Twas the Night Before Christmas - Corvette Style - Description ...

Corvette Racing Qualifies Second and Ninth for Sebring 12-Hour Race
SEBRING, Fla., March 18, 2011 – On a glorious
day in central Florida, Corvette Racing celebrated
the rites of spring by qualifying second and ninth
for Saturday‟s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
at Sebring International Raceway. Oliver Gavin
posted the second quickest time in the GT class at
2:01.743 (109.411 mph) in the No. 04 Compuware
Corvette C6.R. Olivier Beretta was ninth in the
No. 03 Compuware Corvette C6.R at 2:02.633
(108.617 mph).
The top eight cars in the production-based GT
category qualified within a second of the polewinning
time set by Gianmaria Bruni at 2:01.561 (109.575 mph) in a Ferrari 430 GT. With 85-degree air
temperature and 96-degree track temperature, the qualifying times were slightly slower than last year‟s
2:01.150 record on the historic 3.7-mile circuit that hosts the opening round of the 2011 American Le
Mans Series.
“I‟m pleased with second in such a competitive class, and very happy for the entire Corvette Racing team
because everybody has worked so hard this week,” said Gavin, who missed the pole by a scant .182 seconds.
“It would have been great to have taken the top spot to start off Chevrolet‟s 100th anniversary, but we‟ll wait
for the race tomorrow to do that. I‟m very proud to be part of the Chevy team.”
Gavin‟s third timed lap was his quickest on the bumpy 17-turn course on the site of a World War II
bomber base.
“The car is still yellow, and the only things that have changed are the number on the door and the color of
my teammate‟s helmet,” Beretta said with a laugh. “Johnny has been very cool, and we work well together.
We‟ve raced hard against each in the past, and now we are together in the same car. We like the same feel in
the car, and the change has given me a new perspective.”
Magnussen has rejoined Gavin, his former endurance-racing co-driver. “We‟re getting along great, and
I‟m getting comfortable in the car,” Magnussen said. “There is the usual stuff we have to sort out with
the seat and practicing driver changes. So far so good.
“Everyone was spaced out nicely at the start of the session, and the tires were taking some time to come in,”
he said. “By the time they were really hooking up, I caught a Ferrari on his cool-down lap and I had to pass
him off the line. I then had to go through the sand that had been dragged onto Turn 10, got some understeer,
and lost what probably would have been my best lap.”
Beretta posted his best time on his sixth and final lap at speed.
“I started well and the car was good,” Beretta reported. “Then after I caught some traffic, I slowed a little
and never got back up to maximum speed.
“It‟s a long race tomorrow, and it will be hot for sure,” Beretta noted. “We will try to stay out of trouble and
get to the finish in the position that we want.”