With GT Championships Clinched, Corvette Racing Still Has Unfinished Business at Petit Le Mans Season Finale

BRASELTON, Ga., Oct. 12, 2012 – Petit Le Mans, the finale of the 2012 American Le Mans Series, will crown a season that has seen Corvette Racing score four victories in nine ALMS races and sweep the GT driver, team, and manufacturer championships. The pressure to win the class titles may be off, but the Corvette team has unfinished business in the 10-hour/1,000-mile endurance contest in the red clay hills of northern Georgia on Saturday, Oct. 20.

Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner wrapped up the GT championships with a victory in the preceding round at Virginia International Raceway in the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R, but teammates Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen are fighting for second in the final standings in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R. Despite a run of misfortune in the last two races, Garcia and Magnussen hold a two-point margin over their four closest rivals on the strength of four runner-up finishes. It’s indicative of the heated competition in the GT category that 10 drivers are still in contention for the second spot. Magnussen’s record streak of at least one victory in every ALMS season since the series’ inception in 1999 is also on the line at Petit Le Mans.

“The race will be tough, dealing with traffic, dealing with conditions, dealing with darkness as well,” said Magnussen. “Nevertheless I always look forward to Petit Le Mans, it’s one of my favorite races of the year. The atmosphere is fantastic, and when I first came to the States to race with Panoz, Road Atlanta was my home track. I’d like to finish off the year there in style.”

“Petit is always a big event,” said Garcia. “The race has been part of my schedule for the last three years, so I know the track and what to expect. Road Atlanta was where we first tested the wide-body Corvette C6.R last year, and we knew right away that the new bodywork was a big improvement. Now with a year of development, it should be even better. The competition will be really strong as always, but I think we are in a good position to fight for the win. That would be the best way to finish the season.”

Corvette Racing’s driver roster will be bolstered at Petit Le Mans by the return of third drivers Jordan Taylor in the No. 3 Corvette and Richard Westbrook in the No. 4 Corvette. Taylor and Westbrook drove for the team in the Sebring 12-hour and Le Mans 24-hour races this season.

Corvette Racing has won Petit Le Mans eight times, including two dramatic come-from-behind victories. In 2000, Andy Pilgrim passed the race-leading Viper in the closing minutes to score the team’s first win in a major endurance race. Then in 2010, Oliver Gavin passed the class-leading Ferrari for the victory on the final lap as the Ferrari’s fuel tank ran dry.

“The 2010 victory was certainly the most extraordinary win of my career, an extraordinary turn of events,” Gavin recalled. “I still find the Road Atlanta circuit a great challenge even though we have done so many races and thousands of laps of testing there. It’s a grueling race, a tough race, and as we found a couple of years ago, you cannot give up. You have to keep pushing to the very last lap because you never know what is going to happen with the guys in front and behind you.

“It’s a place that you must always be 100 percent focused because there are some areas if you get it wrong, you are going to have a big accident,” the Englishman noted. “You have to use controlled aggression, be mindful of where you need to place the car on the track. Going down the hill through the Esses, you must be absolutely inch-perfect. With the race later in the year, we’ll have more time in darkness, which will add to the challenge.”

Gavin’s championship-winning co-driver agreed: “Petit is tough,” Milner said. “It’s a great event, a great race track for our cars, and a great way to end the season. I wouldn’t be surprised to see six or seven GT cars racing nose-to-tail for nine hours.

“We saw in testing last year that the wider C6.R is better,” he reported. “We have improved our Corvette throughout the year, so I’m looking forward to going back to Road Atlanta and seeing just how much the car has progressed since our first test there. The wider car produces more downforce, which helps you everywhere on that track.”

Petit Le Mans will run for 1,000 miles or 10 hours, whichever comes first. The season finale of the 10-race 2012 American Le Mans Series will start at 11:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 20. The race can be viewed live on ESPN3.com starting at 11:15 a.m. ET. ABC will televise the race at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 21.

