Source: Wayne Taylor Racing

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R will start Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic from the inside of the fourth row after IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying Friday evening on the Streets of Belle Isle in downtown Detroit.

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R will start Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic from the inside of the fourth row after IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying Friday evening on the Streets of Belle Isle in downtown Detroit.

Renger van der Zande, who with co-driver Jordan Taylor is looking to score the team’s fifth Detroit victory in the last six years this weekend, clocked a fast lap of 1 minute, 22.273 seconds at 102.828 mph during a slightly shortened qualifying session around the 2.36-mile, 13-turn temporary street circuit due to a red-flag stoppage. It was good for seventh among the 26 car-and-driver combinations that will take the green flag for Saturday’s one-hour, 40 minute sprint race.

“It’s been a rough day – we’ve been chasing the setup a little bit over the bumps here but, for qualifying we made a very good step forward,” said van der Zande, the Dutch driving veteran who scored back-to-back LMPC-class wins here with the Starworks Motorsport team in 2015 and 2016. “The only issue was the red flag, which made it all come down to a two-lap shootout at the end, which was really cool in one way but, at the same time, it would have been good to get the whole session in. I gave it my all and got a pretty good lap. It was nowhere near the pole but at least we’re a little bit ahead of where we were in practice. Then, into turn 11, I was fully sideways and almost spun off on an even quicker lap, but those are the risks you have to take, sometimes. I went over a bump, got a little wide, kept the throttle down to see if we could make it, but I had to lift, anyway, and lost a few tenths there. Altogether, it wasn’t the greatest, but in the race, anything can happen, for sure. We should be able to make another few steps forward because we’ve at least found the right direction.”

Source: Sunday Group Management Press Release

Source: Wayne Taylor Racing

2018 Mid Ohio Post Race Report

Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R Finishes Right Where it Started In Caution-Free WeatherTech Series IMSA Sports Car Challenge

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R duo of Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande finished right where it started in Sunday’s IMSA Sports Car Challenge, bringing home a solid fifth-place finish in the WeatherTech Championship series’ return to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington. 

It was the first time since 2013 series competitors have raced on the scenic, 2.238-mile, 13-turn road course, where passing is notoriously difficult and races are instead won or lost by strategy and execution on pit road. 

Thus, the caution-free 125 laps run in today’s two-hour, 40-minute race did not afford the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R much of an opportunity to make major moves to the front of the pack from its fifth spot on the starting grid. 

Through each of the three rounds of green-flag pit stops the team executed today, Taylor and van der Zande resumed in fifth place. Taylor crossed the finish line 57 seconds behind his older brother and former co-driver Ricky Taylor, who left after last year’s championship-winning season to join the new, two-car Team Penske Prototype-class effort and scored the victory today with teammate Helio Castroneves. 

Van der Zande, the Dutch driving veteran who stepped in as Jordan Taylor’s full-time co-driver this season, qualified fifth Saturday behind a pair of Acuras and a pair of Mazdas. He drove a solid opening two stints but could not make any headway. He momentarily picked up a position when the No. 55 Mazda DPi of Jonathan Bomarito and Spencer Pigot retired on lap 74, but the No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Joao Barbosa and Felipe Albuquerque came out just ahead during the second round of green-flag stops, having pitted five laps before the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R during that cycle. 

“We were racing the 5 car today,” van der Zande said. “Every other car in front us was at a different level of speed. I drove very hard. I drove very fast. I thought my stint was flawless, basically. Somehow, the 5 beat us, which we have to find out why. At the same time, Jordan did a great job, the team did a great job. I love this track. Apart from the fact you can’t overtake cars in your own class, I really enjoyed the track itself. It’s an intense track. To get the lap time you want, you really have to nail it, which makes it quite special. I was really happy to be racing here this weekend.” 

Taylor kept pace but also could not make any progress toward the leaders during his flawless driving stints to the finish. 

“I think we were kind of in our own race today,” he said. “We couldn’t really race with the lead pack, which was the top four cars. So basically we were racing for fifth and sixth for most of the race and, once someone else fell out, we were battling for fourth and fifth. We thought we had the right strategy. I’m not sure what went wrong, how we got jumped, but I still think it was the right strategy. But considering what we have, I think we can be happy with a fifth-place finish. Looking at the championship, it’s good to be consistent, especially when you have so many good cars in the field, now. You can’t risk a bad finish. So, considering how we didn’t have the fastest car, I think coming away with good points is pretty good.” 

The fifth-place finish enabled the team to pick up one spot from fourth to third in the Prototype-class standings, five points behind the second-place No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr, and 15 points behind the front-running No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R. 

Ricky Taylor’s victory today was the 20th of his career and first with a team other than his father’s. It was also the first for the new Team Penske camp, which includes Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron in the car that finished second here today. 

