Alongside his full-season programme for Corvette Racing in the TUDOR United Sportscar Championship, and the Autumn endurance races he will be doing in the Australian V8 Supercar Series, Oliver Gavin's talents behind the wheel of a GT car have also been secured for a limited number of races in the ADAC GT Masters Championship.

Driving for Callaway Competition in a Corvette Z06.R GT3 alongside reigning champion, Daniel Keilwitz, the British Le Mans and ALMS Champion was there to help his team mate start his title defence in the best possible manner. With 26 GT3 cars from eight different manufacturers and the highest calibre field ever, the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben promised much but ultimately failed to deliver for Gavin and Callaway Competition.

A string of unfortunate events, including a high speed brake failure issue for Keilwitz on his final flying lap, led to a disappointing qualifying performance for both races but the German/British driving partnership was determined to make up for it in the weekend's two races. Those in charge of dishing out bad luck this weekend decided otherwise.

"No matter how hard we tried - and the Callaway Competition guys couldn't have worked harder all weekend - we just couldn't catch a break," explained Olly. "Our pace was good but we never really got the chance to demonstrate that for reasons out of our hands. I'm certain we had a car which could easily have finished in the top six.

"I took the start of our first race and made up a good few places and was in 7th by lap 6... and then the throttle stuck open. We don't know what caused it but I ended up going straight through the gravel and into the wall, but that wasn't nearly as worrying as the accident at the start of the second race when Daniel was behind the wheel.

"The field was very tightly packed up when the lights eventually went green and it all kicked off from there. Daniel had made a good start and was taken out - like a number of others - through no fault of his own. He was unbelievably lucky not to have been seriously injured which is the most important point, but it was a hugely disappointing way to close out our first ADAC GT Masters weekend of 2014. I can't be at the next round due to a Corvette Racing commitment, but am certain the team will bounce back and re-start 2014 in the same positive way they finished 2013."

Source: Team