JORDAN TAYLOR, RENGER VAN DER ZANDE Konica Minolta Cadillac Dpi-V.R Team Report Round 5 of 10 – Chevrolet Sports Car Classic – Detroit
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JORDAN TAYLOR, RENGER VAN DER ZANDE Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R Team Report Round 5 of 10 – Chevrolet Sports Car Classic – Detroit At-Track PR Contact: Laz Denes with True Speed Communication (256-717-8014 or [email protected]). Event: 1-hour, 40-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race on the Streets of Belle Isle in Detroit (2.36-mile, 13-turn street course). Broadcast (race time 12:40 p.m. EDT Saturday): FS2 live – 12:30 p.m. Friday qualifying – 5:20 p.m. via IMSA.com, IMSA mobile app (Prototype class at 5:45 p.m.). Driver Lineup in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R for the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at Belle Isle: Driver: Jordan Taylor Driver: Renger van der Zande Birthdate: May 10, 1991 Birthdate: Feb. 16, 1986 Birthplace: Orlando, Florida Birthplace: Dodewaard, Netherlands Residence: Apopka, Florida Residence: Amsterdam Personal: Single Personal: Wife, Carlijn Daughter, Lola Wayne Taylor Racing Performance Profile at Belle Isle: Year Drivers Event Start Finish Status/Laps Laps Led 2017 Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor Chevrolet Sports Car Classic *10 1 Running/65 16 2016 Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor Chevrolet Sports Car Classic 3 1 Running/57 29 (race-high) 2015 Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor Chevrolet Sports Car Classic 2 6 Running/59 8 2014 Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor Chevrolet Sports Car Classic 5 1 Running/57 41 (race-high) 2013 Jordan Taylor, Max Angelelli Chevrolet GRAND-AM 200 1 1 Running/61 45 (race-high) 2012 Max Angelelli, Ricky Taylor Chevrolet GRAND-AM 200 2 10 Suspension/39 13 Wayne Taylor Racing History: Year Races Wins Podiums Top-5s Top-10s Poles 2018 4 0 2 3 3 1 2017 10 5 7 7 10 5 2016 10 3 7 8 9 1 2015 10 2 5 6 9 3 2014 11 2 6 8 11 0 2013 12 5 6 6 10 3 2012 13 3 4 7 11 2 2011 12 3 8 10 10 6 2010 12 1 7 7 11 3 2009 12 2 6 7 9 0 2008 14 1 4 5 10 4 2007 14 2 9 11 12 1 TOTAL 134 29 71 85 115 29 -more- Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R Team Report – Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at Belle Isle Page Two Notes of Interest: Round five of the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship takes the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R driving duo of Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande to the Streets of Belle Isle circuit in downtown Detroit for Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic, an event the team has won four of the past five seasons and Taylor has won five of the last six years. It will be the third sprint race together for Taylor, who’s in his sixth year as full-time co-driver with the team, and van der Zande, who joined the team this past offseason when Ricky Taylor left after a four-year run co-driving with his younger brother to join the new, two-car Team Penske Prototype-class effort. A ago this weekend, Ricky and Jordan Taylor won their fifth consecutive race en route to the 2017 driver and team championships, and for the fourth time in the last five events contested on the Streets of Belle Isle circuit. It was a victory that seemed highly doubtful at the start as Ricky Taylor was forced to start from the back of the Prototype-class grid in 12th place after an accident in Friday qualifying brought out the red flag and ended the session. On race day, the elder Taylor brother was racing in the top-five before handing the car over to Jordan Taylor. Executing an alternate fuel strategy enabled the younger Taylor brother to take over the lead from Dane Cameron of the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R with 16 laps to go and he pulled away for the win by a five-second margin. It was the team’s seventh win in its previous nine races on temporary street circuits, including three in a row on the streets of Long Beach, California from 2015 through 2017. Jordan Taylor and van der Zande finished third at Long Beach earlier this year. Two years ago this weekend, the Taylor brothers scored their second victory of the 2016 season and third for the team in the last four events at Belle Isle. They led a race-high 29 of 57 laps around the 2.36-mile, 13-turn temporary street circuit. The team scored back-to-back victories at Belle Isle in 2013 and 2014, first at the hands of Jordan Taylor and Angelelli, then with the Taylor brothers co-driving. In 2013, Jordan Taylor qualified on the pole and combined