our series of ‘Goodbyes’ from 2021 with a true legend of the sport… Oliver Gavin.
A simply enormous art of the history of Corvette Racing, Ollie finally took his bow from professional racing behind closed doors at the Spa WEC race this year with a one-off appearance for the C8.R ahead of the car’s Le Mans 24 Hours debut.
Whilst there was more of an opportunity for the IMSA community to say farewell at Sebring in 2020 it was still not the send-off that anyone would have wanted to give a man revered as much in the paddock as he was in the spectator areas.
Early Days
After success in single seaters, title winning runs in 1991 (Formula First) and 1992 (Formula Vauxhall Lotus) Oliver finished runner-up in the 1993 British F3 series to Kelvin Burt. There was then an unsuccessful 1994 in Formula 3000 before a title-winning return to F3 for 1995 where he emerged victorious in the final round of a hotly contested British Championship to beat Ralph Firman to the title, Ollie had his sights set on Formula One.
F1 And All That
The story of his abortive attempt to race for Pacific (for whom he was a Test Driver) at Adelaide in 1995 is fairly well-known, a deserved Super License denied to him by politics and administrative error.
There was though plenty of Formula One in his future, both as the Official F1 Safety Car driver from 1997-1999 and, in a less well-known chapter of his career, as a Test and Development driver for Benetton and the successor Renault F1 efforts for a decade, making major contributions to some of the tech that brought success to the outfit, including the development of the launch control system that stole a march on the competition and helped Fernando Alonso to his two World titles.
Tin-Top Time
There was a single season with Team Joest in the mighty Opel Calibra in the ITC but with little success and for his racing future Gavin looked Stateside, following a route that several of his countrymen were already finding provided a stable and lucrative career path.
Transatlantic
His early efforts came with Intersport and their Lolas in the ALMS and Grand-Am, and with Saleen and the spectacular new S7-R, and he would have success with both.
There would be particular success with the Saleen, taking the win on its Sebring debut in 2001 and a podium at Le Mans the same year, impressing people who would become very important for the future of the Brit’s career. There’s plenty on that tale in an edition of #TWISC, The Week In Sportscars podcast, co-hosted with Ollie earlier this year.
The performances with the S7-R led directly to a dream call from Corvette Racing and the start of a period of stellar success with what most would agree was the best GT race outfit on the planet.
Before then though there was an often forgotten one-off appearance with Dyson Racing at the 2002 Rolex 24 Hours in the Riley & Scott Mk III as well as a couple of outings in the FIA GT Championship in Reiter-Engineering Lamborghini Diablos.
Even during his long stint with Corvette, there was time for a number of other outings and programmes.
The Rolex 24 Hours was a regular one-off in Grand-Am with annual outings in the DP class from 2004-2008, five starts and four different chassis raced.
He returned to Grand-Am and the Rolex 24 in 2011, this time in a GT class Camaro for a part season with Banner Racing.
And there were two final pre-Grand-Am/ ALMS merger appearances for Spirit of Daytona in their Corvette DP at the Rolex 24 Hours in 2012 and 2013.
A Land Down Under
He was a regular addition too as a guesting driver in V8 Supercars down under with runs at Sandown and Surfers Paradise.
Included in that was one outing that Oliver himself is particularly proud of, a podium finish at the 2014 Bathurst 1000 in a Walkinshaw Racing Holden Commodore.
There were a pair of appearances too at the other big race on the Mountain, the Bathurst 12 Hours in both 2014 and 2015, both times in Audi GT3s, the first outing with Rotek Racing where the car scored class pole and fastest race laps, the second with Melbourne Performance Centre
Lamborghini, Lexus, Aston Martin and ADAC GT
Along the way there have been other one-offs and programmes too outside of Corvette Racing.
2007 saw a pair of appearances for Luc Alphand Aventures in the 2007 Le Mans Series, plus a one-off in FIA GT the same season in GT1 class Corvette C6.Rs
There were appearances too in the 2009 (Selleslagh Racing Team) and 2010 (DKR-run Mad-Croc Racing) C6.Rs (pictured below) in the FIA GT1 World Championship.
2013 saw the first of three spells in the ADAC GT Masters, a one-off in the Sareni Camaro.
And there was another, significantly more unusual, one-off, as a super-sub for Aston Martin Racing at COTA in the FIA WEC as a standby for an under-the-weather Stefan Mucke.
2014 saw a return to ADAC GT, this time for a part season in the Callaway Competition Corvette Z06 GT3 that yielded two wins at Red Bull Ring.
He’d be back in 2015 for a one-off race weekend at Oschersleben in a Reiter-entered Camaro.
And in 2017 there was a start at the Spa 24 Hours as part of Barwell Motorsport’s Lamborghini line-up.
Oliver’s penultimate Pro drive came at Daytona in 2021, aboard a Vasser Sullivan Lexus.
Corvette Racing, The Main Attraction
Ollie’s list of accomplishments with Corvette Racing is unmatched. He has more starts (202), championships (five), race wins (51), 24 Hours of Le Mans victories (five) and pole positions (25) than any other driver in the programme’s history.
- 5 x Sebring 12 Hours class winner (2001/2002/2006/2007 and 2013)
- 5 x Petit Le Mans class winner (2002, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2010)
- 3 x ALMS GT1 champion (2005, 2006, 2007)
- 2 x Le Mans GTS winner (2002/2004)
- 2 x Le Mans GT1 winner (2005/2006)
- 1 x Le Mans GTE Pro winner (2015)
- 1 x ALMS GT Champion (2012)
- 1 x WeatherTech IMSA GTLM champion (2016)
He also has won five times at both Sebring and Petit Le Mans with Corvette Racing and captured the Rolex 24 At Daytona in 2016 to begin his latest championship run.
He’s the only driver too to have raced every iteration of the factory Corvettes and has taken race wins in all of them too. A career of extraordinary achievements, extraordinary longevity and caring the respect of his team-mates and opponents throughout.
With the race suits now hung up for good there’s a new career in play and with impressive form on live TV with the Asian Le Mans Series, Le Mans 24 Hours and more, plus his new venture, the Oliver Gavin Driving Academy introducing new customers to the latest road going Corvette C8 it looks like the name of Oliver Gavin will be around in the sport, and in the Corvette community, for many years to come.