“As I said at the beginning of the year, I have two chances of winning, now,” said team owner Wayne Taylor. “Obviously, I want my team to win for Konica Minolta and Cadillac with Jordan and Renger. But this weekend, we really didn’t have a chance against the Acuras. I’m just really proud of Ricky and Helio on their win. I really wanted Ricky to be the first one to win for them. That makes Ricky the 50th driver to win a race for Roger Penske. I’ve always loved Mid-Ohio. The fans really love sportscar racing here, and it’s still similar to what it was like when I was driving here in 1990 and 1991. And I really like coming here. I love this place.” 

Round five on the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship calendar is the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on the Streets of Belle Isle temporary circuit Saturday, June 2, with live FS2 television beginning at 12:30 p.m. EDT. Taylor and van der Zande will be vying for the team’s fifth victory in its last six visits to the annual IndyCar Series-headlined event.

Source: Sunday Management Group

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Mansfield, Ohio (6 May 2018)- The No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing DPi-V.R  finished the Mid-Ohio Grand Prix eighth on Sunday as Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr teamed for the fourth round of the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The race marked the return of IMSA to the technical track set in rural Ohio with a long history of sports car racing through the decades. With 34 cars sharing the 2.238-mile circuit for the two-hour, forty minute race, there were high expectations for drama between the three classes in competition. Instead, the race ran at a relentless pace for the entirety of the the event from green to checkered flag. Pit stops are always critical, and the 125 lap event saw the team produce three well-executed stops as track position was as vital as ever with the extended green flag run.   Curran started the race from twelfth on the grid, but was able to make a pair of moves to slot in to tenth on the opening lap. The American racer continued to move forward, taking seventh position before turning for pit lane as Nasr took the controls. Returning to the action in 11th on lap 35, the former Formula 1 pilot made the most of the green flag run to advance to eighth before taking the checkered flag. "It's fun to come back to Mid-Ohio and run our Whelen Cadillac around here,” said Curran. “We got a little off on the initial set up of the car with the car being really loose. We made some adjustments to make up for it later in our run. But the leaders had a ton of speed today so we’ll just move on to the next one. We got a few points and came away with an 8th place finish but we just have to keep charging forward and get back up to the front. I look forward to racing in Detroit." "I worked very hard today,” said Nasr. “It was a difficult weekend for us in general. I felt like I did everything I could today. This track is a lot more difficult to overtake even compared to Long Beach because of the loss of downforce. Looking at the positive, we still scored a few points and I am ready for the next race already to make up some ground."  The next race on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be the Chevrolet Grand Prix in Detroit on June 2. Whelen Timeline: http://www.whelen.com/pb/Automotive/ProductSheets/Misc/Whelen_History.pdf Follow twitter.com/ax_racing for updates and visit the all-new http://axracing.com for team information, photos, and additional updates.   Facebook Twitter Web

Felipe Nasr Felipe Nasr has joined Action Express Racing for the 2018  IMSA WeatherTech Prototype Championship SportsCar Season with co-driver Eric Curran in the No, 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R.  The former Formula 1 racer has one start with Action Express Racing (Rolex 24 At Daytona, 2013) as he moves full time into endurance sports car racing in 2018.   Eric Curran 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Champion Eric Curran returns to Whelen Engineering Racing as a full-time pilot alongside Felipe Nasr.  Eric has been racing under the Whelen Engineering banner since the 2007 season, and is  President of West Coast Exotic Cars located in California. Eric and his fiancé, Chelsey reside in Sarasota, FL and Murrieta CA

About Whelen Engineering Whelen Engineering designs and manufactures reliable and powerful warning lights, white illumination lighting, sirens, controllers, and high-powered warning systems for Automotive, Aviation, and Mass Notification industries worldwide. With two state-of-the-art facilities in Connecticut and New Hampshire, Whelen has the largest design staff in the industry and over 1,500 dedicated employees.  Visit www.whelen.com for more information. Team Fox Team Fox is the sports and event fundraising arm of the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Disease Research.  They are considered a major associate sponsor of the Whelen Racing Team.  The Team Fox logo appears on the rear fenders of the Whelen Racing Team car.  Visit michaeljfox.org for additional information.

Source: Wayne Taylor Racing

A fourth consecutive victory on the Grand Prix of Long Beach (Calif.) street circuit was not to be for the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R team Saturday. But a solid third-place run from the sixth starting position in the first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship sprint race of the season by the new full-time driving tandem of Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande is certainly a welcome result. 

Since finishing second here in 2014, Taylor and his older brother Ricky Taylor had been the dominant and undisputed kings of the beach, taking home the first-place trophy from the Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix each of the last three seasons. 

