| Oliver Gavin | |
|---|---|
 Gavin in 2009 | |
| Nationality |  British |
| Born | (1972-09-29)29 September 1972 (age 52) Huntingdon, England |
| Racing licence |  FIA Platinum(until 2022) FIA Gold(2023–) |
| 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 joinedCorvette Racing in 2002. He has won fiveAmerican Le Mans Series class championships, five24 Hours of Le Mans class wins, six12 Hours of Sebring class wins and fivePetit Le Mans class wins.
He was raised in the village ofFelmersham, Bedfordshire. He attended the local Primary school, Pinchmill. At age nine he attendedLincroft Middle School and then took hisGCSEs andA-levels atSharnbrook Upper School and Community College.
Born inHuntingdon, Gavin was introduced to motor racing through the traditional karting route. After finishing as runner-up in the1993 British F3 series toKelvin Burt, Gavin graduated toFormula 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 for1995. He managed to overcome rivalRalph Firman in the final round to snatch the title.
He was test driver for the ill-fated mid-1990sPacific Grand Prix team. It was proposed that he would drive for the team in the1995 Australian Grand Prix, but he was not granted the requiredFIA Super Licence.[2] Gavin also drove theSafety Car from 1997 to 1999 for theFormula One championship.[2]
Gavin became aCorvette Racing factory driver in 2002, having raced full-time in theAmerican Le Mans Series GT1 and GT2 classes and currently theIMSA SportsCar Championship GTLM class. His full-time codrivers have beenOlivier Beretta (2004–2010),Jan Magnussen (2010–2011) andTommy Milner (since 2012), whereasMax Papis,Richard Westbrook andJordan Taylor have been his endurance codrivers.
He has won his class inLe Mans on five occasions (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2015),[3] the12 Hours of Sebring five times (2001, 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2013), andPetit 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 WEC6 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 ofNorthampton 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]
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics 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 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics 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 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; results initalics 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.
| 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] |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Class | Make | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos. | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Corvette Racing | GTLM | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Chevrolet 5.5V8 | DAY 5 | SEB 6 | LBH 3 | LGA 5 | WGL 4 | MOS 6 | IMS 5 | ELK 7 | VIR 9 | COA 10 | PET 4 | 10th | 291 | [27] | |
| 2015 | Corvette Racing | GTLM | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Chevrolet 5.5V8 | DAY 3 | SEB 9 | LBH 7 | LGA 6 | WGL 7 | MOS 5 | ELK 7 | VIR 8 | COA 8 | PET 3 | 8th | 261 | [28] | ||
| 2016 | Corvette Racing | GTLM | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Chevrolet 5.5V8 | DAY 1 | SEB 1 | LBH 2 | LGA 7 | WGL 4 | MOS 2 | LIM 1 | ELK 1 | VIR 9 | COA 5 | PET 3 | 1st | 345 | [29] | |
| 2017 | Corvette Racing | GTLM | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5V8 | DAY 9 | SEB 10 | LBH 1 | COA 7 | WGL 5 | MOS 8 | LIM 8 | ELK 5 | VIR 6 | LGA 9 | PET 4 | 8th | 276 | [30] | |
| 2018 | Corvette Racing | GTLM | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5V8 | DAY 4 | SEB 6 | LBH 1 | MOH 8 | WGL 5 | MOS 3 | LIM 4 | ELK 2 | VIR 6 | LGA 5 | PET 2 | 3rd | 310 | [31] | |
| 2019 | Corvette Racing | GTLM | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5V8 | DAY 8 | SEB 8 | LBH 3 | MDO 8 | WGL 8 | MOS 8 | LIM 6 | ELK 6 | VIR 4 | LGA 4 | PET 7 | 8th | 275 | [32] | |
| 2020 | Corvette Racing | GTLM | Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 | DAY 7 | DAY 5 | SEB 1 | ELK 2 | VIR 4 | ATL 2 | MDO 2 | CLT 4 | PET 4 | LGA 6 | SEB 6 | 3rd | 315 | [33] | |
| 2021 | Vasser Sullivan Racing | GTD | Lexus RC F GT3 | Lexus 5.0 L V8 | DAY 16 | SEB | MDO | DET | WGL | WGL | LIM | ELK | LGA | LBH | VIR | PET | 71st | 178 | [34] |
Source:[8] | |||||||||||||||||||
| 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] |
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | British Formula Three Champion 1995 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Unknown | F1 Safety Car Driver 1997–1999 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM Champion 2016 With:Tommy Milner | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | North American Endurance Cup GTLM Champion 2016 With:Tommy Milner | Succeeded by |
| Awards | ||
| Preceded by | McLaren Autosport BRDC Award 1991 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Autosport British Club Driver of the Year 1992 | Succeeded by |
Corvette Racing24 Hours of Le Mans driver timeline, 2000–2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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