Petit Le Mans Preview: The Eternal Wisdom of Doug Fehan

Corvette Racing bossman extraordinaire, Doug Fehan, is known throughout the sports car community as one of the best leaders in the sport. He established one of the best esprit de corps in all of racing. Drivers, mechanics, engineers, and PR guys beg to work for him. It’s no secret that GM’s Corvette program has been a resounding success due in large part to his leadership.

What is also known about Fehan is that he’s a great pundit. He’s had the opportunity to prove that during this week leading up to Saturday’s Petit Le Mans event from Road Atlanta. In the battle between the Corvettes and their UK rivals, the factory-supported ProDrive Aston Martins, the ALMS has done some weight shifting to balance things up. While the Aston Martin team has received a few weight bonuses (meaning weight reductions) since the beginning of the season, they received nothing extra for the 12-hour Petit Le Mans. They were miffed, of course, to find out that their yellow-shrouded rivals did. This weekend, the Corvettes have been granted a bonus, in the form of -40 kg (or about 88 lbs.).

As one might expect, the Aston boss raised hell and is doing his part to make sure the Aston Martin DBR9s do not impress in practice or qualifying. The Corvettes, then, secured a 1-2 position in qualifying. The Astons lagged back, which gave Fehan the opportunity to say the following:

“It was very interesting - I think the Astons went slower in qualifying than they had run in practice,” noted Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. “They must have encountered some difficulty with the clear blue sky, moderate temperature and fast race track. It’s difficult to say what’s on their mind, but I can assure you that it’s pretty transparent to the teams, officials and fans.”

What will happen in tomorrow’s race? Tune your televisions to SPEEDTV to find out. Coverage begins at 11:30 a.m. As you might expect from the above, we will be rooting for the Corvettes.

+ SpeedTV: Program Schedule for Petit Le Mans

+ Winding Road: Chevrolet road test archives

Some additional Corvette-related facts for your information:
• Chevrolet and Corvette Racing lead Aston Martin Racing by 14 points (151-137) in the GT1 manufacturers and team championships, while Gavin and Olivier Beretta have an 18-point advantage over Ron Fellows, O’Connell and Aston Martin driver Tomas Enge in the drivers championship.
• A runner-up finish by Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta in the preceding round at Mosport International Raceway on Labor Day weekend gave the pair an 18-point lead (138-120) over Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell and Aston Martin driver Tomas Enge in the drivers championship with two races remaining.
• Chevrolet and Corvette Racing lead Aston Martin Racing by 14 points (151-137) in the 2006 GT1 manufacturers and team championships. Chevrolet has won the GT1 title five consecutive years.
• Gavin, Beretta and Magnussen have two consecutive GT1 class wins at Petit Le Mans. Corvette Racing has won Petit Le Mans five times with three different driver lineups:
2000 Pilgrim/Collins/Freon
2001 Pilgrim/Collins/Freon
2002 Fellows/O’Connell/Gavin
2004 Gavin/Beretta/Magnussen
2005 Gavin/Beretta/Magnussen
• Beretta also won Petit Le Mans in 1999 driving a Dodge Viper GTS-R with Karl Wendlinger and Marc Duez.
• Beretta holds the GT1 qualifying record at Road Atlanta at 1:16.627 (119.331 mph), a mark he set in September 2005.
• O’Connell and Fellows scored the Corvette C6.R’s historic first victory in the spring sprint race at Road Atlanta in 2005. O’Connell won the GT1 pole for the first time in his ALMS career.