Gavin and Milner Win Drivers Championship with Fourth Victory; Chevrolet Clinches GT Manufacturer Championship, Corvette Racing Takes Team Title

ALTON, Va., Sept. 15, 2012 – Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner won the American Le Mans Series GT Drivers Championship with a victory today in the VIR 240 at Virginia International Raceway. Their fourth victory in nine races clinched the GT Manufacturer Championship for Chevrolet and wrapped up the GT Team Championship for Corvette Racing.

“This is the kind of day you hope for – a perfect race, a great race car, the right pit calls, and no drama,” said Milner. “I got my start in professional sports car racing at VIR, so to get my first championship here in my home state of Virginia is very special. I can’t say enough for Oliver and the Corvette Racing crew; they’ve been best friends from the day that I arrived. Just a great day!”

Gavin avoided trouble in a chaotic start and took the lead at 42 minutes into the four-hour race. A well-timed pit stop at the one-hour mark put the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R in control with Milner taking the two middle stints. Gavin then drove the final hour and crossed the finish line with a 19.5-second margin of victory over the second-place No. 45 Porsche.

“There is no better way to crown 60 years of Corvette production than by winning the ALMS GT Manufacturer Championship,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President for Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “This achievement is the result of a tremendous effort by the entire Chevrolet team. Start with a high-performance platform from the Corvette production group, add power, durability and efficiency developed by GM Powertrain, perfect the package with the engineering expertise of Corvette Racing, put exceptional drivers behind the wheel, and then go head-to-head with world-class competition in the most intense road racing series on the planet. Corvette Racing’s championship season reflects Chevrolet’s commitment to winning on the race track and in the showroom.”

“Winning the Drivers Championship in a category as fiercely competitive as the ALMS GT class requires speed, stamina, strategy, and teamwork,” said Mark Kent, director of Chevy Racing. “Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner have those qualities, and now they have the 2012 GT Drivers Championship. Both are excellent racers and outstanding representatives for Corvette and Chevrolet. We congratulate Oliver and Tommy on their well-deserved championship, and we are confident that there are many more titles in their future.”

Gavin scored his 38th career ALMS victory today in his milestone 100th start. He joined Corvette Racing in 2002 as an endurance racing specialist, and became a full-season driver in 2003. Gavin won three consecutive ALMS GT1 championships in 2005-07, and twice finished second in the GT1 championship. Following Corvette Racing’s move to the GT class in 2009, Gavin was runner-up in last year’s GT title race.

“Tommy made it so easy for me,” Gavin said. “We had a decent lead and I just wanted to make sure I kept that in case there were any problems at the end. From the championship standpoint I knew we were really strong and just needed to make no mistakes and get to the finish.”

Getting to the finish wasn’t easy. Just as the race started, chaos erupted in the first corner when the No. 20 LMP1 spun. With the track blocked, there was a chain reaction pileup. Gavin made it through, but Jan Magnussen was in the middle of the melee in the sister No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R.

“I was on the inside, and fortunately all of the craziness was happening to the left of me,” Gavin said. “I followed the No. 01 Ferrari into Turn 1, then there was a wall of smoke and I could see Johannes was really cutting to the inside. I had to go even farther to the inside, and then an LMPC car spun right in front of me. I thought I was going to nail it, but it just seemed to evaporate. I got through on the grass, and was nearly T-boned by Bergmeister as he was trying to avoid the wrecks. It was like the seas parted and I went through.”

The No. 3 Corvette’s race essentially ended in the first corner, with the car sustaining damage to its hood and left-front fender. Magnussen pitted and the Corvette crew taped the damaged panels, but he had to return to the pits on the next lap for a complete new nose assembly. The Dane rejoined the race four laps down to the leaders. Despite running some of the fastest laps of the race, the deficit was too great to make up.

“There was a bit of stop-and-go and it was looking like it was going to be a messy start,” Magnussen said. “Then we got going and as we went into Turn 1, the inside lane stopped a bit and it was clear for me on the outside. I don’t know what happened up in front, but they started spinning and I had nowhere to go. I tried to stop, but hit an LMPC car and had a lot of damage to the nose. I couldn’t go to the inside because the other Corvette was there. I can’t believe it.”

