Taylor puts Indy team on pole at Indy

Jordan Taylor

Brian Cleary-Chevy Racing

Jordan Taylor drove Indianapolis-based Wayne Taylor Racing to the Daytona Prototype pole Thursday, July 25 for the Brickyard Grand Prix GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series race.

Taylor, from Apopka, Fla., turned an event-record lap of 1:22.251 in the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide/Toshiba/Chevrolet Corvette DP owned by his father, Wayne Taylor. It was the third consecutive DP pole this season for Taylor, 22, who will share the car in the race Friday with veteran Max Angelelli.

"When you think of motorsports, you think of Indy, Daytona, Sebring and all of the big names," Jordan Taylor said. "To get the pole is awesome."

After struggling in Thursday’s practice the timing and scoring computers showed the local team on pole. This should help to sell some tickets in what would otherwise be empty grandstands

Brian Cleary-Chevy Racing

After struggling in Thursday’s practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Wayne Taylor Racing hit the setup jackpot in qualifying for Friday’s Brickyard Grand Prix. Jordan Taylor captured his third consecutive Daytona Prototype pole position, breaking the track record with a lap of 1 minute, 22.251 seconds (110.909 mph) in the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP.

He will be joined on the front row by Memo Rojas, who ran his final lap in 1:22.375 (110.742 mph) in the No. 01 Telcel/Telmex BMW/Riley co-driven by Scott Pruett. The race begins at 5:10 p.m. ET (SPEED, 7:30 p.m.).

“This is a very unique track, with a long front straight followed by a very technical section," said Taylor. “We were worried when we were out of the top 10 during opening practice, but the team and [my co-driver] Max Angelelli kept working on the setup."

Gustavo Yacaman qualified third in the No. 6 Aero/Tuvacol/Curb Records Ford/Riley co-driven by AJ Allmendinger, 1:22:455 (110.635 mph). Fourth was Christian Fittipaldi, 1:22.544 (110.516 mph), who joins Joao Barbosa in seeking a third consecutive victory in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP. Action Express also leads the standings in the North American Endurance Championship presented by VISITFLORIDA.com, entering its third and final round after races at Daytona and Watkins Glen.

Veteran Boris Said won his first pole of the season in GT, running a lap of 1:28.374 (103.225 mph) in the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette co-driven by Eric Curran.

“Everyone keeps saying how they’re going to keep their cool in the race, but this is Indianapolis," Said explained. “When they drop the green flag tomorrow, it will be like 35 Doberman Pinschers with hand grenades in their mouths. Everyone will be fighting for position."

Robin Liddell was second in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro co-driven by John Edwards, 1:28.917 (102.595 mph), falling short in a bid to give the team its fourth pole of the season. Audi driver Filipe Albuquerque was third, followed by Patrick Lindsey in a Porsche and Alessandro Balzan in a Ferrari.

Tom Long took his third pole of the season in the new GX class, running 1:33.156 (97.926 mph) in the No. 70 MAZDASPEED/SpeedSource Mazda 6 co-driven by Sylvain Tremblay.

In Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge preparation for Friday’s Brickyard Sports Car Challenge, Jade Buford continued to dominate Grand Sport qualifying in the No. 55 Multimatic Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage. Buford made it three in a row – and five in six qualifying sessions this season – winning the pole with a lap of 1:35.630 (95.39 mph). Hugh Plumb was second in the No. 45 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3, followed by 17-high school senior Trent Hindman, making his debut in the No. 48 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3, 1:35.899 (95.13 mph).

The CJ Wilson Racing team swept the front row in Street Tuner (ST) qualifying. Chad McCumbee took his second pole of the season with a lap of 1:40.580 (90.70 mph) in the team’s No. 3 Mazda MX-5, followed by teammate Stevan McAleer in the No. 5, 1:40.734 (90.559 mph).

POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 10 VELOCITY WORLDWIDE CHEVROLET CORVETTE DP – POLE SITTER

TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING RUN:
“It was obviously good. We didn’t start off that strong I don’t think, kind of trying different things. The Indy track there is a very long front straight obviously and then a very technical section so you can either go high downforce or low downforce and we tried a few things in practice to figure out what we wanted. I think a lot of guys were trying different things. I think we were not even in the top 10 in a couple sessions. We were, I think, a little worried, probably looked pretty bad, but we knew once we got in qualifying mode we would have a good car and obviously we did. Happy to be on the pole."

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO WIN THE POLE AT INDIANAPOLIS?
“It’s not an Indy 500 pole, but it’s definitely cool obviously Indianapolis when you think of motorsports in any form you think of Indy and Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans, all these big names. Taking a pole in the overall class in GRAND-AM is awesome. I had pole at Detroit which is pretty cool on a street course and now Indy. I qualified second at Daytona twice so I think I need to nail that one down next."

BORIS SAID, NO. 31 WHELEN MARSH RACING CORVETTE – GRAND TOURING (GT) – POLE SITTER
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING RUN:
“Indy is a special place. I have raced all over the world and there is only a handful of tracks that, I came back here in 2006 and made the Brickyard 400. When you sit on the front straightaway when the cars are gridded up or you are looking at the crowd, you are thinking of the history here, it’s just kind of a magical place. It’s one of those few tracks that just makes the hair on your arms stand up straight when you start looking at all this and the history. So, for the GRAND-AM, I will speak for all of these road racer that get to come here and run on these hollowed grounds it’s a special day. Really just adds a cherry on top of the sundae to be able to get the pole in our Whelen Corvette. We were fast when we unloaded and hopefully we will be fast in the race."

YOU WILL BE MOVING UP TO THE DAYTONA PROTOTYPE (DP) RANKS NEXT YEAR, BUT THE TEAM OBVIOUSLY STILL PUTTING A LOT OF EMPHASIS ON THE GT PROGRAM:
“Yeah, we are not even really thinking about the DP car yet. We are just trying to win races for the whole Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and Whelen engineering. Once they roll that DP car out whenever later in the year we will worry about that car. Right now we just want to try to get this Corvette in the Winner’s Circle."

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