with Angelelli to a race-high 45 of 61 laps. In 2014, the Taylor brothers collaborated on a similarly dominating performance from the fifth starting position, leading 41 of 57 race laps. But it wasn’t decided until Ricky Taylor, who led every lap of his closing 54-minute stint, was side-slammed into the turn-four concrete barrier by Joao Barbosa of the No. 5 Action Express team, who then got by for the lead. Taylor was able to continue with his wounded racecar, retaking the lead in the next sequence of turns from Barbosa, who ended up cutting a tire in the side-slamming incident. Taylor then held off the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona entry of Richard Westbrook down the long backstraight and the final five turns and was able to stay ahead of his 2013 teammate and take the checkered flag by .207 of a second. The first Detroit winning streak came to an end in 2015 when a late-race penalty for contact deemed avoidable while running second relegated the Taylor brothers to a disappointing sixth-place finish. That sixth-place result at Detroit also ended for Jordan Taylor a personal three-race winning streak at Belle Isle after he co-drove the No. 88 Autohaus Motorsports Camaro GT.R with Paul Edwards to the GT-class at victory in 2012. The team’s four wins at Belle Isle is tied for most at a single racetrack with its four wins each at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, and Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut. Taylor and van der Zande arrive at Belle Isle this weekend third in the championship, 15 points behind the front-running No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque, and five points behind the second-place No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr. At the season’s last stop on the tour, the first since 2013 for series competitors at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Taylor and van der Zande started and finished fifth in the caution-free, two-hour and 40-minute race. Van der Zande is a 32-year-old from Amsterdam and co-drove with Belgian sportscar ace Marc Goossens last season in the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Prototype-class entry, scoring a signature win thanks to his dramatic pass for the lead during the closing moments of September’s penultimate round at Laguna Seca, as well as a solid podium finish at the Rolex 24. Van der Zande has been a recent fixture on the IMSA WeatherTech circuit, scoring nine race wins, 18 podium finishes and the 2016 championship for the LMPC-class Starworks Motorsport team during a three-year run that begin in 2014. Prior to his arrival on the North American scene in 2013, he had driven in virtually every major racing series worldwide, including Formula Renault, A1GP, GP2, German Touring Car, World Endurance Championship, Porsche SuperCup, and the Blancpain Endurance Series. His professional career began to take shape when he won the 2005 Formula Renault 2.0 championship in his native country. Prior to his DNF in the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing entry due to an accident just 18 laps into last year’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic, van der Zande scored back-to-back LMPC-class victories at Belle Isle in the Starworks Motorsport entry, including third place overall with co-driver Alex Popow in 2016. He co-drove to the 2015 class win with Mirco Schultis. At this year’s season-opening Rolex 24, van der Zande qualified the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R on the pole in his maiden qualifying voyage with his new team. He led the opening 18 laps of the race and he and Taylor and Ryan Hunter-Reay stayed comfortably with the leaders over the first third of the race. But various issues ultimately cost several laps while making repairs and unscheduled pit stops and the team retired during the 17th hour and left Daytona credited with 15th place. Taylor, van der Zande and Hunter-Reay rebounded from their Daytona disappointment with a solid runner-up finish at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March. 2018 Results: Date Site Drivers Start Finish Laps Laps Led Status Points/Pos. Renger van der Zande 1/27- Daytona Ryan Hunter-Reay 1 15 555/808 18 Retired 16/15th 28 (24 hours) Jordan Taylor Renger van der Zande Sebring 3/17 Jordan Taylor 10 2 344/344 8 Running 48/5th (12 hours) Ryan Hunter-Reay Long Beach Renger van der Zande 4/14 6 3 70/70 0 Running 78/4th (1hr40m) Jordan Taylor Mid-Ohio Renger van der Zande 5/6 5 5 125/125 0 Running 104/3rd (2hr40m) Jordan Taylor Poles: 1 Wins: 0 Podiums: 2 Top-5: 3 Top-10: 3 Laps led: 26 Laps completed: 1,094 of 1,347 (81.2%) Avg.