Gavin emerged in second, and was shadowing van Overbeek’s race-leading No. 01 Ferrari. At the 42-minute mark, Gavin made his move for the lead.

“I passed him in Turn 1 and made it stick in Turn 2,” Gavin recalled. “He got a bad run off Turn 11 and then a GTC car slowed him in 14 and 15. The GTC driver didn’t see him and pushed Johannes wide so I got a run on him. My car was better under braking, and I thought I could make it through if he didn’t put me in the grass.”

As the stint continued, Gavin’s tires began to lose grip and he was passed by the No. 01 and No. 02 Ferraris. He pitted from third at 1:01, and while Tommy Milner was getting into the No. 4 Corvette, the race’s second full-course caution began. That fortuitous timing put the Gavin/Milner Corvette in the GT lead when racing resumed after the pit stop cycle.

Milner ran a relatively uneventful double stint, maintaining a steady four-second lead over the second-place No. 56 BMW. Milner pitted at 2:12 into the race for tires and fuel and stopped again with one hour to go, turning the No. 4 Corvette over to Gavin for the run to the finish. Almost simultaneously the No. 56 BMW of championship rival Dirk Mueller pitted with a broken toe link, falling from second to eighth.

“When the car is that good and so comfortable, when you’re by yourself and out in clean air, it’s a lot of fun,” Milner said. “That was a good two stints. A great pit stop and a bit of good luck got us in before the yellow and put us ahead, but nobody could catch us.”

Magnussen ran to 2:19 before handing off the No. 3 Corvette C6.R to Antonio Garcia. The Spaniard drove to the checkered flag, gaining spots with quick laps and attrition among his rivals to finish eighth. Magnussen and Garcia are second in the driver standings going into the season finale at Road Atlanta.

Today’s victory was Corvette Racing’s 85th win in 140 races. Chevrolet and Corvette Racing have won nine ALMS manufacturer and team championships since 2001. The team made the transition to the production-based GT category in 2009, and has scored eight wins in the super-competitive class.

“I think today was emblematic of all the things that make Corvette Racing a champion,” said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. “Preparation, strategy, and execution.”

Corvette Racing’s next event is the 10-hour/1,000-mile Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga., on Saturday, Oct. 20.

American Le Mans Series VIR 240 GT Results (Top 10)

Pos./Car No./Drivers/Car/Laps

• 1. 4 Gavin/Milner, Corvette C6.R, 126
• 2. 45 Bergmeister/Long, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 126
• 3. 01 Sharp/van Overbeek, Ferrari 458 Italia, 126
• 4. 55 J. Mueller/Auberlen, BMW E92 M3, 126
• 5. 44 Neiman/Holzer, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 125
• 6. 23 Sweedler/Bell, Lotus Evora, 124
• 7. 17 Henzler/Sellers, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 123
• 8. 3 Magnussen/Garcia, Corvette C6.R, 122
• 9. 56 D. Mueller/Summerton, BMW E92 M3, 120
• 10. 48 Miller/Maassen, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 98

Gavin and Milner Score Big in GT Championship with Runner-up Finish, Magnussen and Garcia Fight Back from Last to Sixth

BALTIMORE, Sept. 1, 2012 – Corvette Racing encountered heavy holiday traffic on the streets of Baltimore today, finishing second and sixth in the Baltimore Sports Car Challenge. Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner labored long and hard on the Labor Day weekend to bring the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R across the finish line second, 2.2 seconds behind the winning No. 17 Porsche of Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler. That result increased their lead in the GT driver championship as their closest rivals finished down the order. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen battled back after a tire puncture on the first lap dropped the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R to last place. With their sixth-place finish, Garcia and Magnussen retained second place in the GT driver standings.

The top eight GT cars finished on the same lap, completing 67 tours around the 2.0-mile temporary street course in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in the two-hour race. The GT-winning Porsche finished fourth overall, and the Gavin/Milner Corvette was fifth overall. The first four finishers in the closely contested GT category represented four different manufacturers: Porsche, Chevrolet, Ferrari, and BMW.

