Corvette Racing made motorsports history scoring the first victory with E85R ethanol racing fuel in American Le Mans Series competition. On a sultry, sunny day, Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta sailed to their second consecutive class victory on the waterfront street circuit in St. Petersburg, Fla. The reigning champions won the GT1 division in the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg with a 4.754-second margin of victory in their No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R over Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R.

The one-hour, 55-minute race began under caution with a single-file start on the 1.8-mile street circuit alongside Tampa Bay. When the green flag flew, pole-sitter Beretta made a fast break through traffic while O'Connell had to contend with a radio problem. Both cars stayed out during the first full-course caution at the 41-minute mark, then pitted on consecutive laps as the first hour of racing ended. Gavin replaced Beretta, Magnussen replaced O'Connell, and the two yellow Corvettes ran to the finish without another stop.

"Olivier made a great start, we had a fantastic pit stop, and we extended our lead when we could," said Gavin, who tallied his 29th career ALMS victory today. "It's been a very good weekend for Olivier and I. We've been fast all weekend, and we wanted to get back to winning form after a disappointing race in Sebring." The winning duo completed 79 laps around the 14-turn temporary circuit and finished eighth overall. "This was our first race running cellulosic E85 ethanol, and we had great performance and great fuel efficiency," Gavin said. "We could have done the entire race on one pit stop. There were question marks about that from some people, but it's been proven it's a great fuel to run and it's doing a bit for the green

Beretta extended his record as the all-time leader in ALMS victories with his 38th career win. "Everything was good with the car and I just stayed out of trouble," Beretta reported. "When the No. 3 Corvette pitted, it was a challenging moment because I was stuck in traffic. I had to stay off the wall, keep the car on the track, and try to run as quickly as I can to avoid losing time.

The Aston Martin DBR9 of Borcheller and Ducote split the two Corvettes after their pit stops, but the green machine was sidelined after contact with a GT2 Viper. The damaged car retired after 48 laps.