Oliver Gavin
| Oliver Gavin | |
|---|---|
 Gavin in 2009 | |
| Nationality |  British |
| Born | 29 September 1972 Huntingdon, England |
| Racing licence |  FIA Gold |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 2001 – 2019 |
| Teams | Saleen-Allen Speedlab, Corvette Racing |
| Best finish | 4th overall (2006) |
| Class wins | 5 (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2015) |
Oliver Benjamin Gavin (born 29 September 1972)[1] is a British racing driver who joined Corvette Racing in 2002. He has won five American Le Mans Series class championships, five 24 Hours of Le Mans class wins, six 12 Hours of Sebring class wins and five Petit Le Mans class wins.
Biography
He was raised in the village of Felmersham, Bedfordshire. He attended the local Primary school, Pinchmill. At age nine he attended Lincroft Middle School and then took his GCSEs and A-levels at Sharnbrook Upper School and Community College.
Born in Huntingdon, Gavin was introduced to motor racing through the traditional karting route. After finishing as runner-up in the 1993 British F3 series to Kelvin Burt, Gavin graduated to Formula 3000 in 1994 with Omegaland. He failed to score any points in the five races he contested, and subsequently opted to drop back down to F3 for 1995. He managed to overcome rival Ralph Firman in the final round to snatch the title.
He was test driver for the ill-fated mid-1990s Pacific Grand Prix team. It was proposed that he would drive for the team in the 1995 Australian Grand Prix, but he was not granted the required FIA Super Licence.[2] Gavin also drove the Safety Car from 1997 to 1999 for the Formula One championship.[2]
Gavin became a Corvette Racing factory driver in 2002, having raced full-time in the American Le Mans Series GT1 and GT2 classes and currently the IMSA SportsCar Championship GTLM class. His full-time codrivers have been Olivier Beretta (2004–2010), Jan Magnussen (2010–2011) and Tommy Milner (since 2012), whereas Max Papis, Richard Westbrook and Jordan Taylor have been his endurance codrivers.
He has won his class in Le Mans on five occasions (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2015),[3] the 12 Hours of Sebring five times (2001, 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2013), and Petit Le Mans another five times (2002, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2010). Also, he won the ALMS GT1 titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007, plus the GT2 title in 2012.
Gavin announced his retirement from professional racing on 31 October 2020,[4] with the 2021 WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps being his final race. He placed 4th in the GTE Pro class with co-driver, Antonio Garcia, and 18th overall.[5]
Gavin lives in a village east of Northampton with his wife, Helen, and their three children.[1] He announced on April 29, 2021 via Twitter[6] that he will be continuing his working relationship with Chevrolet with the formation of a new racing school, the Oliver Gavin Driving Academy, featuring Corvette C8 Stingrays as the primary instructional vehicle.[7]
Racing record
Complete International Formula 3000 results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Omegaland | Lola T94/50 | Zytek-Judd | SIL 10 |
PAU DNQ |
CAT Ret |
PER Ret |
NC | 0 | ||||||
| Nordic Racing | Ford Cosworth | HOC DNS |
SPA | EST | MAG | ||||||||||
| 1997 | BSE Salisbury Engineering | Lola T96/50 | Zytek-Judd | SIL DNQ |
PAU DNQ |
HEL DNQ |
NÜR | PER | HOC | A1R | SPA | MUG | JER | NC | 0 |
| 1999 | European Edenbridge Racing | Lola T99/50 | Zytek | IMO 12 |
MON 4 |
CAT DNQ |
MAG DNQ |
SIL 14 |
A1R DNQ |
HOC DNQ |
HUN DNQ |
SPA 9 |
NÜR 8 |
16th | 3 |
Complete International Touring Car Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Joest Racing Opel | Opel Calibra V6 4x4 | HOC 1 Ret |
HOC 2 DNS |
NÜR 1 14 |
NÜR 2 Ret |
EST 1 6 |
EST 2 6 |
HEL 1 10† |
HEL 2 Ret |
NOR 1 10 |
NOR 2 12 |
DIE 1 17 |
DIE 2 9 |
SIL 1 11 |
SIL 2 Ret |
NÜR 1 16 |
NÜR 2 Ret |
MAG 1 12 |
MAG 2 15 |
MUG 1 17 |
MUG 2 Ret |
HOC 1 |
HOC 2 |
INT 1 11 |
INT 2 15 |
SUZ 1 16 |
SUZ 2 11 |
23rd | 16 |
- † — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.
American Le Mans Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
† Did not finish the race but was classified as his car completed more than 70% of the overall winner's race distance.
24 Hours of Le Mans results
Complete GT1 World Championship results
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Pos. | Pts | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Mad-Croc Racing | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | ABU QR |
ABU CR |
SIL QR 13 |
SIL CR 14 |
BRN QR |
BRN CR |
PRI QR 19 |
PRI CR 19 |
SPA QR 18 |
SPA CR 17 |
NÜR QR |
NÜR CR |
ALG QR |
ALG CR |
NAV QR |
NAV CR |
INT QR |
INT CR |
SAN QR |
SAN CR |
53rd | 0 | [26] |
Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Bathurst 1000 results
| Year | Team | Car | Co-driver | Position | Laps | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | James Rosenberg Racing | Holden Commodore VF |  Nick Percat
|
3rd | 161 | [35] |
| 2015 | Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport | Holden Commodore VF | Nick Percat
|
19th | 159 | [36] |
References
- ^ a b "Corvette Racing Driver Profile: Oliver Gavin". Archived from the original on 22 April 2010.
- ^ a b Taylor, Simon (February 2013). "Lunch with... Oliver Gavin". Motor Sport magazine. p. 94. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
- ^ "FIA GT Championship Driver Biography: Oliver Gavin". Archived from the original on 13 April 2011.
- ^ Gavin, Oliver [@olivergavin] (31 October 2020). "1/4 I will step away from full-time competition with the @CorvetteRacing program at the end of 2020. I will complete my 18th full-time season with the team at the Sebring 12hrs in two weeks. To have been with the same team for 19 seasons has been an immense privilege, cont https://t.co/UUT7tehoqu" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ "2021 Spa-Francorchamps results - FIA World Endurance Championship". www.fiawec.com. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
- ^ Gavin, Oliver [@olivergavin] (29 April 2021). "A little update for you. #OGDA @CorvetteRacing #CorvetteStingray #C8R 📸 @drewgibsonphoto https://t.co/mPz1BG7muf" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2 September 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin to retire from racing after Spa WEC". us.motorsport.com. 29 April 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
- ^ a b c "Oliver Gavin Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
- ^ a b "Oliver Gavin". Motor Sport. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin race results". TouringCars.net. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2000 American Le Mans Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2001 American Le Mans Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2002 American Le Mans Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2003 American Le Mans Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2004 American Le Mans Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2005 American Le Mans Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2006 American Le Mans Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2007 American Le Mans Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2008 American Le Mans Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2009 American Le Mans Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCA Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2010 American Le Mans Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2011 American Le Mans Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2012 American Le Mans Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2013 American Le Mans Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
- ^ "FIA GT1 World Championship – Season 2010: Results". Speedsport Magazine. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2014 Tudor United SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2015 Tudor United SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2016 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2017 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2018 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2019 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2020 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "Oliver Gavin – 2021 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "2014 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
- ^ "2015 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
External links
Corvette Racing 24 Hours of Le Mans driver timeline, 2000–2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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