Corvette Claims Championship Sweep in GTLM

Photo: John Dagys

Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner led a Corvette Racing sweep of the GT Le Mans titles, following a third place class finish in Saturday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-ending Petit Le Mans.

Gavin, Milner and Marcel Fassler took their No. 4 Corvette C7.R to another podium result, following misfortune for the championship-contending No. 67 Ford GT of Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe, which finished seventh after multiple delays.

It marked the second championship for Gavin and Milner as driver pairing, the 10th for Corvette Racing, with Chevrolet also picking up the Manufacturers’ Championship by starting Saturday’s ten-hour race.

They also claimed the Driver, Team and Manufacturer championships in the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup, making for a clean sweep of titles.

“It doesn’t have the initial shock of a win, but deep down this is a pretty satisfying end of the season,” said Milner, who needed a seventh place finish or higher in the race to clinch the drivers’ title.

“We had four wins… a couple of bad races, but we had some amazing ones as well. I just don’t know what to say. Most of all, I am just really happy.

“I feel really fortunate to be a part of this Corvette Racing team and Chevy. Every year, every weekend, every practice session, I always have the best stuff. That is all a driver can ask for.”

Gavin, Milner and Fassler ran in the top half of the GTLM field for virtually the entire race.

Milner began from the seventh position, but the new GTLM co-champion was able to move up to second place after his two-hour 30-minute drive. Help came in pit lane, too as the No. 4 crew gained Milner a spot at each stop.

Gavin took over and drove to the lead shortly after a full-course caution period three-and-a-half hours into the race. He never dropped before second before handing over to Fassler, who had won at Daytona and Sebring with the Gavin/Milner duo.

He ran in podium position for nearly three hours before a slight off-track excursion in Turn 1.

Milner got back in the No. 4 Corvette with three hours to go and moved back into podium position less than an hour later. Gavin drove the final 75 minutes to put a wrap on the championship season.

It marked Gavin’s fifth IMSA title, all having come with the Pratt & Miller squad.

“We’ve had a fantastic year,” Gavin said. “It started off with a fantastic race at Daytona. That was just epic to get that result. The one-two and the way we did it was just phenomenal.

“Then the win Sebring with Tommy – he was a rock and just steady the whole race. It was phenomenal again! He was a legend.

“We’ve just managed to pick up some great finishes throughout the season. Then to get the 100th win at Lime Rock – I think that is where Tommy and I really started believing that we could actually win this.

“Yes, the competition had some good results up to that point and we needed to stop their momentum, and we did that there. That crazy finish at Road America… We just sort of arrived here and knew what we needed to do.

“We executed really well and got another podium and another third place like last year. It is a great way to wrap up the championship in this way.

“I mean we got the Manufacturer Championship for Chevrolet, the Driver Championship, the Team Championship and the North American Endurance Cup Championship. We got it all.

“I’m thrilled… just thrilled. I’m thrilled for Tommy and thrilled for the team.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John