17th Annual Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta
Date: Oct 3, 2014
Event: 17th Annual Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta (Round 11 of 11)
Series: Prototype division of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship
Location: Road Atlanta (2.54-mile, 12-turn road course)
Pole Winner: Christian Fittipaldi of Action Express Racing (1:14.508 at 122.725 mph – track record)
Wayne Taylor Racing: 2nd by Ricky Taylor (1:14.797 at 122.251 mph)
The No. 10 Konica Minolta Chevrolet Corvette Dallara Daytona Prototype for Wayne Taylor Racing will start Saturday’s Tudor United SportsCar Championship season finale, the 17th annual Petit Le Mans, from the outside of the front row after qualifying Friday at Road Atlanta.
Ricky Taylor, who is wrapping up his first full season co-driving with his younger brother Jordan Taylor, qualified on the front row for the second race in a row with a fast lap of 1 minute, 14.797 seconds at 122.251 mph around the 2.54-mile, 12-turn Road Atlanta circuit. It equaled his qualifying effort at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas two weeks ago as the team’s best of the season, and was good for second among 54 car-and-driver combinations set to take the green flag for Saturday’s 10-hour endurance marathon. Veteran Italian Max “The Ax” Angelelli is joining the Taylor brothers for this final round of the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup championship-within-a-championship as he has all season. The No. 10 Corvette DP trails the pole-winning No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP by just six points in the North American Endurance Cup. The No. 5 Corvette DP team will clinch the inaugural, season-long Tudor series championship simply by taking the green flag Saturday.
“We have the best of the DPs and I just didn’t put together a very good lap,” Ricky Taylor said. “So, I’m happy for the race, but I hate losing the pole like that, but I think we have a very good car and I’m just disappointed with myself about qualifying. Without the 42 car (OAK Racing Nissan LMP2 entry) out there (because of mechanical issues during qualifying), that was our chance for a pole. I just missed an opportunity because our car is very good. That’s all there is to it. For tomorrow, we have a very good car and have 10 hours to take advantage of it.”
The top-five qualifiers for Saturday’s Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta are:
1. Action Express Racing (No. 5 Corvette DP) with Christian Fittipaldi, Joao Barbosa and Sebastien Bourdais (1:14.508 at 122.725 mph – track record).
2. Wayne Taylor Racing (No. 10 Corvette DP) with Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli (1:14.797 at 122.251 mph).
3. Spirit of Daytona Racing (No. 90 Corvette DP) with Richard Westbrook, Michael Valiante and Mike Rockenfeller (1:14.920 at 122.050 mph).
4. Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (No. 01 Ford Riley) with Memo Rojas, Scott Pruett and Scott Dixon (1:15.224 at 121.557 mph).
5. DeltaWing Racing Cars (No. 0 DeltaWing DWC13) with Andy Meyrick, Katherine Legge and Gabby Chavez (1:15.317 at 121.407 mph).
Race time is 11:15 a.m. EDT Saturday with FOX Sports 2 picking up the live television broadcast in progress at 3 p.m. Live streaming video will be available at IMSA.com beginning at 11 a.m. Live radio from the Motor Racing Network available on IMSA.com and MRNRadio.com, as well as select radio networks, begins at 11 a.m. Saturday’s race also will be rebroadcast in a two-hour package Sunday on the FOX network. Check local listings. Live timing and scoring during all Tudor series on-track sessions is available at IMSA.com and the IMSA smartphone app. Results and other information pertaining to the WEC event can be found at FIAWEC.com.