“I just kept thinking about the bigger picture in the closing laps,” Gavin said. “I caught Bryan pretty quickly, but he was driving well and not making mistakes. We had a number of cautions, and he was better than us on the restarts. Once we got into those caution periods, I realized that we needed to think about the championship points. Of course we want to win, but we didn’t want to risk throwing it away. We’ve extended our lead in the standings with two more races to go. We’re certainly not taking anything for granted.”

Milner started the No. 4 Corvette C6.R on the GT pole, and Garcia started third in the No. 3 Corvette C6.R. The first lap saw a traffic jam as several prototypes tangled and blocked the first turn; Milner and Garcia made it through, but the No. 3 suffered a slow puncture and had to pit on the third lap, falling to 12th in the GT class. Milner led for the first 10 laps before he was blocked by a prototype and passed by the No. 55 BMW and the No. 17 Porsche. The BMW was penalized for avoidable contact, but the No. 01 Ferrari got by Milner before a pit stop and driver change at 48 minutes into the race. Gavin took over and was second after the pit stop cycle, a position he held to the checkered flag.

“The start was a mess, as I expected,” Milner said. “We were lucky – the No. 3 Corvette had a puncture and we had some light contact. I was in the right place at the right time and was able to squeeze through without much damage. The car was tough to drive, though, and I was really working hard.

“We always want to win a race, but today second place feels like a victory,” he added. “We got good points in the driver championship and gained ground for Chevrolet in the manufacturer points. These races are so tough – starting on pole and being fast all weekend, you’d like to win, but it didn’t work out that way today. We made the most with what we had, and that’s what counts now.”

After Garcia pitted early, he moved up to sixth before handing off to Magnussen at the 46-minute mark. Magnussen emerged in seventh, and passed the No. 48 Porsche for sixth, a position he held to the checkered flag.

“Nobody touched me in the first turn, I just followed Tommy around and got a puncture,” Garcia said. “I saw out of the corner of my eye that somebody misjudged where he was going. I could make up two or three seconds, but when you are 20 or 25 seconds behind, you need some help with yellow flags.”

Magnussen agreed with his teammate: “The car was fast, we were catching the guys in front, but when you get put back like that in the beginning of a race, you have to be very lucky with strategy,” he said. “I just kept pushing as hard as I could, the car was fantastic, but the luck didn’t go our way.”

Gavin and Milner now unofficially lead the GT driver championship by 28 points over teammates Magnussen and Milner (124-96). BMW driver Dirk Mueller is third with 94 points, and Joey Hand fourth with 91. Chevrolet leads the GT manufacturer championship by 19 points over BMW (145-126) with two races remaining, followed by Porsche (123) and Ferrari (110).

“Our sole strategic mission today was to finish ahead of the BMW,” said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. “Ordinarily we might take a slightly different perspective, but at a street race like this, with such closely matched cars, you have to have realistic goals. Our objective was to finish ahead of the BMW today, and we accomplished that. I’m proud of this team for its performance under pressure.”

Corvette Racing’s next event is the American Le Mans Series VIR 240 at Virginia International Raceway on Saturday, Sept. 15.

Baltimore Sports Car Challenge GT Results (Top 10)

Pos./Car No./Drivers/Car/Laps

• 1. 17 Henzler/Sellers, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 67
• 2. 4 Gavin/Milner, Corvette C6.R, 67
• 3. 01 Sharp/van Overbeek, Ferrari 458 Italia, 67
• 4. 56 D. Mueller/Hand, BMW E92 M3, 67
• 5. 45 Bergmeister/Long, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 67
• 6. 3 Magnussen/Garcia, Corvette C6.R, 67
• 7. 44 Long/Holzer, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 67
• 8. 55 J. Mueller/Auberlen, BMW E92 M3, 67
• 9. 48 Miller/Maassen, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 66
• 10. 23 Sweedler/Bell, Lotus Evora, 66

Gavin Captures 20th Career ALMS Pole on Challenging Street Circuit, Magnussen Third in GT Qualifying

BALTIMORE, Aug. 31, 2012 – As Oliver Gavin prepared to make his qualifying run for Saturday’s Baltimore Sports Car Challenge in the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R, he asked engineer Chuck Houghton how many laps he had. Houghton replied, “However many it takes for you to put the car on the pole.”