But this year’s renewal of the annual one-hour, 40-minute street fight was expected to be much more competitive with a host of new teams and world-class drivers beefing up the Prototype class for 2018, and this weekend’s event lived up to those expectations. One of those new powerhouse teams is the two-car Team Penske effort, to where Ricky Taylor departed following his 2017 championship season with his younger brother on the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R team. 

Coincidentally, the Taylor brothers found themselves nose-to-tail during a key restart with 23 minutes remaining in today’s race with Ricky Taylor holding down third place in his No. 7 Team Penske Acura DPi. Less than two laps after the race went back to green, fourth-place Jordan Taylor made a stellar save avoiding his older brother while negotiating the tight, right-hand hairpin known as turn 11 that empties onto the long front straight along Shoreline Drive. The younger Taylor continued to apply pressure to his older brother from behind, briefly getting by coming out of turn 11 with 10 minutes remaining. Ricky Taylor retook third place by the time they arrived at turn one. 

But, one lap later, with less than nine minutes remaining, Jordan Taylor completed a pass of his older brother in turn one and never looked back from there, taking the checkered flag behind race winner Felipe Albuquerque in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R and runner-up Ryan Dalziel in the No. 2 ESM Nissan DPi. 

“From where we started to finish third, we’re very happy with that.” Taylor said. “It is a tough track to pass on, so finishing third is a good points day. You never know what you are going to get on a street course. Anything can happen when you go around a corner, you can end up in the wall. To come away with third place after second place at Sebring, those are the kinds of days that can go a long way toward our championship chances. I think Ricky was a little nice to us. He was struggling big-time with his car. I could see him fighting it everywhere, just kind of hanging on. I put some pressure on him and I was going to go for it, but I saw him defend and he went a little wide, so I was able to capitalize on it. It was a good battle. Thankfully we didn’t touch each other or my dad would have been pretty upset. I think we are going to have some fun racing each other this year. I had a moment going into turn 11 after the restart. I think Ricky had some pick-up on his tires and he was a little cautious and hit the brakes a little early, so it caught me off guard. I hit the brakes and it went completely sideways and I was sure I was in the runoff. But, when I opened my eyes, I realized on was on the track, so I turned left and we didn’t even lose a position. That was a big moment. But, overall, to leave here with third, we can feel really good about that.” 

Van der Zande, the 32-year-old Dutch driving veteran who opened the season with a dramatic pole qualifying effort at the Rolex 24 At Daytona endurance marathon, qualified fourth here late Friday afternoon but had his best lap nullified because of a track limit line infraction and had to settle for sixth on the starting grid. 

He started today’s race cleanly and worked hard to keep the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R in touch with the leaders during what turned out to be a 39-minute opening stint that ended during the second full-course caution of the day, when he pitted for tires and fuel and to turn the car over to Taylor. 

“This is a fantastic result, all things considered,” van der Zande said. “Halfway through the race, I didn’t think we would get good points today, but there we went. Jordan made a great move on Ricky and, apart from that, a big save while he was chasing Ricky before that. I had a bit of a hard stint. There wasn’t too much going on. I was just staying in position and saving fuel. I think altogether we can be happy with this. It’s great to score points like we did and be on the podium at the end of the day.” 

With the team’s second consecutive podium finish and fifth in a row at Long Beach, it moves up one position in the standings to fourth, 13 points behind the race-winning No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R and just one point out of third, occupied by the No. 54 Oreca LMP2, which finished 10th today. 

“As usual, everybody did a great job,” team owner Wayne Taylor said. “We didn’t seem to have the car to win this weekend. Hats off to the 5 team on their win and to ESM for getting second, but it was very nice to get a podium considering where we started. We qualified fourth and had an infringement during qualifying, so we had to start sixth, so it was a bit tough because it’s so competitive and you just can’t pass anyone, anywhere. Watching Ricky and Jordan battling at the end, there, was probably the toughest 20 minutes of my life. But, to get a podium is a good result today. We’ve now had two in a row and that’s how you win championships.” 

Round four on the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship calendar is the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Showdown at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington three weeks hence. Race day is Sunday, May 6 with live television provided by FS2 beginning at 1 p.m. EDT.

Reprint: Sunday Group Management
Contact: Matt Cleary, media@sundaymanagement.com (317) 908-2975 (m)

Launches 2018 North American Endurance Cup Championship Campaign with victory

Media notes:

• 3rd Rolex 24 victory for Barbosa (2010, 2014, 2018) and Fittipaldi (2004, 2014, 2018)
• 2nd Rolex 24 victory for Albuquerque (2013 GT class win, 2018)
• 19th IMSA race victory for Action Express Racing
• Mustang Sampling Racing won the 2014, 2015,  2016, and 2017 Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup title
• 808 Laps is new record distance for Rolex 24 in 56 years
• First time crew chief Scott Darnell wins on debut 
• 1-2 result for Action Express Racing as sister No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing entry finishes second

For PDF of release and full team statistics click here

Daytona Beach, Fla. (28 January 2018)   Battling one of the most competitive fields in the history of the event, Mustang Sampling Racing emerged from a record-breaking race to take victory in the 2018 Rolex 24 At Daytona on Sunday with drivers Filipe Albuquerque (PRT), Christian Fittipaldi (BRA) João Barbosa (PRT).

