Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R Wins Detroit
Konica Minolta Cadillac continues to be unbeaten in 2017
Cadillac V-Performance racing team Konica Minolta continues their perfect season winning the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Chevrolet Sports Car Classic of Detroit this afternoon. The win represents five in a row, a perfect season so far for the No. 10 Cadillac DPi-V.R. The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac DPi-V.R was second and the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R was fourth.
Jordan and Ricky Taylor celebrate Detroit win.
At the drop of the green flag for the 100-minute race through the streets of Belle Park, the pole sitting No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R driven by Christian Fittipaldi was the early leader until the first pit stop on lap 21. During that stop, Joao Barbosa took over the No. 5 Cadillac and was passed on pit lane by teammate Dane Cameron in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac DPi-V.R. Cameron went to lead until he had to make his second pit stop with 21-minutes remaining. He was passed during the process by the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac. The Taylor brothers, Jordan and Ricky, were battling back from a qualifying session crash and a late night thrash by the crew that had them starting at the back of the prototype field. Jordan went on to take the checkered flag for the team's fifth win in as many races this year.
"The first stop got us up to third," Ricky Taylor said. "The final stop, I don't even understand how they strategized that, and we got by the 31. The team stayed up until after midnight to fix the car from my crash yesterday and just gave us a great car today. This, for me, is a special win because I was the one who crashed yesterday. There are so many good cars and drivers that it is tough to win in this series. Starting at the back of the field, I just wanted to put in a good drive for the guys. To come back and win with every part of the team functioning at their very best this weekend is a great effort."
"It came down to strategy and having the quickest car," Jordan Taylor said. "Ricky made a couple of big moves to get us up to fifth. When I restarted, I got pinched by the Mazda and he got by me. I then got some clean track when they pealed off to the pits and the car came to life and I was able to turn some good laps in clean air. We were able to close the gap to the 5 and 70 and we were able to jump them, then we did the same to the 31. It was a perfect strategy. We would have been happy with a second or third today. The win was icing on the cake."
"Coming out of the gate with a brand new car for Daytona and winning the 24 hour and then on to Sebring and winning there, then four in a row," Wayne Taylor, team owner said. "I thought, well let's just go for five. Then, when Ricky had the incident in qualifying let's go into points mode. But, this team never goes into points mode. The funny thing about strategy is it changes every 20 minutes. This is an incredible team of people. We have been together for 10 years. Ricky and Jordan are doing a great job. They have an excellent relationship with the engineers and that translates to the success with the Cadillac on the track."
Eric Curran and Dane Cameron led the middle part of the race in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac and took their pit strategy deep into the race to eventually come to the checkered flag in second place.
"We knew with our new fuel tank capacity it was going to impossible to do the race on one stop," Cameron said. "We knew that pit strategy was going to play a big part of the race today. We chose one way and unfortunately got jumped. We ran upfront and led a lot of laps today. The car has been better for us than the last couple of races. So we obviously learned some things these past weeks. We are making good progress with the Cadillac. We gave them a bit better run for their money than the last races, but we need to find a bit more."
"We could taste it there for sure," Curran said. "We had a fast Whelen Cadillac all day. We were just a little off on our fuel strategy there at the end. I was able to get up to the back of the 5 at the end. Cadillac has been super-strong all year. We want to have our turn on the top step of the podium with the Whelen Cadillac. We are tasting it. We are there. We just need to have everything go our way. Hats off to Cadillac for another one-two finish."
Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa also showed a lot of speed in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac.
"It was pretty straight forward, not a lot happened in my stint," Fittipaldi said. "The car was good, it wasn't excellent, but it was good. We were hanging in there and then I think a bunch of different scenarios made our life a little bit more challenging and we ended up fourth. We are definitely not happy with the result after being on the pole, but fourth is better than fifth and if you can't win you need to try and collect as many points as possible and that's what we did today."
The IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship will travel next to Watkins Glen International Raceway for the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen to run June 29 - July 2.
Cadillac DPi-V.R-V.R 2017 Results
Race Drivers Qualified Finished Points Position TPNAEC
Daytona 24 Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor, Max Angelelli, Jeff Gordon 4 1
1 (35) 1 (18)
Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Filipe Albuquerque 1 2 2 (33) 2 (16)
Eric Curran, Dane Cameron, Mike Conway, Seb Morris 2 6 6 (25) 4 (10)
Sebring Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor, Alex Lynn 6 1 1 (70) 1 (32)
Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Filipe Albuquerque 2 2 2 (65) 2 (29)
Eric Curran, Dane Cameron, Mike Conway, 3 3 3 (56) 5 (17)
Long Beach Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor 1 1 1 (105)
Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi 2 7 2 (89)
Eric Curran, Dane Cameron 5 8 5 (79)
COTA Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor 1 1 1(141)
Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi 4 3 2(119)
Eric Curran, Dane Cameron 3 2 3(110)
Detroit Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor 12 1
Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi 1 4
Eric Curran, Dane Cameron 2 2
Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=24086.msg116652#msg116652
