CORVETTE RACING, CORVETTE DP AT LAGUNA SECA: Jordan Taylor Claims Overall Pole Position
Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP looking for second straight TUDOR victory
· Second consecutive TUDOR pole for No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette Daytona Prototype
· VisitFlorida.com Racing No. 90 Corvette DP qualifies third
· Tommy Milner qualifies fifth in No. 4 Corvette C7.R to GTLM charge for Corvette Racing
MONTEREY, Calif. (May 2, 2015) – Two weeks after his first win of the season, Jordan Taylor captured his first TUDOR United SportsCar Championship pole position. Taylor, who was victorious on the Long Beach street circuit two weeks ago with brother Ricky, set a best time Saturday of 1:18.718 (102.350 mph) in Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette Daytona Prototype for the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Taylor, who had eight pole positions in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, was 0.222 seconds faster than Scott Pruett, who qualified second. Wayne Taylor Racing won at Laguna Seca in 2013 with Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli driving the No. 10 Corvette DP. Previously, the Corvette DP also won in Monterey in 2012.
“The best thing I think for us is that we have our qualifying car back,” Taylor said. “I think we were only in the top-three one time last year. We were always good in the race but struggled in qualifying. It worked in Long Beach, it worked in Daytona and it worked here.”
In GT Le Mans (GTLM) qualifying, Tommy Milner was fifth in the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R to lead Corvette Racing’s effort. His best time was 1:22.711 (97.409 mph) in the Corvette he shares with Oliver Gavin.
Corvette DPs will line up behind each other for Sunday’s 1 p.m. PT race start. Michael Valiante was third for VISITFLORIDA.com Racing in the No. 90 Corvette DP with a lap of 1:19.448 (101.410 mph). He and teammate Richard Westbrook finished third in each of the three TUDOR Championship races this year.
Action Express Racing’s two Corvette DPs will start fifth and seventh. Christian Fittipaldi led the team with a 1:19.894 (100.844 mph) lap in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP, and Eric Curran set a time of 1:20.622 (99.933 mph) in the team’s No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP.
Corvette Racing is going for its fourth consecutive win at Laguna Seca, with Milner and Gavin starting the run with a 2012 victory in the American Le Mans Series’ GT class. The last two years, Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen were class winners including a hard-fought win in 2014 with the No. 3 Corvette C7.R. Garcia qualified seventh Saturday with a lap of 1:22.815 (97.287 mph) but was less than 0.2 seconds from the front row in GTLM.
The Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix, the fourth race of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, is set for 1:05 p.m. PT on Sunday. Live TV coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. ET. Flag-to-flag radio coverage also will be available via IMSA Radio.
CORVETTE DP QUOTES
JORDAN TAYLOR, WAYNE TAYLOR RACING NO. 10 KONICA MINOLTA CORVETTE DP – POLE WINNER: “It has been a while since I qualified, and last year when I qualified it didn’t go so well. So we knew we had a strong car here, and I knew it was a pole car, so I knew if I didn’t get the pole I would be disappointed. I am happy to get it. It was closer than we thought. No one pulled it out like they did at Long Beach, so they have some qualifying pace. But hopefully we can kind of do the same thing we did at Long Beach and lead from the front and dictate the race.
“I think it is a ‘win’ car. We did a lot of work in practice, on separating the two cars. We had different setups for both sessions. We worked on the race car with Ricky because he is going to be in it longer. I think the qualifying car was good. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it was, but we got the pole and hopefully we will have a good race.”
MICHAEL VALIANTE, VISITFLORIDA.COM NO. 90 CORVETTE DP – QUALIFIED THIRD: “Lucky number three again. We’re starting third and we’ve had three podiums. It’s a good starting position. Of course we always want to fight for pole but I think we have a good race car. I just need to get a great start and give Richard the car in a good position. A lot can happen in this two-hour, 40-minute sprint race. We’re in good position. We have to be smart and run down the guys ahead of us in the championship.”
CORVETTE RACING GTLM QUOTES
TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUALIFIED FIFTH: “We obviously know that every little tiny bit that you can do makes a difference in qualifying. We saw earlier in practice we weren’t quite as quick as the cars ahead of us. But we had on the wrong tire, and we knew that going on the right tire would make a difference. We went from being six or seven tenths off this morning to only being a tenth off really most of the group. That is a big step considering the help that the other cars have gotten. We are working really hard to make that difference up. The guys from Corvette Racing gave me a really good car. I’m just proud of how we worked through the issues we’ve had this weekend with little bits and pieces. I’m really proud that without a lot of practice time with the right compound that we were able to get the balance as close as it was so I could push as hard as I could for qualifying.
“There is still work to do on the race setup for the long runs. The car was good for qualifying. We just need to make it a bit better for the race. I think we have the right direction to do that. It is tough to pass here. It is going to be super important to make sure all of our driver changes and all of our pit stops are quick because that will be where you can really make up some spots tomorrow is passing people in the pits.”
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R – QUALIFIED SEVENTH: “GTLM qualifying was very close… closer than I was expecting. I felt like we left something on the table but it’s encouraging in that despite being seventh I was less than two-tenths from second place. I think we have a good car for the race. We have spent a lot of time this week on race setup, so hopefully that pays off tomorrow.”