Motor City Magic for Ricky, Jordan Taylor
- plugged2racing
- Jun 5, 2017
- 5 min read
Brothers and co-drivers Ricky and Jordan Taylor and their No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R remained perfect for 2017 after scoring their fifth consecutive victory to start the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season Saturday with a dramatic “worst-to-first” effort that also was the team’s fourth victory on Detroit’s Streets of Belle Isle temporary circuit in the last five years.
It was the 19th career major North American sportscar win for both Taylor brothers – a record 12 in the WeatherTech Series to go with seven in the former GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Championship – and their eighth in the last nine races on temporary street circuits.
Unlike their previous win at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, where they qualified on the pole in record time and led all 73 race laps, this one looked in serious doubt for the Taylor brothers after elder brother Ricky lost control of the sleek, black Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R in qualifying Friday after just having set the fastest lap, and made heavy contact with the concrete barrier. It took the team until after midnight to repair the damaged racecar and, to add insult to injury, Taylor was relegated to the back of the Prototype-class grid per the IMSA rulebook for causing a red-flag stoppage during qualifying.
Starting 12th on the grid for a relatively short, one-hour, 40-minute street-course race in which passing has always been difficult seemed a huge setback in the team’s hopes of continuing its winning streak. But the young drivers and their team persisted as Ricky Taylor diligently moved from 12th to seventh place on just the very first lap around the 2.36-mile, 13-turn Belle Isle layout. By lap 11 he made a move into sixth, and by lap 17 he was in the top-five. Then, the very next lap, the day’s only full-course caution flag flew for a multicar incident and Taylor pitted with the rest of the field for tires, fuel and driver change.
Jordan Taylor took over, and quick work by the Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi.V-R crew sent him back on track in third place behind the Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R entries of Dane Cameron in the No. 31 car and Joao Barbosa in the No. 5.
The younger Taylor brother was shuffled back to fourth on the ensuing restart on lap 25 with 54 minutes left in the race. He patiently bided his time from there as the leaders began executing a variety of pit strategies for their final fuel stop. Taylor was called into the pits just 11 laps after the restart with 40 minutes remaining. He emerged in second place, ahead of both the No. 5 Action Express Cadillac DPi-V.R of Barbosa and the No. 70 Mazda DPi of Joel Miller that he had pursued for the previous 11 laps. The No. 31 Action Express Cadillac DPi-V.R of Cameron elected to save its final stop for much later.
Taylor was as much as 35 seconds behind Cameron after the No. 10 team’s pit stop. He drove fast and furiously to try and close the gap, getting as close as 28 seconds of Cameron by the time the No. 31 team elected to pit on lap 49 with just over 21 minutes remaining. Taylor raced by the start-finish line as Cameron’s fuel stop concluded and cleared him through the fast, right-hand turn one and never looked back from there, leading the final 16 laps and finishing 4.948 seconds ahead at the checkered flag.
“I almost ruined it yesterday with my mistake in qualifying,” Ricky Taylor said after the race. “The car was in a million pieces and we were starting from the back, so I thought today was just going to be just a points day – to try and finish the race in the top three or four. To think we were going to win the race was unrealistic. It just came down to getting good track position during the first stint and then it was all due to that yellow falling at the right time where we got all bunched up. The guys made a fantastic pit stop getting us up to third. And then, that final stop, I don’t even understand how they strategized that, and we got by the 31. The guys just did an unbelievable job. This one was definitely earned by the team, staying up until after midnight to fix the car from my crash yesterday and just gave us a great car today. This, for me, is a special win because I was the one who crashed yesterday. There are so many good cars and drivers that it is tough to win in this series. Starting at the back of the field, I just wanted to put in a good drive for the guys. To come back and win with every part of the team functioning at their very best this weekend is a great effort.”
"It came down to strategy and having the quickest car,” Jordan Taylor said. “Ricky made a couple of big moves to get us up to fifth. When I restarted, I went to get by the 5 and got pinched by the Mazda and he got by me. Then I got some clean track when they peeled off to the pits and the car came to life and I was able to turn some good laps in clean air. We were able to close the gap to the 5 and 70 and we were able to jump them, then we did the same to the 31. It was a perfect strategy. We would have been happy with a second or third today. The win was icing on the cake.”
The win opened up a 30-points lead in the championship for the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R team over the No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R team, which started on the pole but finished fourth today behind the No. 70 Mazda team.
“Coming out of the gate with a brand new car for Daytona and winning the (Rolex) 24-hour and then on to Sebring and winning there, then four in a row, it’s just been a dream,” team owner Wayne Taylor said. “I thought, ‘Well let’s just go for five.’ Then, when Ricky had the incident in qualifying, I thought, ‘Let’s go into points mode.’ But this team never goes into points mode. The funny thing about strategy is it changes every 20 minutes. It’s not always a strategy that we start with, it just depends on what happens during the race. This is an incredible team of people. We have been together for 10 years. Ricky and Jordan are doing a great job. They have an excellent relationship with the engineers and that translates to the success with the Cadillac on the track. Obviously, I need to thank Cadillac, GM Racing, and of course my friends Rick Taylor and Konica Minolta. And now, these guys (Ricky and Jordan) are going over to Le Mans, so I can take a break.”
Round six of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule is the annual midsummer Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen endurance marathon at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International on Sunday, July 2. The first three hours of the race will be televised live by FS1 with the final three hours and post-race festivities carried live by FS2.
Contact:
Laz.Denes@TrueSpeedCommunication.com
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