Oliver Gavin

Oliver Benjamin Gavin (born 29 September 1972) 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.

Gavin won British F3 in 1995 whilst driving for Edenbridge Racing.

Born in Huntingdon, Gavin was introduced to motor racing through the traditional karting route, and won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 1991. 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, and tested for Renault until 2006.

Gavin won the ALMS title in 2006 with the Chevrolet Corvette C6.R.

After winning the 12 Hours of Sebring on debut for Saleen in 2001, Gavin became a Corvette Racing factory driver in 2002, racing full-time in the American Le Mans Series GT1 and GT2 classes and later the IMSA SportsCar Championship GTLM class. His full-time codrivers have been Olivier Beretta (2004–2010), Jan Magnussen (2010–2011) and Tommy Milner (2012–2020).

Gavin has won his class at Le Mans on five occasions (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2015), the 12 Hours of Sebring six times (2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2013 and 2016), and Petit Le Mans another five times (2002, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2010). Also, he won the ALMS GT1 titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007, the GT2 title in 2012, and the IMSA GTLM title in 2016.

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 fourth in the GTE Pro class with co-driver, Antonio Garcia, and 18th overall.

Gavin announced in 2021 that he would be continuing his working relationship with Chevrolet with the formation of a new racing school, the Oliver Gavin Driving Academy (OGDA), featuring Corvette C8 Stingrays as the primary instructional vehicle. In 2023, he founded Oliver Gavin Motorsport Management (OGMM), which currently oversees the careers of Logan Sargeant, Colin Braun and Ben Tuck among others.

Gavin lives in a village east of Northampton with his wife, Helen, and their three children.

Complete International Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Pts 1996 Joest Racing Opel Opel Calibra V6 4x4 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 EST1 EST2 HEL110† HEL2 NOR1 NOR2 DIE1 DIE2 SIL1 SIL2 NÜR1 NÜR2 MAG1 MAG2 MUG1 MUG2 HOC1 HOC2 INT1 INT2 SUZ1 SUZ2 23rd 16 † — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

American Le Mans Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) † Did not finish the race but was classified as his car completed more than 70% of the overall winner's race distance.

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps Saleen-Allen Speedlab Franz Konrad Terry Borcheller Saleen S7-R GTS 246 18th 3rd Corvette Racing Ron Fellows Johnny O'Connell Chevrolet Corvette C5-R GTS 335 11th 1st Corvette Racing Kelly Collins Andy Pilgrim Chevrolet Corvette C5-R GTS 326 11th 3rd Corvette Racing Olivier Beretta Jan Magnussen Chevrolet Corvette C5-R GTS 345 6th 1st Corvette Racing Olivier Beretta Jan Magnussen Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT1 349 5th 1st Corvette Racing Olivier Beretta Jan Magnussen Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT1 355 4th 1st Corvette Racing Olivier Beretta Max Papis Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT1 22 DNF DNF Corvette Racing Olivier Beretta Max Papis Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT1 341 15th 3rd Corvette Racing Olivier Beretta Marcel Fässler Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT1 311 DNF DNF Corvette Racing Olivier Beretta Emmanuel Collard Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT2 255 DNF DNF Corvette Racing Richard Westbrook Jan Magnussen Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GTEPro 211 DNF DNF Corvette Racing Richard Westbrook Tommy Milner Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GTEPro 215 NC NC Corvette Racing Richard Westbrook Tommy Milner Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GTEPro 309 22nd 7th Corvette Racing Richard Westbrook Tommy Milner Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GTEPro 333 20th 4th Corvette Racing Jordan Taylor Tommy Milner Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GTEPro 337 17th 1st Corvette Racing - GM Tommy Milner Jordan Taylor Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GTEPro 219 DNF DNF Corvette Racing - GM Tommy Milner Marcel Fässler Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GTEPro 335 24th 8th Corvette Racing - GM Tommy Milner Marcel Fässler Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GTEPro 259 DNF DNF Corvette Racing Tommy Milner Marcel Fässler Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GTEPro 82 DNF DNF

Complete GT1 World Championship results Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Ref 2010 Mad-Croc Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6.R ABUQR ABUCR SILQR13 SILCR14 BRNQR BRNCR PRIQR19 PRICR19 SPAQR18 SPACR17 NÜRQR NÜRCR ALGQR ALGCR NAVQR NAVCR INTQR INTCR SANQR SANCR 53rd 0

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Class Make Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 PointsRef 2014 Corvette Racing GTLM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Chevrolet 5.5 V8 DAY SEB LBH LGA WGL MOS IMS ELK VIR COA PET 10th 291 2015 Corvette Racing GTLM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Chevrolet 5.5 V8 DAY SEB LBH LGA WGL MOS ELK VIR COA PET 8th 261 2016 Corvette Racing GTLM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Chevrolet 5.5 V8 DAY SEB LBH LGA WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR COA PET 1st 345 2017 Corvette Racing GTLM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 V8 DAY SEB LBH COA WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR LGA PET 8th 276 2018 Corvette Racing GTLM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 V8 DAY SEB LBH MOH WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR LGA PET 3rd 310 2019 Corvette Racing GTLM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Chevrolet LT5.5 5.5 V8 DAY SEB LBH MDO WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR LGA PET 8th 275 2020 Corvette Racing GTLM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 DAY DAY SEB ELK VIR ATL MDO CLT PET LGA SEB 3rd 315 2021 Vasser Sullivan Racing GTD Lexus RC F GT3 Lexus 5.0 L V8 DAY SEB MDO DET WGL WGL LIM ELK LGA LBH VIR PET 71st 178 center|small|Source: 2015 Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Holden Commodore VF Nick Percat 19th 159