The story so far
Gavin and Corvette Racing teammate Tommy Milner retain the championship lead by eight points after finishing fourth at Watkins Glen
Milner qualified the Chevrolet Corvette C7.R in the sixth position Saturday after a lap of 1:42.794 (119.0 mph) at the 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course
Milner took the first stint in what was a very tight battle between the GTLM cars, running between sixth to eighth
Gavin then completed a double-stint and then alternating single stints on to the chequered flag
Final stop key to finishing in fourth position based on fuel strategy and the position felt ‘like a win’ for Gavin
Gavin looking forward to this weekend’s race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
On the Watkins Glen race
“It was a flat-out battle with all our competition. It boiled down to smart strategy, great pit work and strong, fast driving. The final pitstop was executed perfectly by all the crew and put us back out in P5. Tommy then pulled off a great move to pass the Ferrari going into the Bus Stop. He then drove strongly to lock in fourth place which for us today is like a win. If someone had offered us fourth at the start of the day with our starting position and the pace compared to our competitors… Yes, it is like a win.
“We are still leading in the Driver’s Championship. We’ve extended in the Manufacturer’s Championship for Chevrolet, which is great. I really don’t think we could have asked for any more. A great job by everyone here at Corvette Racing – a real team effort.”
On the championship battle
“We now lead the championship by eight points from our old Corvette Racing teammates Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe who are now driving for Ford. The rest of the season will be a full-on battle with these guys as well as many others.
“We also still lead the North American Endurance Cup, but only by one point. Chevrolet also still lead the Manufacturer standings by seven points over Porsche. The goal is to consolidate our championship lead at CTMP (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park) and then hopefully we’ll be able to move forward from our current situation.”
On the quick turnaround to the next race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
“The team are staying at Watkins Glen for a day extra to prepare the cars for CTMP. Our car needs a little cosmetic work after the six-hour battle but structurally it’s fine. The sister car will need some extra work, it had a troubled race with a number of electrical gremlins.”
Looking forward to racing at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
“We go from one of the best circuits in the USA to the best track in Canada. Everyone enjoys the challenge of the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. It’s fast, flowing and very challenging. We’ll need to work just as hard to extract as many points from the weekend as we did at Watkins Glen as our competition will be just as strong.”