After a long day's journey into night, Corvette Racing scored its sixth GT1 class victory in seven years in America's classic endurance race, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Johnny O'Connell, Jan Magnussen and Ron Fellows drove their No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R to an eight-lap victory over their teammates Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Max Papis in the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R.
The winning trio completed 328 laps of the 3.7-mile, 17-turn road course and finished eighth overall. The runner-up Corvette completed 320 circuits and finished 10th overall. The No. 008 Aston Martin DBR9 was third in the GT1 class with 299 laps completed. O'Connell became the all-time leader in Sebring victories with his seventh career win on the historic circuit. His victory broke a longstanding tie with motorsports legend Phil Hill, who tallied six victories on the Sebring course. "It's huge to break Phil Hill's record," said O'Connell. "Phil is the embodiment of everything that was wonderful about that era of sports car racing. When you meet some of your childhood heroes, they're a disappointment, but when I met Phil, he was the coolest cat in the world. He talked about the beauty of the cars he competed in and the spectacle of this race. When you spend time with someone who is that deep and insightful, you come away with a much better understanding of how special this race is. When you win Sebring, you share it," O'Connell noted. "It's not about one guy. I got my first ALMS win with Jan in 1999, and I've won some 25 races with Ron. I can't think of two finer gentlemen and race car drivers I'd rather share this win with." The ides of March did not treat the No. 4 Corvette C6.R kindly. At one hour and 56 minutes into the 12-hour race, Beretta brought the car to the pits with a rear axle problem. "I came out of Turn 9 and it went completely loose," said Beretta. "I thought the race was gone. I was worried that wheels would lock and couldn’t bring the car back to the pits. I didn't want to get stuck on the course." The car went to the transporter where the crew replaced the right halfshaft in nine minutes. The No. 4 Corvette C6.R returned to action with Papis at the wheel and a nine-lap deficit to the class-leading No. 3 Corvette. "We lost the inner tripod joint on the right side," explained team manager Gary Pratt. "All of the lube was still there, but it snapped one of the three drives at the spline. We've never seen a failure like that before." After the halfshaft was replaced, the No. 4 Corvette C6.R ran perfectly for the remaining hours, gaining one lap on the winning Corvette. Magnussen celebrated his second career Sebring victory after winning with Gavin and Beretta in 2006. "I'm so happy for everyone in the team, and I'm especially happy for Johnny to get the record," said the Danish ace. "Seven wins is amazing. The No. 3 Corvette performed beautifully all day long, there were zero problems. We were fast in the beginning, stayed out ahead, and toward the end we made sure we were consistent and didn't make any mistakes. I can't wait for the rest of the season!"
So what do you think Corvette Fever Readership, do you think Corvette Racing needs more competition? Why?
Alan Colvin
Editor