Key voices from two of Corvette Racing’s greatest wins:
The Rolex 24 in 2001 and 2016
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 21, 2026) – A new season for Corvette Racing starts this weekend with the 64th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Five Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs will look to add their names to the honor roll that is Corvette Racing’s Rolex 24 victory list – just as AWA (now 13 Autosport) did last year.
That list of winners includes two very special and noteworthy inclusions: the 2001 overall winner Corvette C5-R of Ron Fellows, Johnny O’Connell, Chris Kniefel and Franck Freon (alongside a Corvette featuring Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr.); and the 2016 GTLM Corvette C7.R of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler.
The former was the first overall victory for a Corvette in Rolex 24 history, and the latter was a 1-2 team finish by just 0.034 seconds. With official practice and qualifying for this year’s race starting Thursday, today is an appropriate time to take a trip down memory lane with some of the important and key players from each year…
JIM CAMPBELL, VICE PRESIDENT, CHEVROLET MOTORSPORTS & PERFORMANCE COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS: “Two of the biggest accomplishments center around Corvette Racing at Daytona: the 2001 overall Rolex 24 win and the 1-2 GTLM finish in 2016. Both of these achievements displayed the best of Corvette Racing – teamwork by the entire crews, engineering execution and Corvette showcasing itself as America’s sports car. Those program attributes are present in the Corvettes we produce both for the track and the showroom around the world. It is a testament to the collective efforts of our production, powertrain and design engineers alongside our each of our race teams.
“Just as important is the tie-in and following with the Corvette community. Corvette fans – and especially fans of Corvette Racing – are loyal and passionate about what we do. This was evident even in the early days of Corvette Racing. We as a team made the decision early on to foster that feeling of ownership between the race program and our Corvette owners, fans and supporters. Our Corvette Corrals – including the one for this weekend at the Rolex 24 – represent what makes us unique. It is this dedication and support from our fans that allows us to continue building, improving and racing Corvettes around the world.”
RON FELLOWS, 2001 ROLEX 24 OVERALL WINNER, NO. 2 CORVETTE C5-R: “I can’t remember what time I got in the car for the final stint. Somewhere between 11 and 11:30 and we ended at 1.So it was maybe two-and-a-half stints. I had not been out of the car that long and was in the motorhome laying down to try and get a bit of sleep. Of course we had a TV in there and a scoring monitor. I nodded off and at one point woke up to see the Dyson Racing car going into the first horseshoe with smoke coming out the back of it. I thought it was a highlight from the past… but then I realized that no, that’s this year’s livery! Then in the motorhome comes Doug Fehan to tell me that I needed to finish and we had a chance to win this thing overall. It was an exciting time having gone from our first appearance in the Rolex in 1999 and just hoping to finish to the next year chasing the Viper and finishing second and then having a chance to win again overall the next year. It was really exciting. And of course having the Earnhardts along made for an incredible and one of the greatest race events that I’ve ever been a part of.
“Winning Daytona was the beginning of a long run of Corvette Racing success. Guys like myself and Johnny were lucky to be part of a lot of the first firsts. In 2001 to not only to get the class win but to win overall – and a Chevy hadn’t done that since the late 1960s – and on top of that to have the Earnhardts part of that team as well, it created a level of recognition for Corvette Racing. That was the beginning. It got a lot of attention and recognition and set the stage for what turned into a 10-year dominance of the GT1 class for 10 years.”
JOHNNY O’CONNELL, 2001 ROLEX 24 OVERALL WINNER, NO. 2 CORVETTE C5-R: “It actually was a pretty easy race. There was some drama with some rain and all that, but it was really a lot of fun. Bill Delong, one of our mechanics, had to drill a hole in our floor to run some water out the cockpit but that was pretty much it.
“Every sports car racer has it in their mind to win all the big ones. To date, I still haven’t done Daytona a lot relative to all the other ones; I’ve done Le Mans more than Daytona. So that made it special. No one wants to buy a Rolex. So why buy one if you can get one for free!
“But it was special to me because it was my first race with Corvette. Then there was the magnitude of all the attention with the Earnhardts. The guy was legit… he was asking me if there were ways that he could get better. His and my stints coincided. We had more pace than they did, and there was a point in the race where I came up behind him. Even though we would come out onto the oval faster, by the end of the straight they would be faster. They were using a different line… both he and Junior. So when I got to him, rather than go by I decided to follow him to see what he was doing. One of the coolest things ever for me was coming off the banking at oval Turn Four, I was right on his bumper hooked up like that. I kept thinking how cool it was to be drafting at Daytona with the master. It was something I’ll never forget and was pretty darn special.
“Before the race, I got what turned out to be the best racing advice of my life from Doug Fehan before the start. He told me that everyone knew I was fast. My job was not to hit anybody, don’t break anything and stay on the racetrack. If we did that, then we were going to have a great race. I’ve kept that mantra throughout my career. It just was a magical time because there was so much energy around the team. We laid such a solid foundation back then for everything moving forward. There was just a really good vibe within the team and you felt that good things were going to happen.
“Getting to the end, you were just praying ‘Don’t let anything break’ or ‘Don’t let anybody run into us. Once it looked like we were going to win the race, they put Ron in the car for a really long time. At that stage, Ron was the guy so it totally made sense. But the entire time, I’m praying nothing happens. But he brought it home and we picked up our watches from Jackie Stewart, which was really cool. The event was really amazingly special.”
