TBT: Jordan Taylor’s Breakthrough 2012 Victory at Belle Isle

Subtitle:Young Driver Already Has Key History In Detroit

The 2012 season was not going according to plan for Jordan Taylor.

Yes, Taylor was driving the Chevrolet-supported Autohaus Motorsports Camaro, sharing a seat with 2008 GT champion Paul Edwards in addition to earning a factory ride with Corvette Racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But he finished ninth in both the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Homestead-Miami Speedway, sixth at Barber Motorsports Park and fifth at New Jersey.

Round 5 of the Rolex Series at Detroit’s Raceway at Belle Isle Park – in the shadow of General Motors’ (GM) world headquarters – was a bit intimidating, to say the least, for the young driver who had just turned 21.

“That was a big moment for me,” Taylor said. “The previous year was the first year I considered myself a professional race car driver, and we won one race (with Bill Lester at VIR in the Autohaus Camaro) and finished second in the championship. So there were a lot of expectations. But the year was not going well. We went to Detroit, and we had a perfect race. Paul was up front, our guys had a good pit stop, and we had a good race to the finish.”

Taylor stepped up – and delivered – taking home a victory.Passing Dempsey Racing’s Charles Espenlaub for the lead on Lap 45, Taylor led the final 35 laps, beating Jonathan Bomarito’s Mazda RX-8 to the checkered flag by 3.481 seconds.

“Winning in a Camaro – in Detroit – was just huge,” Taylor reminisced. “To have all the GM executives there at the track, and then to fly to Le Mans right after the race – the whole weekend was really big. [GM] took a risk with me – taking me on so early on – I was only 20 years old with no Le Mans experience. To commit to having me in their car for those huge races was a big risk on their part. But I think you learn best when you’re thrown in to the deep end like that. Thankfully, it went well.”

The 2012 race began a three-year winning streak at Detroit for Taylor. He won the 2013 Rolex Series event in his father’s Corvette DP co-driven by Max Angelelli, and then joined older brother Ricky in that car in winning the 2014 event. Last year, the Taylor brothers led eight laps and finished sixth.

“It’s always nice to come back to Detroit,” Jordan Taylor said. “When I won the first year it was a tough race, and then both years in Prototype was all about track position and pit stops. We basically won both of those races in the pits.”

But Taylor’s ‘good race to the finish’ in the 2012 event involved a bit of passing on the tight 2.35-mile temporary circuit.

“I was fourth on the restart after getting in the car,” Taylor recalled. “I passed Bomarito, then I got by Wayne Nonnamaker, then I passed Patrick Lindsey. Charles Espenlaub was on a different strategy, and we were able to get by him later in the race. It was a good race, and there were some good battles. I remember seeing [Robin] Liddell behind me, and [Bill] Auberlen as well. It was pretty close.”

If you’re wondering why there are no pictures of Taylor celebrating his 2012 triumph in victory lane, that’s a story in itself. After a quick visit to the media center for brief interviews, he and his father left the circuit to catch a flight to Le Mans.

“It was my second-ever win, and I never got to go to the podium,” Taylor recalled. “We rushed through the press conference – they let me go first – which was unique, because DPs always went first. I had a 6:30 p.m. flight to Paris, and the traffic was so bad getting off of Belle Isle that I walked with my dad across the bridge and into Detroit. Then someone picked me up there and rushed me to the airport. It was an interesting experience. At least I didn’t smell like champagne during that long flight!”