Sixteen years after winning the inaugural Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda, Wayne Taylor brought his boys and a long-time friend to victory lane in the 10-hour TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season finale at Road Atlanta.
Ricky and Jordan Taylor co-drove the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta Corvette DP with Max Angelelli to victory, holding off the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP by 11.062 seconds. They completed 400 laps – 1,016 miles – as the brothers became the first American-born drivers to win the event overall.
“It’s a great way to end the year,” Jordan Taylor said. “We’ve won the last race the last three seasons, and it’s a great trend we hope to continue. My dad won the first Petit Le Mans, so we’ve always heard about this race. He always talks highly about it, putting it up with Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring, We’ve had the car to beat the last two races, so we’re definitely looking forward to next season.”
Action Express Racing finished second, with Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa joined by IndyCar star Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 5 Corvette DP.
While it was denied the race victory, Action Express piled up several accolades throughout the event. They clinched the TUDOR Championship team title with the waving of the green flag, and less than two hours later Fittipaldi and Barbosa drove the required distance to secure the drivers’ crown.
At the eight-hour mark, the team wrapped up the $100,000 Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup team championship by leading the second segment in the unique competition rewarding competitors in the four endurance races in the TUDOR Championship: the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida and Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.
“This team was unbelievable since the end of last season,” Barbosa said. “We worked all winter for the big challenge of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. It was a big task for a small team, but we had a great year. We were the only team to compete every lap in all of the races. We had eight podiums in 11 races, three great victories, and the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and Patrón Endurance Cup – what a great year for Action Express.”
Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Scott Dixon took third, one lap down in the No. 01 Telcel Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Ford EcoBoost/Riley, followed by the No. 0 DeltaWing DWC13 of Andy Meyrick, Katherine Legge and Gabby Chavez.
An accident involving Prototype Championship leader Sean Rayhall in the No. 25 8Star Motorsports ORECA FLM09 set up a seven-minute charge to the checkered flag. Jordan Taylor was up to the task, sprinting away from Barbosa to claim the team’s second victory of the season.
The No. 10 Corvette DP led nine times for 250 laps, with Action Express leading six times for 124 circuits. Ganassi Racing led three times for five laps and DeltaWing twice for 19 circuits. The event had 22 overall lead changes among seven cars.
FOX will present a two-hour network telecast on Sunday in conjunction with its NFL coverage. Check local listings for times.
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