62nd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
Date: March 14, 2014
Event: 62nd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring (Round 2 of 12)
Series: Prototype division of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship
Location: Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway (3.74-mile, 17-turn road course)
Pole Winner: Sebastien Bourdais of Action Express Racing (1:51.917 at 120.303 mph)
Wayne Taylor Racing: 3rd by Ricky Taylor (1:52.544 at 119.633 mph)
The No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Chevrolet Corvette Dallara Daytona Prototype of Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) will start Saturday’s 62nd Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring from the inside of the second row after qualifying Friday afternoon at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway.
Ricky Taylor, who’s joined in the No. 10 Corvette by younger brother Jordan Taylor and Max “The Ax” Angelelli for Saturday’s 12-hour endurance classic, turned a fast qualifying lap of 1 minute, 52.544 seconds (119.633 mph) around the historic 3.56-mile, 12-turn superspeedway road circuit. It was good for seventh among 68 car-and-driver combinations set to take the green flag Saturday.
“Through practice, we never knew where we really were because of traffic,” said Taylor, who co-drove with his brother, Angelelli and his father Wayne Taylor to a runner-up finish from the sixth qualifying position at the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona. “The last (practice) session, we ended up quite far in the back, but I think this proves we have a really good car. Now, we have a good picture of where everybody is. We obviously have work to do to catch the 5 (Action Express Racing Corvette), but I think with the three drivers we have in our car, and having the best team on the pit lane, we’re good even though we’re third in speed in qualifying. It’s definitely been a cool day. It’s hard to believe three hours ago I was sitting in Dad’s (Sebring International Raceway) Hall of Fame induction ceremony, thinking about qualifying. He’s had a pole here and he’s not stopped rubbing that in my face, so I had that carrot dangling in front of me during qualifying. Obviously, the team did a good job and gave me a good car. I’m really looking forward to racing here tomorrow in these cars for the first time.”
Sebastien Bourdais blazed to the pole position in the Rolex 24-winning Action Express Racing Corvette he shares with Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa.
Earlier Saturday, team owner and three-time sports car racing champion Wayne Taylor was one of five Class of 2014 inductees into the Sebring International Raceway Hall of Fame. Taylor won the 1996 Sebring 12-hour en route to that year’s IMSA World SportsCar Championship, and also finished on the podium at Sebring in 1994. He raced here 11 times from 1991 to 2002.
The top-five qualifiers for Saturday’s 62nd Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring are:
1. Action Express Racing (No. 5 Corvette) with Sebastien Bourdais, Christian Fittipaldi, Joao Barbosa (1:51.917 at 120.303 mph).
2. OAK Racing (No. 42 Nissan Morgan) with Olivier Pla, Alexander Brundle, Gustavo Yacaman (1:52.086 at 120.122 mph).
3. Wayne Taylor Racing (No. 10 Corvette) with Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Max Angelelli (1:52.544 at 119.633 mph).
4. Extreme Speed Motorsports (No. 1 HPD ARX-03b Honda) with Ryan Dalziel, Scott Sharp, David Brabham (1:52.662 at 119.508 mph).
5. Muscle Milk Pickett Racing (No. 6 ORECA Nissan) with Klaus Graf, Lucas Luhr, Jann Mardenborough (1:52.667 at 119.503 mph).
Race time is 10:15 a.m. EDT Saturday with live television of the opening three hours provided by FOX Sports 1 beginning at 10 a.m. Coverage switches to a live video stream on IMSA.com at 1 p.m. through the race’s conclusion. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will provide live radio coverage for the race’s entirety on IMSA.com, MRN.com, Sirius XM Channel 117 and local affiliates. Check local listings. Live timing and scoring during all on-track sessions can be found at IMSA.com and via the IMSA smartphone app.
