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Chevrolet Corvette will be the featured marque next August at the 2013 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, where historic race cars annually come to the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca track to relive the sights, sounds and smells of racing days gone by.

Corvette’s recognition in Monterey, Calif., will come during its 60th anniversary model year, and a large contingent of Corvette racers is expected representing each of the car’s six generations in competition. Corvette also was the featured marque in 2002.

“Corvettes and racing have been inextricably linked since the very moment Zora Arkus-Duntov slipped behind the wheel for the first time,” said Chris Perry, Chevrolet global vice president of marketing. “His spirit is felt in today’s winning Corvette Racing program, which continues a proud legacy and one we’re looking forward to celebrating next summer.”

1960 #2 Cunningham Team Le Mans competitor and 2010 #4 C6.R GT2 (Richard Prince/GM Racing Photo).

The Corvette’s racing heritage began in 1956, when a trio of Corvettes engineered under the Duntov’s direction, competed in the 12-hour Sebring endurance racing. By 1960, Corvette was racing at Le Mans – and in its first year at the French 24-hour classic, drivers John Fitch and Bob Grossman drove their Briggs Cunningham-prepared car to a first-place finish in the GT class.

“We look forward to working closely with the Corvette team on making next year’s celebration a monumental one for Corvette racers, owners and automobile enthusiasts,” said Gill Campbell, CEO/general manager of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. “The Monterey Peninsula will rumble to life with Corvettes of every era.”

Corvette Racing has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans seven times, most recently in 2011 when the team edged out Ferrari.

Corvette has a winning history at Laguna Seca, too, including a one-two sweep of the six-hour American Le Mans Monterey race earlier this season.

2010 #4 C6.R GT2, 2011 VIN 001 GM Design Special Anniversary Z06, 1960 #2 Le Mans competitor, 1969 #49 Le Mans competitor (raced at Le Mans in 1973), and 1967 #9 Le Mans competitor (Richard Prince/GM Racing Photo).

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.

Corvette Racing drivers Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen locked up the second row in GT qualifying for Saturday's VIR 240 at Virginia International Raceway. Gavin qualified the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R third in the 11-car GT field at 1:46.409 (110.630 mph). Magnussen qualified the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R fourth at 1:46.497 (110.538 mph) in the American Le Mans Series' first visit to the Virginia track. Johannes van Overbeek claimed the GT pole in the No. 01 Ferrari with a fast lap at 1:45.988 (111.069 mph).

The top four cars were separated by .509 seconds when the 15-minute qualifying session ended. Times plummeted nearly a second from the best laps turned in practice as the GT teams turned up the wick on the 3.27-mile circuit.

"Qualifying was fast and furious," Gavin said. "I don’t feel that I strung together the best lap. I might have got down to a low 1:46, but I kept missing bits, which frustrates me. Van Overbeek must have just nailed it on his pole lap."

Gavin set the pace in his second and third qualifying laps, but fell to third when van Overbeek and BMW driver Dirk Mueller posted quicker times on their fifth and fourth laps respectively.

"You want to get the time in the first lap because that's when the tires feel at their best, but the pressures aren't quite there and the car isn't settled," the Englishman explained. "Then the speed builds, but the more you run the car, the more it slides. Perhaps that's something we need to work on for the race."

Gavin and co-driver Tommy Milner will start the VIR 240 with a 28-point lead in the GT driver championship and could clinch the title with a top-two finish. "We're in a good spot, we're where we need to be to fight," Gavin noted. "The car's balance is good, and I think we can race everyone just as we have all season long. It's going to be a long, hard four-hour race, and there's not going to be much between anybody."

According to the state slogan, Virginia is for lovers, but Virginia International Raceway is for racers. The manicured circuit in the rolling Virginia countryside will host Saturday's American Le Mans VIR 240, the ninth round of the 10-race 2012 American Le Mans Series.

The penultimate event on this year's ALMS calendar is indeed a VIR – "Very Important Race" – for Corvette Racing. The Chevy team leads the driver, team, and manufacturer championships in the GT class, and can clinch the titles at VIR. The series' first appearance at VIR is a venture into unexplored territory, however. Corvette Racing was in France preparing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans during the ALMS open test held at VIR in June. While all four Corvette Racing drivers have experience at VIR, none has raced a Corvette C6.R on the 3.27-mile Virginia road course.

"Antonio and I both know the circuit," said Jan Magnussen, second in the GT standings with co-driver Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Compuware Corvette C6.R. "It's a fantastic place, a motorsports country club – the scenery is fantastic, the track has a lot of elevation changes, long sweeping corners, and some really tight and tricky bits.

"While we were busy at Le Mans, several teams got a chance to test there, so we are a little behind," Magnussen explained. "Usually Corvette Racing picks these things up quickly, so I don't think that is a huge disadvantage. The competition is extremely close in this series, so we will need a few good practice sessions before qualifying to be able to fight with everyone else."

Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner will arrive at VIR with a 28-point lead in the GT standings over their teammates and a 30-point margin over their closest BMW rival. A lead of 24 points at the conclusion of the VIR 240 would clinch the GT championship for the Anglo-American pairing in the No. 4 Compuware Corvette C6.R.

"We really are coming to the point in the season where the pressure is on for everybody," said Gavin, who is scheduled to make his milestone 100th career ALMS start on Saturday. "There are championships on the line for drivers, manufacturers, and teams. Everyone is watching everything they do, whether it's a setup change, tire selection, a pit stop, or race strategy. You're wondering how that is going to have a knock-on effect for your end result.