DALE EARNHARDT JR., 2001 ROLEX 24 GTS RUNNER-UP, NO. 3 CORVETTE C5-R: “It was an incredible introduction to an entirely different form of racing that I found to be very enjoyable. Some of my favorite memories of Dad and I both in the midst of our racing careers were with the Corvette Racing team. We spent days testing at Sebring and Daytona and created a lot of memorable moments for us both leading up to the event. Then being able to join each other in this quest for success in a new discipline was rewarding. Both of us were somewhat novices to the approach and process of endurance racing.”
OLIVER GAVIN, 2016 ROLEX 24 GTLM WINNER, NO. 4 CORVETTE C7.R: “I can’t believe it’s been 10 years. In those situations as a driver, your teammate is the car and you want to be in control and able to shape it. But there is the element that you are the guy that’s under pressure and you have to deliver. It was really, really intense…the most intense final stint I’ve ever done for Corvette Racing. Chuck (Houghton, race engineer) and I were counting down the laps to see how many times I needed to pick out my point at Turn One and where else did I need to defend. I know Antonio (Garcia) so well. We raced against each other for so many years but we also trained together and ran together and shared houses at races together. There was the whole intense period where I was using all of my knowledge and experience, and he was doing the same. At the same time, there was the voice of Mark Reuss in our ears about racing clean, fair and do not touch. I think there was a point where you could’ve barely put a slip of paper between us, so it was massively intense.
“So many people asked me afterward if they really let the two of us race. And absolutely yes they did. That was as hard and as fast the two of us could go.
“Antonio had a shorter stint on new tires to the end, so that was playing into the whole mix. The one lap where he gets by me into Turn One, I knew he had braked maybe two meters too late and I thought the only chance I had was to get across the apex and use a tiny bit of a crown in the road to hook the front of my car through the center of the corner and carry maybe one or one-and-a-half mph more than him through there. And it was just enough for me to sling it back through. And then the next few laps seemed to go on forever. I did get warned that I couldn’t drive any more aggressively to keep him behind, so I had to wind that back a bit. The team was trying to be as fair and equally as they possibly could.
“Antonio knew his best opportunity on every lap was the run he needed to get through the Bus Stop, where he was particularly strong. He would back himself up through the infield a little bit to get in the exact spot where he didn’t get any aero wash going through and into the Bus Stop while still having enough momentum to get into my tow. He was so nearly perfect but not quite. That’s what I was trying to not have him do. That run through NASCAR Three and Four to the stripe just seemed to last forever… It was like slow-motion. He had done everything he could with what he had but it just wasn’t quite enough.”
“I didn’t see Antonio until after he got to the podium after the race. Antonio isn’t someone who has a lot of words but it was a bit of ‘well done’ and a wry smile. He’s always been a great professional, a great friend. He was happy for me in that we had won, but I know he also felt it was definitely one that kind of got away. It was an amazing race, an amazing finish and something that I will always remember.”
TOMMY MILNER, 2016 ROLEX 24 GTLM WINNER, NO. 4 CORVETTE C7.R: “There’s a reason why a lot of drivers say they would rather be in the car, because as I experienced that day, sitting on pit lane and watching everything happening is so nerve wracking. You’re watching everything happen and it feels like it takes forever for those final laps. What sticks out in my mind is there were about 30 or 40 minutes to go in the race and time felt like it was going by at somewhat normal speed. About the time that Antonio had gotten quite close to Olly, I swear a full year’s worth of racing had gone by. Then I checked the clock again and it was still 20 minutes to go! Those 10 minutes had elapsed and it felt like 24 hours it took to get to that point. So when that happened, I remember telling myself not to look at the clock anymore and that I’m just going to watch the race unfold.
“When Antonio got by Olly into Turn One with a couple laps to go, the whole left side of the pit box there erupted. It was like you could draw a line right down the center. The whole 3 car crew threw their arms up and celebrated. Then Olly got him right back and the whole 4 car side threw their hands up and cheered. It was one of those moments where everyone had that nervous laughter kind of going back between both sides, appreciating what we we’re watching, how special it was to see this crown jewel of sports car racing here in the United States come down to our two cars and those guys racing as hard as they were.
“It was great to see what we’ve always felt within the team – a very healthy competitive environment between the two sides of the pitbox. I think everyone was excited for the team getting a one-two. It seemed like we all appreciated what we were able to do and experience that day at Daytona.”
MARCEL FÄSSLER, 2016 ROLEX 24 GTLM WINNER, NO. 4 CORVETTE C7.R: “It does not seem like 10 years! Definitely not. But even as time goes on the memories of that race are still present. It’s something I’ll never forget… for a couple of reasons. I got a penalty due to a pit exit infringement. The pit exit was closed and I still believe it was green. But I thought I had ruined our race. But due to yellows we got back. Both Corvettes were super strong and we had the pace for the final hours. All of a sudden we were both up front and the others couldn’t keep up with our pace. We knew then that it would be our race. But which one, No. 4 or No. 3, wasn’t clear.
“It was crazy sitting at the pit wall watching Olly and Antonio battling for the lead. I couldn’t really watch anymore after a time. I tried to talk with people hoping time would run down faster but it would not. Garcia was incredibly fast and obviously they were free to race. Those were great drives from both of them but it was one of Gavin’s finest to bring the C7.R across the line with that tiny margin. Unbelievable racing from Corvette Racing… this was true racing as we and the fans want to see.”
About General Motors
General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future. Learn more at GM.com.
