Brothers Ricky Taylor and Jordan Taylor took the DP victory in Saturday’s IMSA WeatherTech Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at Detroit. Photo by Michael L. Levitt LAT Photo USA
Faced with a restart amidst heavy traffic midway through Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Classic Presented by the Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers, Jordan Taylor passed three cars on his way to the lead. That proved to be the key to give the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP its third victory in four years at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park.
Joined by older brother Ricky, the Taylors scored their second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory at the circuit, backing up their triumph in 2014. Jordan Taylor also had a pair of Rolex Series triumphs at the 2.360-mile temporary circuit, including the 2013 victory in the No. 10 Corvette DP with then-co-driver Max Angelelli.
Action Express Racing’s TOTAL Pole Award winner Christian Fittipaldi led the opening 26 laps before pitting under caution shortly before the one-hour mark of the 100-minute event, when he turned the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP over to Joao Barbosa.
The timing of the caution saw a group of lapped GT Daytona (GTD) class cars and a pair of Prototype Challenge (PC) cars ahead of the lead Prototypes. When the green flag waved with 48 minutes remaining, Jordan Taylor threaded his way past Barbosa and the two PC cars to take both the class and overall lead – which he held for the remainder of the event.
“We talked about being conservative, but when I saw the opportunity so wide open we jumped on it,” Jordan Taylor said. “It was odd when we restarted in the middle of the pack – it doesn’t happen often. Going through the kink I saw Joao wanted to go to the inside and the other two (PC) cars were blocking each other. So I went on a clean line around the outside, and I was able to get around them all.”
Taylor took the checkered flag 1.740 seconds ahead of Barbosa to give the brothers their second win of the season and sixth of their WeatherTech Championship careers. Entering the event fourth in the Prototype standings, they leave Detroit unofficially tied for the lead with Fittipaldi and Barbosa with 151 points apiece.
Jonathan Bomarito and Tristan Nunez finished third in the No. 55 Castrol/ModSpace Mazda Prototype, giving Mazda Motorsports its first podium finish in WeatherTech Championship competition.
The race took a dramatic turn at the 14-minute mark. Marc Goossens went wide in Turn 7 while running third, clipping a tire barrier which tore off the rear wing of the No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette DP. That allowed the fourth-place No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP of Eric Curran to close up.
Lacking downforce, Goossens spun entering turn 12. He hit the barrier and bounced back into the path of Curran, who struck his left rear with his right front. The incident took out the Visit Florida entry, while former points leaders Curran and Dane Cameron rejoined the race after a lengthy stop for repairs. They finished sixth, and are now four points behind the new co-leaders.
On the final restart with 34 minutes remaining, Ozz Negri took his fourth-place No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Curb Records/AERO Honda Ligier JS P2 started by Katherine Legge with suspension damage. He returned to the race three laps down, finishing fifth.
Starworks Motorsport Repeats In Prototype Challenge With Late-Race Pass
Renger van der Zande pressured Colin Braun into making a rare mistake with less than five minutes remaining to win in the Prototype Challenge (PC) class at Detroit for the second consecutive year in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport ORECA FLM09 started by Alex Popow.
This Sildenafil is used to cure the male erectile organ, it is the cialis best prices victor fight with PDE5. Get immediate medical help in case of any cheap cialis severe side effects from their products. If you want to use them, use natural ones and stay away from Propecia, as it causes permanent sexual dysfunction. viagra price in india If buy cialis without prescription you think you may have ED don’t hesitate to call the Toll free number. Van der Zande was mired in traffic running in third position after the driver change under the caution – trailing Tom Kimber-Smith in the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA started by pole winner Robert Alon, and Braun, who took over for Jon Bennett in the No. 54 CORE autosport entry. Those cars – along with many of the GT Daytona (GTD) competitors – pitted under the green flag but found themselves running ahead of the Prototype leaders who elected to pit under caution.
Van der Zande took second with 30 minutes remaining, and then managed to run down Braun to challenge for the PC lead. With less than five minutes left, Braun spun in Turn 6 while working through GTD traffic. That gave the lead to the Starworks driver, who won by 3.474 seconds.
“This was a real nice race,” van der Zande said after scoring his seventh career WeatherTech Championship victory. “We got real unlucky with the yellow after the pit stops, so I had to get by several cars. Once I got clean air I was able to chase down Colin. I gave it my all, and I think it was the fastest lap ever on this track – I think it was the fastest lap I ever done in my life. This one tastes very sweet.”
Viper Strikes Gold, Takes Hometown Victory
Co-drivers Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen and the No. 33 ViperExchange.com / Gas Monkey Garage Dodge Viper GT3-R team picked a fine time to win their first race of the season as the made-in-Detroit race car scored a hometown victory Saturday.
After qualifying sixth on the GT Daytona (GTD) grid Friday, Keating made his first appearance inside the top five just past the 30-minute mark in the 100-minute timed race. He eventually made it into the class lead for the final lap of his stint before pitting at the 37-minute mark in the race to hand the car over to Bleekemolen.
The Dutchman rejoined the field in second place behind the No. 96 aFe Power / Spectra Resources / United Steel / Valspar Paint BMW M6 GT3 of Jens Klingmann, but regained the lead after two laps when Klingmann pitted. Bleekemolen would hold the GTD lead for the remainder of the race, but not without heavy pressure from behind from Joerg Bergmeister in the No. 73 Park Place Porsche / Justice Brothers Inc. Porsche 911 GT3 R and Alessandro Balzan in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3.
“This is a street circuit, so the smallest mistake can take you out of the race,” Bleekemolen said. “But at the same time you have to push right until the end. Ben did a lot of great laps at the end of his stint. I knew with Joerg Bergmeister behind me it wouldn’t be easy. He is famous for a lot of last-lap passes. It’s great what the team did with the pit stop. We knew it would be our chance so we took it and it worked out for us. So yes, it feels really great.”
He beat Bergmeister to the stripe by 2.489 seconds to collect the first victory for himself and Keating since the WeatherTech Championship race at Circuit of The Americas last September. It was Bleekemolen’s 16th major U.S. sports car victory (three in the WeatherTech Championship, 13 American Le Mans Series) and fifth for Keating (three WeatherTech Championship, two ALMS).
“It’s a huge deal winning with the Viper in its hometown,” Keating said. “I am Viper Exchange, the No. 1 volume Viper dealer in the nation and so I have a lot of great relationships with all the Viper people at plant, the Conner Avenue plant where they are hand-built right here in Detroit. So, it’s a big deal. There were a lot of emotional people who take a lot of pride in the Vipers. Hopefully we win on Saturday and sell on Monday.”
Bergmeister and Patrick Lindsey finished second in the No. 73 Porsche for Park Place Motorsports, followed by Balzan and co-driver Christina Nielsen, who finished third in the No. 63 Ferrari. Balzan and Nielsen came into the race with a six-point lead in the GTD standings and extended that lead to eight, 126-118, over No. 23 Heart of Racing Porsche GT3 R co-drivers Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas. Farnbacher and Riberas finished fourth for Team Seattle / Alex Job Racing.
Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis completed the top five in the No. 6 Stevenson Auto Group Audi R8 LMS GT3.
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