Bowtie Bullet Points: Chevy Notes for the Grand Prix
of Mosport


Corvette Sets Fastest Time in Friday Test Session
The General Motors Chevrolet Corvette Racing team set
the fastest time in the GTS class during Friday's
one-hour, 30-minute test session before the Grand Prix
of Mosport. Oliver Gavin and Kelly Collins, driving
the #4 Compuware Corvette C5-R, posted a best time of
1:15:804, or 116.780 mph. Gavin's test session time
bests the previous qualifying record, 1:15:986, which
was set in 2002 by Terry Borcheller in a Saleen S7R.
Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell, driving the #3
Compuware Corvette C5-R, recorded a best time of
1:16:353, or 115.940 mph. The newly designed #3 and #4
Corvettes come fresh from three straight GTS
victories, in Atlanta, Sonoma and Trois-Rivières.
Corvette Racing is undefeated in the American Le Mans
Series in 2003 and leads the drivers' and
manufacturers' championship in the GTS class.
{TB2}
Friday Test Session Results (GTS):
Pos.    Team                    No. / Car               Time
1.      Corvette Racing         #4 Corvette C5-R        1:15.804
2.      Veloqx Prodrive         #88 Ferrari 550 M       1:16:148
3.      Corvette Racing         #3 Corvette C5-R        1:16:353
4.      Veloqx Prodrive         #80 Ferrari 550 M       1:16:461
5.      Team Olive Garden       #0 Ferrari 550 M        1:18:374
6.      Carsport America        #71 Dodge Viper         1:19:057
7.      Konrad Motorsport       #2 Saleen S7R           1:19:787
8.      Carsport America        #17 Dodge Viper         (no time)


Fellows Looks for Home-Track Advantage at Mosport
The Toronto-area resident will be seeking his third
consecutive win in American Le Mans Series competition
at Mosport, located less than an hour from his front
door and the circuit where he saw his first automobile
race at the age of nine. Fellows and Johnny O'Connell
have won the GTS class in the ALMS event at Mosport
the past two years, each time coming back from some
adversity. Two years ago, Terry Borcheller pulled a
major upset in qualifying when he captured the pole
position in a Saleen S7R. During the race, Fellows was
pushed off the track and sustained body damage, but
nevertheless, he and O'Connell roared back through the
field to score the class win. In 2002, Borcheller
again beat Fellows in qualifying, snapping the
Canadian's season-long perfect record of winning every
pole position. But the Corvette performed flawlessly
in the race and Fellows and O'Connell won again.
"We'll have our work cut out for us this weekend,"
said Fellows. "But while we've won at Mosport the past
two years, they haven't been easy wins. Each one has
been a challenge just as this year will be." 

Chevy History at Mosport
While the team of Fellows and O'Connell will try to
capture a third straight GTS victory at Mosport in
their championship-winning Corvette C5-R, the Canadian
circuit is rich with decades of Chevrolet history.
John Surtees, world champion seven times over on
motorcycles and in race cars, claimed Chevy's first
victory at Mosport when he won the 1965 Player's 200
race for the Canadian Sports Car Championship. Driving
the all-conquering Lola T70, the Briton blasted his
Chevrolet-powered prototype through a field that
included the likes of Porsche, Lotus and Cobra.
Surtees battled Jim Hall in his Chevy-powered
Chaparral 2A throughout the 80-lap, two-heat race,
eventually winning with an average speed of 97.5 mph.
It would be the first in a long line of significant
Chevrolet victories at Mosport. The first Corvette
victory at the circuit came roughly one decade later.
The event was the 1978 Molson Diamond Trans-Am
competition and Greg Pickett won the 40-lap race with
a remarkable 38-second margin over the rest of the
pack, which included the likes of Bob Tullius, Bill
Adam and Ludwig Heimrath. Pickett's 7.0-liter Chevy
V-8 powered him to three additional Trans-Am victories
that season, securing the Category II championship --
one of four Trans-Am championships for Corvette over a
six-year period.  


O'Connell No Stranger to Mosport 
Although many fans consider Mosport to be the
exclusive domain of Corvette driver and native Toronto
resident Ron Fellows, it is no secret that Fellows's
teammate Johnny O'Connell has certainly put his mark
on 2.5-mile circuit over the years. At the inaugural
ALMS event at Mosport in 1999, O'Connell captured the
overall victory in a Panoz LMP-1 in his previous role
as a prototype driver for Panoz, winning with a
15-second margin over the next car. O'Connell would go
on to capture two more victories at the track in a
Corvette, winning the GTS class in 2001 and 2002 with
Ron Fellows. During Friday's test session, O'Connell
started by immediately setting the fastest times in
the GTS class. "I just love racing here," said
O'Connell. "It's probably my favorite race track on
the schedule and all the corners here just seem to
make sense. It was designed beautifully." He is
currently tied for first place in the GTS drivers'
championship.


Corvette Leads ALMS Point Standings
Coming off an impressive 1-2 GTS victory at Le Grand
Prix de Trois-Rivières, which maintained Corvette
Racing's undefeated streak in the American Le Mans
Series, GM's premier factory racing program heads into
this weekend's Grand Prix of Mosport at the top of the
ALMS point standings.  The driver and manufacturer
standings are as follows:

Racing Around
Chevrolet continued its winning ways in NASCAR Winston
Cup competition last weekend as Robby Gordon won the
Sirius 400 at the Glen in his Richard Childress Racing
Monte Carlo. Chevy took four of the top five finishing
positions, and leads the NASCAR manufacturer's
championship standings. Chevrolets will race in four
major motorsports series this weekend: ALMS at
Mosport, IRL at Kentucky Speedway, NASCAR at Michigan
International Speedway and NHRA at Brainerd (Minn.)
International Raceway. Chevrolet is the only
manufacturer currently competing in the ALMS, NASCAR
Winston Cup, NHRA and IRL.

-gm racing-


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