Oliver Gavin may have seen his GT1 championship lead reduced at Road Atlanta last weekend, but a solid third place finish means the Briton and team-mate Olivier Beretta are now odds-on favourites to wrap up the title in the final round.

Although the Corvette Racing ace admitted he was disappointed with his Petit Le Mans result, he could at least take away the encouragement that the 'Vettes were almost a match for the class-winning Aston Martins on pure speed, if not durability.

While practice may have gone firmly in favour of the two British racing green machines, it was an all yellow GT1 front row after qualifying, with 'the two Ollies' and Jan Magnussen being narrowly pipped to the class pole by team-mates Johnny O'Connell, Ron Fellows and Max Papis by a mere two tenths of a second.

“I did five timed laps,” Gavin explained. “Only one of them was without traffic and I made a mess of it! I was coming out of turn five, got it wrong and lost about three tenths of a second. That's the way it goes sometimes and, to be honest, I wasn't too upset as qualifying position doesn't make a big difference when you are going into a ten-hour race.”

What does make a big difference in a ten-hour race, though, is reliability, an area where the Aston Martins stole a crucial march on the twin 'Vettes.

“Going into the race, Olivier, Jan and I knew we couldn't challenge the Aston Martins on pace,” Gavin added, “so we had to use our heads, our strategy and be smart. It turned out to be a strange race and probably the best bit was the fight between all four GT1 cars in the early stages. It was good fun, with the advantage going backwards and forwards, and very fair.

“The 009 car seemed to be very fast throughout the race, while our cars and the 007 seemed fairly equal. We could hold them when our tyres were new, but their extra horsepower and our extra weight killed us as a stint went on.

“What really made the difference to the result though, despite a good strategy and for us a race without any incidents or accidents, was the brake wear we experienced and the need to change the front brake discs and pads.

“I seemed to do a lot of driving, being in the car for over four-and-a-half hours, and my right foot was killing me towards the end. Hard braking over a long race, especially here at Road Atlanta, is tough on the feet.”

Aston Martin may have won the battle, but Gavin knows which way the wind is blowing and is confident his Corvette team is up to the task of bringing home the silverware in the season finale at Laguna Seca in just under three weeks' time.

“Our eventual third place in class left us with a very flat feeling, especially after winning here twice before,” he admitted, “but it was enough to keep the championship alive. We now have to finish in fourth place or higher to win the drivers' title for the second year in a row, and Laguna Seca will be where it all happens.”