BRASELTON, Ga. (October 6, 2007) - Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Max Papis drove their No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R to a GT1 class victory in today's 1,000-mile Petit Le Mans endurance race at Road Atlanta. It was the sixth class title at Petit Le Mans for Corvette Racing, and the win clinched a third consecutive GT1 drivers championship for Gavin and Beretta.
"The traffic was suicidal at some points today," said Gavin. "People were doing the craziest stuff. I'm not sure whether it was the track, the conditions, or just people having a bad day, but there just were so many people going off the road. Fortunately everybody in the No. 4 car kept it on the road, the team did a fantastic job, and we came through without any issues."
The race was slowed by nine caution periods for accidents and off-course excursions. The first serious incident of the day occurred 20 minutes after the start when Jan Magnussen was hit by Bryan Herta in the No. 26 LMP2 prototype in the high-speed downhill Esses. The impact sent Magnussen hard into the tire barrier at Turn 3, damaging the front end and left-front suspension. Magnussen got out of the car under his own power and was examined and released by the medical staff. Race officials subsequently penalized Herta for avoidable contact.
"I'm sore, but I'm OK," said Magnussen. "We had a great car and I was feeling really good about the race. Then something like this happens - he went for a gap that wasn't there. When you're half an hour into a 10-hour race, it's too big a chance to take."
"As far as wrecks go, this one ranks pretty high," Magnussen observed. "The fact that I can stand here now shows how strong the Corvette C6.R is. All of the safety devices built into the car absolutely did their job."
Papis also had a close encounter of the prototype kind when he was hit by the No. 2 Audi LMP1 in the same corner where Magnussen was punted off course.
"I was pretty upset when I saw Jan's accident and my semi-accident with the Audi," said Papis. "There was absolutely no room to pass in that corner. People were taking a lot of risks, braking very late and diving under you at the last moment."
"We had a couple of very close calls, but we definitely deserved this win," Papis noted. "We went as hard as we could to prove the Corvette is an invincible car, so it's an amazing feeling to bring this car into the winner's circle. Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta are the two best teammates I could have."
Corvette Racing's next event is the Monterey Sports Car Championships at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif., on Saturday, Oct. 20. SPEED Channel will televise the ALMS season finale live starting at 5:30 p.m. ET.