Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R: Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Preview

It’s back to the business of racing for the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R team after finally taking care of some seriously unfinished business seven weeks ago when it scored a resounding victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.

Oh, it’s been quite the seven weeks for brothers and full-time co-drivers Ricky and Jordan Taylor, who broke through to win one of worldwide sportscar racing’s crown jewels for the first time in their respective careers, helped send their family friend and longtime co-driver Max “The Ax” Angelelli on to retirement on a high note with his second career Rolex watch, and helped four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon achieve yet another career milestone.

This weekend, the Taylors set their sights on another of racing’s crown jewels – Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring – after a hugely eventful last seven weeks that included a celebratory visit on the outskirts of Charlotte, North Carolina with Gordon, who treated them to a five-hour tour of the Hendrick Motorsports campus followed by an nice dinner.

Four weeks ago, Cadillac V-Performance Racing announced both Taylor brothers will drive Cadillac ATS-V.R Coupes in the five SprintX races of the 2017 Pirelli World Challenge series beginning in late April. And Ricky Taylor received the treat of his young racing lifetime two weeks ago when he was invited to test defending IndyCar Series champion Simon Pagenaud’s No. 1 racecar for Team Penske on the road course at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Amidst all the hoopla, the Taylors and the Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R team got serious on the racetrack, as well, with Jordan Taylor laying down the fastest lap of all 36 teams that turned up for the recent two-day open test at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway, site of Saturday’s 65th renewal of America’s oldest endurance marathon.

In addition to preparing the Rolex 24-winning Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R for just its second-ever race, the Taylor brothers and the team officially welcomed new third driver Alex Lynn, the 23-year-old British hot shoe who has competed the past two seasons in the GP2 series – the official steppingstone to Formula One – in addition to his duties as test driver for the Williams Martini F1 team.

All reports indicated Lynn to be a perfect fit with the Taylor brothers and the rest of the Konica Minolta Cadillac team as they look to achieve their second consecutive breakthrough win after a best finish of second at the grueling 3.74-mile, 17-turn Sebring circuit the last three seasons.

With the lengthy layoff since its emotional season-opening win at Daytona behind it, the team hopes its extreme desire to get back to business helps put it over the top once again this weekend on one of only two tracks on the current tour it has yet to conquer.

Practice for Saturday’s 65th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring begins Thursday morning with Prototype-class qualifying set for 2:15 p.m. EDT Friday with live video provided by IMSA.tv beginning at 1 p.m. The green flag flies at 10:40 a.m. Saturday for the 12-hour marathon with FS1 television coverage joining the race in progress beginning at 12:30 p.m. through its conclusion at 11 p.m. A live video stream of the entire race begins on the FOXSportsGO app beginning at 10:30 a.m. Live timing and scoring during all on-track sessions is available at IMSA.com and the IMSA smartphone app.

Contact:

Laz.Denes@truespeedcommunication.com

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