The trio started the race from third on the 50-car grid, and were a competitive force from the drop of the green, leading over 500 laps of the race on their way to  victory. 

Beyond the stout 20-entry field of Prototypes, the team also had to contend with a heavy rainstorm early in the race and then address an overheating engine late in the event. But after nearly 30 picture-perfect pit stops from the squad, the team battled through the night and into the day to claim the checkered flag. 

The 56th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona ran at a record breaking pace, with just 4 cautions slowing the field as the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R covered some 808 laps to set a new record for the Rolex 24 At Daytona. 

The team, which also took wins at the 2010 and 2014 Rolex 24 events,  won the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 and is looking to add another title in 2018. 

The next round of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar competition will be at Sebring International Speedway for the fabled 12 Hour. 

Filipe Albuquerque, No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R:

“We had the alarms going with the temperature and I was looking all the time to the water temperature and oil temperature and it is flashing on and off at the same time. I am seeing the 31 and the 54 gaining laps and laps and I had to overtake the GT cars at the same time. It was really hard to manage. I started hearing every little thing with the car. In the end, the Cadillac was the strongest and was able to handle the high temperatures for the win. Last year was devastating but we stuck together and had a hell of a race today!”

Joao Barbosa, No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R:

“This race is so much about the guys on the pit wall. They do such an amazing job and are so focused.  It was not just the last hour (that was stressful), but the last six hours that we had to manage a lot of things inside the car. It was an unbelievable race. We had a great strategy and we had been working a lot on the car set up and we were able to double stint the tires since the beginning of the race – especially during the night – and we were making up a lot of ground.  It is easier to really push than to drive slow and manage your pace. The Cadillac ran well and we made it to the finish. The team did a flawless job. With last year’s disappointment, we finally got one!”

Christian Fittipaldi, No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R:

“At this stage of my racing career this win is very sweet. I am not sure how many more of these Daytona races I have left, not like Filipe (Albuquerque) who probably has 15 more years and tries. It is unbelievably sweet after what happened last year. We have been racing together for the last three seasons. I want to thank Action Express, Cadillac and Mustang Sampling. The team prepared a great a car and we delivered on the track.”

Ken Thompson, Mustang Sampling 

“This is our fourth year with this team and this family. Starting with the Corvettes (Daytona Prototypes) and into the start of the Cadillac DPi-V.R, it has been a phenomenal experience for me, my family, my wife, my company, our customers and everyone. I can’t say enough about this team, and about IMSA. The series has provided us with a place to come race and to give back to the fans, which is so well deserved. I’m at a loss for words – I’m sure it will sink in later!

Bob Johnson, Mustang Sampling Racing Team Principal

“It just doesn’t get any better than this one – this was phenomenal. I couldn’t believe it, all the way through. This team has worked so hard and it shows. That’s what it takes, a lot of hard work. It’s great to be back in Victory Lane, especially after last year. I feel terrible for the other Cadillac teams (that did not finish) and obviously it was a big concern for us as well. We monitored it very closely, and we prevailed. Winning this race for a third time, it gets better every year and I couldn’t be prouder of this team.”

Partial reprint from Sunday Management Group

Action Express Racing claims 1-2 overall finish

 
Click here for PDF

Daytona Beach, Fla. (28 January 2018) Whelen Engineering Racing delivered a strong performance in a record-breaking race as the team took a second place finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Sunday. 
 
The race result marked a strong start to the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship-winning squad as full-season Whelen Engineering pilots Felipe Nasr and Eric Curran were joined by Mike Conway and Sunoco Whelen Challenge winner Stuart Middleton in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R entry. 
 
The foursome was a front-running threat all day and night of the record-setting race, which saw the race winning No. 5 Action Express entry take the victory by just over one minute after covering 808 laps, or some 2,876 miles. 
 
After dueling for the lead with the No. 5 late in the race, the No. 31 Whelen Engineering entry encountered high running temperatures as the drivers adjusted their pace to ensure that the Prototype would go the distance.
 
Standout drives by all four on the roster saw the fabled white and red Whelen machine a regular fixture out front as the team delivered faultless pit stops through the unrelenting race, which was only slowed four times for caution periods.  Middleton drove the car across the finish line to close out the day, setting a new record as the youngest to take the Rolex 24 podium at just 18 years old, besting the mark set by Nasr in 2012. 
 
Whelen Engineering Racing will return to IMSA WeatherTech competition in just over a month’s time for the Sebring 12 Hours on March 17th.