Gavin needed only four laps to post the quickest qualifying time in the GT class for the eighth round of the American Le Mans Series. He turned a time of 1:29.945 (81.650 mph) on his fourth time around the 2-mile, 12-turn temporary street circuit to claim his 20th career pole in the American Le Mans Series. Teammate Jan Magnussen was third quickest at 1:30.413 (81.227 mph) in his ninth and final lap in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R. Gavin won the pole on the streets of downtown Baltimore by a .382-second margin over the No. 55 BMW of Bill Auberlen that qualified second in the 13-strong GT field.

“It’s always fun to qualify on a street circuit, something a driver really relishes with new tires on a course that getting better and better with every lap,” Gavin said after setting the track qualifying record on the reconfigured course. “I’m delighted to be on the pole.”

The No. 4 Corvette C6.R set the pace in both practice sessions today. Gavin’s co-driver Tommy Milner did the initial setup during the one-hour morning practice, but Gavin’s track time in the final 30-minute afternoon session was cut short by red flags and contact with a prototype that damaged his car’s right-side bodywork and exhaust system. The No. 4 Corvette crew repaired the car in the pit lane, and Gavin was ready to charge when the green flag flew for 15 minutes of GT qualifying.

“The car was very good, and I have to thank Tommy for his excellent work this morning, and thank Chuck for coming up with a setup that was quick right off the truck,” Gavin said. “We made a few tweaks here and there, and then it was about finding the rhythm. That’s always the way it is on a street circuit, you just keep working away while you have the tire grip. I managed to nail it on the fourth lap. Then I was looking to go that little bit more, but I was starting to really hang it out and didn’t want to risk ending up in the wall.”

Magnussen made an all-out run for the pole on his final lap, but came up .468 seconds short. “We missed on the setup just a little bit, and it was hard for me to find the lap time,” Magnussen said. “For sure I didn’t get the best out of my tires when they were at their peak. After that I felt pretty secure, but it wasn’t possible for me to improve my lap time. We need to work on the race setup now. It’s a shame I didn’t nail it on the lap when I needed to, but that’s how it is.”

Gavin and Milner will start tomorrow’s race leading the GT championship by 18 points over Magnussen and Antonio Garcia. With 20 points on the line in the two-hour race, Gavin is mindful of the championship race.

“It’s going to be a real dogfight, and I’m sure that the car is going to come back with some scars on it,” he said. “We’re going to have to take some risks with traffic, maybe rub a wall here and there. We have to be smart as well, and as always you need some luck on a street course. We’re starting in the right spot, hopefully out ahead of the crowd where all the action can sometimes happen.”

The two-hour Baltimore Sports Car Challenge presented by SRT, the eighth round of the 2012 American Le Mans Series, will start at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Sept. 1. The race can be viewed live on ESPN3.com starting at 4:15 p.m. ET. ABC will televise the race at 12 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 2.

Baltimore Sports Car Challenge GT Qualifying (Top 10)

Pos./Car No./Drivers/Car/Time

• 1. 4 Gavin/Milner, Corvette C6.R, 1:29.945
• 2. 55 J. Mueller/Auberlen, BMW E92 M3, 1:30.327
• 3. 3 Magnussen/Garcia, Corvette C6.R, 1:30.413
• 4. 45 Bergmeister/Long, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 1:30.665
• 5. 56 D. Mueller/Hand, BMW E92 M3, 1:30.838
• 6. 01 Sharp/van Overbeek, Ferrari 458 Italia, 1:31.262
• 7. 17 Henzler/Sellers, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 1:31.412
• 8. 48 Miller/Maassen, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, 1:32.108
• 9. 92 Goossens/Kendall, SRT Viper GTSR, 1:33.526
• 10. 23 Sweedler/Bell, Lotus Evora, 1:33.701

GT Championship Battle Resumes Saturday in the Inner Harbor

BALTIMORE, Aug. 27, 2012 – In the midst of the War of 1812, the Battle of Baltimore inspired Francis Scott Key to write the lyrics for “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Now nearly two centuries later, the Battle of Baltimore will be rejoined – not by American and British armies, but by a fleet of world-class American, British, German, and Italian sports cars racing through the streets of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

Saturday’s Baltimore Sports Car Challenge, the eighth round of the 2012 American Le Mans Series, promises another all-out fight between drivers, teams, and manufacturers. The two-hour skirmish on the downtown street course dispenses with such niceties as strategy, tactics, and patience. It’s simply about speed, track position, and staying out of trouble.

