bigbadbrother
10-05-2014, 02:03 AM
John Dagys
An impressive late-race drive by Jordan Taylor helped deliver Wayne Taylor Racing victory in Saturday’s Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda, while Action Express Racing collected the inaugural Prototype class title in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship
Taylor drove the No. 10 Konica Minolta-sponsored entry to a 11.062-second win over Joao Barbosa, following a race-long duel between the pair of Corvette DPs, which went the way of the second-generation driver in the closing stages.
While having led through the early hours, Taylor retook the lead from the No. 5 Action Express machine of Christian Fittipaldi with less than one hour and 30 minutes remaining and bridged out a sizable 30-second gap.
However, it was erased with the race’s 13th and final full-course caution for a heavy crash set up a six-minute shootout to the finish, which saw him hold on.
It marked brothers Jordan and Ricky Taylor’s second win of the season, and first with longtime co-driver Max Angelelli.
Barbosa and co-driver Christian Fittipaldi, meanwhile, claimed the P class championship with the runner-up finish, while the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford of Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Scott Dixon completed the podium in third.
Prototype Challenge class honors went to the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport trio of Renger van der Zande, Mirco Schultis and Alex Popow, following a nasty late-race crash by Sean Rayhall, who appeared to be en route to class victory.
Rayhall’s 8Star Motorsports Oreca FLM09 made contact with a GT class car in the high-speed Esses, resulting in a massive impact, which brought out the final yellow with 16 minutes remaining.
It gave the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports car the lead but Gunnar Jeannette was forced to make a stop for a splash of fuel, giving the class win to Starworks.
Rayhall was reported to have climbed from the car and walked to the ambulance under his own power.
An impressive late-race drive by Jordan Taylor helped deliver Wayne Taylor Racing victory in Saturday’s Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda, while Action Express Racing collected the inaugural Prototype class title in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship
Taylor drove the No. 10 Konica Minolta-sponsored entry to a 11.062-second win over Joao Barbosa, following a race-long duel between the pair of Corvette DPs, which went the way of the second-generation driver in the closing stages.
While having led through the early hours, Taylor retook the lead from the No. 5 Action Express machine of Christian Fittipaldi with less than one hour and 30 minutes remaining and bridged out a sizable 30-second gap.
However, it was erased with the race’s 13th and final full-course caution for a heavy crash set up a six-minute shootout to the finish, which saw him hold on.
It marked brothers Jordan and Ricky Taylor’s second win of the season, and first with longtime co-driver Max Angelelli.
Barbosa and co-driver Christian Fittipaldi, meanwhile, claimed the P class championship with the runner-up finish, while the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford of Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Scott Dixon completed the podium in third.
Prototype Challenge class honors went to the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport trio of Renger van der Zande, Mirco Schultis and Alex Popow, following a nasty late-race crash by Sean Rayhall, who appeared to be en route to class victory.
Rayhall’s 8Star Motorsports Oreca FLM09 made contact with a GT class car in the high-speed Esses, resulting in a massive impact, which brought out the final yellow with 16 minutes remaining.
It gave the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports car the lead but Gunnar Jeannette was forced to make a stop for a splash of fuel, giving the class win to Starworks.
Rayhall was reported to have climbed from the car and walked to the ambulance under his own power.