The 3.741 miles of bumpy asphalt that makes up Sebring International Raceway is most certainly unique. And in choosing it as his favourite track, Oliver Gavin makes several references to the airfield venue’s one-of-a-kind nature that, in his estimation, narrowly elevates it above the Circuit de la Sarthe where he took five class victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Former Corvette Racing stalwart Gavin raced at Sebring between 2001 and 2020, in every year of his American sportscar career aside from 2000. But despite professing not to be the biggest fan of “very humid and hot” Florida and having “a bit of a love-hate relationship” with the former Hendricks Army Airfield site, it proved a happy hunting ground for the Briton.
Gavin won the GTS division on his first visit in 2001, adding further class victories in the 12 Hours in 2002, 2006, 2007, 2013 and 2016. He and Tommy Milner also triumphed at Sebring in July 2020 when it staged the first round after the COVID-enforced hiatus, a two-hour 40-minute thrash, by just 0.480 seconds over the sister Corvette C8.R of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor.
Until the union between the Grand-Am Series and American Le Mans Series formed today’s IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2014, January’s Daytona 24 Hours was never on Corvette Racing’s schedule so Sebring was traditionally its first round of the year. Therefore, Gavin says “it’s a track that I ended up driving a lot, testing at relentlessly”, which gave him an excellent feel for its many nuances.
“It’s got a number of characteristics about it that just made it really special to me,” muses the 1995 British Formula 3 champion. “It sort-of book-ended my American racing career and I just grew very fond of the track.
“It’s really a unique place. Nowhere else in the world is like it in terms of the bumps, the corners, the sand that you inevitably get on the track in certain spots, and running the 12 Hours there you do get some pretty unique moments. If you happen to be in the car when the sun is going down, you’re driving right into the sunset down into Turn 17 and that’s a pretty special experience I had a number of times.”
Source: Autosport