“There is no strategy in a two-hour race,” said Corvette Racing driver Tommy Milner, a long-time resident of nearby Middleburg, Va. “It’s basically one pit stop, and whoever is the fastest and can make the best of their qualifying position is going to come out on top. Any mistake and you’re done because there’s not much time to come back.”

Milner and co-driver Oliver Gavin lead the GT championship in their No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R by 17 points over teammates Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 sister car. But with 20 points to be awarded to the victors in Saturday’s street fight, that lead can evaporate in a heartbeat.

Gavin and Milner know the pitfalls of racing on Baltimore’s mean streets. Gavin finished third in last year’s inaugural race in a bruised and battered race car that he shared with Magnussen, who was caught up in a first-turn melee. Milner finished seventh after a fraught restart that saw him penalized for contact in Turn 1.

“I’ve done some media work in Baltimore, and I’ve seen the changes that they have made to the track that will be good for racing,” Milner reported. “The chicane before the start/finish line is gone – it was fun for us to pound the curbs, but not so good for racing. Turn 1 has been opened up and widened to create better passing opportunities and to prevent the incidents that happened there last year. The second chicane also has been relocated to allow more passing.

“Baltimore is a tough track because some sections are bumpy and low grip, while other sections have new asphalt and are very grippy,” he explained. “That poses a challenge for the engineers to set up a car that’s good in both sections. The Corvettes were quick last year, and we’ve seen this year that our new wide-body C6.Rs are competitive at every event. I’m looking forward to getting back to Baltimore and putting on a good fight.”

Gavin is on the same page as his driving partner. “It’s hammer down and go,” said the Englishman. “In a two-hour street race, it’s about being as fast as you can all the time. It’s pretty much a full-on, flat-out race to the finish.

“We stand a very good chance, but luck can play a huge role in your result in a street race,” he cautioned. “I expect the unexpected – somebody makes a boneheaded move, somebody spins in a blind corner and you can’t avoid driving into them, or you get caught up in someone else’s accident and your race is done. All street circuits are challenging and difficult for everyone involved, but they are also a huge amount of fun.”

Magnussen was teamed with Gavin last year when he went from 12th to fourth in minutes after being pinned against the wall in the first turn. This year the Dane is paired with Antonio Garcia, a rookie on the Baltimore circuit.

“It will be Antonio’s first race in Baltimore, and we have very little track time to practice and prepare,” Magnussen said. “We’ll have an opportunity to go around the track in golf karts and to look at the data from last year. I’ll give Antonio as many pointers as I can to get him up to speed fast, but with him it’s never a problem.

“I loved what they did with the whole show last year,” Magnussen noted. “Everything on track was terrific and I’m looking forward to going back. Since it’s a street circuit, it will have a tendency to change from year to year, so we have to find where the grip is. The top speeds will be much higher without the chicane in the middle of the straight, which will make it more difficult to get the car stopped going into Turn 1. Last year it was very bumpy in the braking zone, and now the cars will arrive faster so there is more chance of overtaking – and of making mistakes!”

“I always like street circuits, and the Corvette C6.R suits those circuits very well,” Garcia said. “Whether the race is one hour or six hours, track position is very important. We need to be ready and quick right away for qualifying. If you are in the top two or three positions, you have a good chance to win. We need to focus on being fast all of the time.”

The Baltimore Sports Car Challenge presented by SRT will start at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Sept. 1. The race can be viewed live on ESPN3.com starting at 4:15 p.m. ET. ABC will televise the race at 12 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 2.