Oliver Gavin captured pole position Saturday for the GT Le Mans (GTLM) category ahead of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s America’s Tire 250 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. It was the first pole position at the circuit for Gavin, who will start just ahead of teammate Jan Magnussen on the GTLM grid.
Gavin set a best lap of 1:22.700 (97.421 mph) in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R for his 22nd career pole position in IMSA competition. He and Tommy Milner are fourth in the GTLM Driver Championship standings with two events to go, and they won in class together in 2012 at Monterey.
As a program, Corvette Racing has won seven times at Laguna Seca in 19 previous appearances. Sunday’s race will be its 20th start at the 2.238-mile, 11-turn circuit near the Monterey Peninsula.
Magnussen, in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, qualified third in the GTLM Championship-leading entry he shares with Antonio Garcia. The defending GTLM co-champion set a best lap of 1:22.806 (97.297 mph) to slot in 0.106 seconds behind Gavin.
Magnussen and Garcia lead the GTLM Driver Championship by four points, and they won together in Monterey in 2013 and 2014. The No. 3 Corvette has finished on the podium in six consecutive races dating back to Mid-Ohio in May.
The America’s Tire 250 is set for 2:05 p.m. PT on Sunday with live television coverage on FOX Sports 1. Streaming in-car footage along with live audio coverage of practice, qualifying and the race from IMSA Radio is available on IMSA.com.
OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – GTLM POLE-WINNER: “It’s always great to get pole position here at Laguna Seca. Thanks to everyone at Corvette Racing and the crew. It takes a massive effort from everyone on the team to get back to P1. I’m thrilled, but this is only a small step in trying to achieve what we want to achieve tomorrow, and that’s a victory. Once the green flag drops tomorrow, this is all kind of forgotten. We have a very good race car; obviously it fell in nicely for qualifying. The Corvette C7.R has been strong all year. We’ve had an amazing team, great strategy and pit stops. We just need to execute tomorrow. The competition is at an all-time high in GTLM, and to be able to beat those guys is pretty satisfying. But the real work is ahead for tomorrow.
“It’s nice to have this moment for the guys on our team. It gives everyone a nice little fill-up going into the race tomorrow. We’ll be pushing like crazy at the start and we’ll work hard tonight to make sure we have everything covered and we’re fully prepared for the race.”
JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUALIFIED THIRD IN GTLM: “It was a good qualifying day for both cars and a great job for the No. 4 Corvette to get pole. It is very close at the front and a great way to start the race. I was half-expecting for it to be a lot worse, but I think both our cars hit the peak of the tire and got the best out of it. Let’s see if we can have a clean start and do what we need to do in the championship.
“With it being this close, there’s no controlling anything in the race. It’s about going and not making mistakes… running a good race and to the plan we set out to do. Everything you do matters: when you pit, how you conduct your pit stops… I’m not worried about that, though. That has always been one of our strongest points as a team.”
