Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of the Americas

Date: Sept. 19, 2014
Event: Lone Star Le Mans (Round 10 of 11)
Series: Prototype division of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship
Location: Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas (3.4-mile, 20-turn road course)
Pole Winner: Alex Brundle of OAK Racing (1:57.809 at 103.897 mph – track record)
Wayne Taylor Racing: 2nd by Ricky Taylor (1:58.643 at 103.167 mph)

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Chevrolet Corvette Dallara Daytona Prototype for Wayne Taylor Racing will start Saturday’s Tudor United SportsCar Championship Lone Star Le Mans from the outside of the front row for the second year in a row after qualifying Friday at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Ricky Taylor, who with his younger brother and full-time co-driver Jordan Taylor are 16 points out of the Tudor championship lead with two races remaining, turned a fast lap of 1 minute, 58.643 seconds at 102.919 mph around the 3.4-mile, 20-turn Formula 1 road course. It was the team’s best qualifying effort of the season and was good for second among 52 car-and-driver combinations entered for Saturday’s two-hour, 45-minute race. The Taylor brothers are pulling double duty this weekend, co-driving the No. 65 Konica Minolta Michelin Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GTE-PRO-class entry with fellow American Tommy Milner in Saturday night’s six-hour FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) race here.

“It was starting to drizzle and there was no way we were going to be on pole, so we just came in a little early and called it a session,” said Ricky Taylor, who qualified fifth and finished 11th here last year co-driving the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP with Richard Westbrook, who got called for a late-race penalty. “The P2s (LMP2 cars) just have a lot in qualifying. The new (OAK Racing car of polesitter Alex Brundle) is very quick, obviously. I think we are the best of the DPs and that’s all we can ask for. The Konica Minolta Corvette was very good. I’m very happy for this qualifying result. We haven’t had such good ones this year. As for the race, with the latest round of BOP (balance of power) adjustments, I got behind a P2 and they are as quick as us in the straight and they maintain their advantage in the corners. So, the racing’s going to be different because we’re not going to be able to pass them like we have been able to.”

The top-five qualifiers for Saturday’s Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of the Americas are:

1. OAK Racing (No. 42 Nissan Morgan) with Olivier Pla and Gustavo Yacaman (1:57.809 at 103.897 mph – track record).

2. Wayne Taylor Racing (No. 10 Corvette DP) with Ricky Taylor and Jordan Taylor (1:58.643 at 103.167 mph).

3. Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (No. 01 Ford Riley) with Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett (1:58.928 at 102.919 mph).

4. Action Express Racing (No. 5 Corvette DP) with Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa (1:59.072 at 102.795 mph).

5. Extreme Speed Motorsports (No. 2 HPD ARX-03b) with Johannes van Overbeek and Ed Brown (1:59.074 at 102.793 mph).

Race time is 12:35 p.m. EDT Saturday with live television coverage on FOX Sports 2, as well as live radio from the Motor Racing Network available on IMSA.com and MRNRadio.com, as well as select radio networks. Saturday’s Tudor series race also will be rebroadcast in a two-hour package Sunday afternoon on the FOX network. Check local listings. Saturday’s six-hour WEC race will also be broadcast live in its entirety by FOX Sports 2 beginning at 6 p.m. 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.