Oliver Gavin
Oliver Benjamin Gavin is a British former 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
Gavin 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.
Gavin 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. Gavin also drove the Safety Car from 1997 to 1999 for the Formula One championship.
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, Jan Magnussen and Tommy Milner, whereas Max Papis, Richard Westbrook and Jordan Taylor have been his endurance codrivers.
Gavin has won his class in Le Mans on five occasions, the 12 Hours of Sebring five times, and Petit Le Mans another five times. 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, 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.
Gavin lives in a village east of Northampton with his wife, Helen, and their three children. He announced on April 29, 2021 via Twitter 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.
Racing record
Complete International Formula 3000 results
Complete International Touring Car Championship results
- † — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.
American Le Mans Series results
| Year | Team | Class | Make | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Points | Ref | |
| 2000 | Intersport Racing | LMP | Lola B2K/10 | Judd GV4 4.0L V10 | SEB | CHA | SIL | NÜR | SON | MOS | TEX | ROS | PET Ret | MON | LSV | ADE | |||
| 2001 | Konrad Team Saleen | GTS | Saleen S7-R | Ford 7.0L V8 | TEX | SEB 1 | DON 2 | JAR | SON | POR | MOS | MID | MON | ||||||
| 2001 | Park Place Racing Fordahl Motorsports | GTS | Saleen S7-R | Ford 7.0L V8 | PET 4 | ||||||||||||||
| 2002 | Corvette Racing | GTS | Chevrolet Corvette C5-R | Chevrolet 7.0 L V8 | SEB 1 | SON | MID | AME 2 | WAS | TRO | MOS | MON | MIA | PET 1 | |||||
| 2003 | Corvette Racing | GTS | Chevrolet Corvette C5-R | Chevrolet 7.0 L V8 | SEB 3† | ATL 1 | SON 2 | TRO 1 | MOS Ret | AME 5 | MON 3 | MIA DNS | PET 3 | ||||||
| 2004 | Corvette Racing | GTS | Chevrolet Corvette C5-R | Chevrolet 7.0 L V8 | SEB Ret | MDO 2 | LRP 1 | SON 3 | POR 2 | MOS 1 | ELK 1 | PET 1 | LAG 2 | ||||||
| 2005 | Corvette Racing | GT1 | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8 | SEB 3 | ATL 2 | MID 2 | LIM 1 | SON 2 | POR 1 | AME 1 | MOS 1 | PET 1 | MON 1 | |||||
| 2006 | Corvette Racing | GT1 | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8 | SEB 1 | TEX 1 | MID 1 | LIM 4 | UTA 4 | POR 1 | AME 2 | MOS 2 | PET 3 | MON 2 | 1st | 176 | |||
| 2007 | Corvette Racing | GT1 | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8 | SEB 1 | STP 1 | LNB 1 | TEX 2 | UTA 1 | LIM 1 | MID 1 | AME 1 | MOS 2 | DET 2 | PET 1 | MON 1 | 1st | 246 | |
| 2008 | Corvette Racing | GT1 | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8 | SEB 2 | STP 1 | LBH 2 | UTA 2 | LRP 2† | MDO 2 | ELK 3† | MOS 2 | DET 1 | PET 2 | LAG 1 | 3rd | 215 | ||
| 2009 | Corvette Racing | GT1 | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8 | SEB 2 | STP | LBH 1 | UTA | LRP | NC | - | ||||||||
| 2009 | Corvette Racing | GT2 | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | Chevrolet 6.0 L V8 | MDO 4 | ELK 6 | MOS 3 | PET 4 | LAG 10 | 16th | 55 | ||||||||
| 2010 | Corvette Racing | GT | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 | SEB 9 | LBH 9 | LAG 3 | UTA 10 | LRP 5 | MDO 2 | ELK 3 | MOS 4 | PET 1 | 5th | 110 | ||||
| 2011 | Corvette Racing | GT | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 | SEB 4 | LBH 2 | LRP 10 | MOS 1 | MDO 2 | ELK 5 | BAL 3 | LAG 5 | PET 4 | 2nd | 135 | ||||
| 2012 | Corvette Racing | GT | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 | SEB 3 | LBH 1 | LAG 1 | LRP 3 | MOS 10 | MDO 1 | ELK 4 | BAL 2 | VIR 1 | PET 12 | 1st | 146 | |||
| 2013 | Corvette Racing | GT | Chevrolet Corvette C6.R | Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 | SEB 1 | LBH 4 | LAG 9 | LRP 6 | MOS 1 | ELK 3 | BAL 2 | COA Ret | VIR 6 | PET 10 | 3rd | 105 |
† Did not finish the race but was classified as his car completed more than 70% of the overall winner's race distance.