Full Circle: Jordan Taylor Returns To Continental Tire Challenge At VIR

Subtitle:Ran First Pro Race In Continental Tire Challenge At Circuit In 2007 At Age 16

Jordan Taylor’s career comes full circle this weekend at Virginia International Raceway, when he joins Eric Curran co-driving the No. 01 CKS Autosport Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.

Taylor will be subbing for Lawson Aschenbach in the car that won the most recent Continental Tire Challenge race at Road America, when the team took the lead on the final lap in sight of the checkered flag.

Taylor made his professional debut at VIR in 2007, when he drove for i-MOTO in the six-hour Continental Tire Challenge Street Tuner (ST) season finale. Then 16, he finished 21st co-driving an Acura TSX with Mark Jensen in his first of seven career races in the series. His best finish was 14th in Grand Sport (GS) in 2007 with APR Motorsports and 2012 with Mitchum Racing, both at Lime Rock Park.Taylor co-drives with his older brother Ricky in their father’s No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP for Wayne Taylor Racing in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. They scored their first TUDOR Championship Prototype victory at Detroit Belle Isle in May. They currently have five podium finishes (including three seconds), and trail Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi by 16 points, 285-269.In addition to driving in his first professional race at VIR, that circuit was also the scene of his first professional triumph, when he co-drove with Bill Lester in the Rolex Series GT class-winning Autohaus Racing Chevrolet Camaro in 2011. That was his first of seven career Rolex Series victories, and he went on to capture the DP title last year, winning five races (including the final three) with Max Angelelli for Wayne Taylor Racing. What is your favorite memory competing in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge?“Unfortunately, I haven’t had any great races in the series. My best one was with Ian Baas in an Audi S4 for APR Motorsports at Barber Motorsports Park (he was running second for much of his opening stint before a differential mount broke following his pit stop to retire the car). We had a pretty good run going but we didn’t finish.“At the end of 2007, I ran my first sports car race at VIR in the six-hour for i-MOTO. That was a special memory, and now it’s good to go back to VIR where it all started.”How did this weekend’s ride with CKS Autosport come together?“I got a call at the end of last week from some of the people at General Motors, and they asked if I was available because they had a seat open. I didn’t have a race for this weekend, so I was happy to step up. Any time I can be in a racecar, I’m happy.”  Did you see the finish of the Continental Tire Challenge race at Road America (where leader Pierre Kleinubing broke within sight of the checkered flag and was passed by Lawson Aschenbach in the CKS Camaro)?“That was crazy. First off, I felt terrible for the Subaru guys. They’ve had a fast car for a long time, they just haven’t had the finishes to go with it. To be that close to victory must have been terrible. But it was an exciting finish, especially to have a Camaro Z/28.R in victory lane was pretty cool. CKS hadn’t won in a while, and it was good for them to get the monkey off their back.”Did you ever win – or lose – a race under similar circumstances?“The closest was at Road America in 2011. We led for 45 minutes and were saving fuel. We saved so much that the guys who pitted caught me on the last lap of the race. I lost four positions. I went from first to fifth. (Eric Curran went on to win that race in the Whelen Engineering Corvette started by John Heinricy. Taylor was co-driving with Bill Lester in the Autohaus Camaro.) That was the worst one I’ve had. “Eric Curran is a great guy and a great driver, and he’s been a success in everything he’s driver. I’m looking forward to co-driving with him, and learning a few things from him that he’s learned over the years.”What are your thoughts heading back to Circuit of The Americas, where you will be doing double duty?“Last year, we had a really good car for our first time there. I thought we had a shot at winning, but had a penalty late in the race. We’ve struggled a bit this year but at Road America we finally had a car capable of winning on speed. So our guys are excited to go back to COTA with a strong car. We’re going to be going for the win there. Now that we’ve fallen behind in the championship, we can take as much risk as we want. “It will be tough doing double duty (driving with his brother Ricky and Tommy Milner for Corvette Racing in the six-hour World Endurance Championship race that evening). It’s two high-class events, which I’ve never done before. It will be a pretty stressful weekend. It will be difficult physically and mentally, going from one car to the other. We don’t have anything to lose, so we can be as aggressive as we want and go for the win in both races. It will be cool to be in a Corvette in the WEC with an all-American lineup. It’s a dream come true to represent America here on the world stage. It’s going to be a big challenge to go from car to car between sessions, but I think we’ve all had enough experience and are mature enough to know which car is which, and know how to go fast in both of them.”