Corvette Daytona Prototype Wins Third TOTAL Pole Award Of 2016

By less than a blink of an eye, Ricky Taylor captured his first TOTAL Pole Award of the season, leading IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying for Saturday’s Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas (live, FS2, 12:30 p.m. ET).

Taylor ran a lap of 1:58.712 (103.1 mph) in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette Daytona Prototype co-driven by his brother Jordan. He beat out Tristan Nunez by a scant 0.003 seconds in a session that saw the top five Prototypes separated by just 0.709 seconds.

“It was very hot and slippery, and the track changes in the heat,” said Taylor of his qualifying run in 90-plus degree heat. “It hasn’t been like this all weekend, so it was all about adapting to the track. This was as close as we’re going to get to conditions for tomorrow’s race, so hopefully this is a good read on how it’s going to stack up. It’s going to be a tough race.”

Nunez briefly led in the 15-minute session in an attempt to give Mazda its fourth pole of the season, but had to settle for second. His best lap was 1:58.715 (103.1 mph) in the No. 55 Castrol/ModSpace Mazda Prototype co-driven by Jonathan Bomarito.

Joel Miller was third in the No. 70 Mazda co-driven by Tom Long, running 1:59.120 (102.7 mph), followed by the two Action Express Racing teammates battling for the championship. Eric Curran – seeking his third straight victory in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Corvette DP co-driven by Dane Cameron – was fourth fastest at 1:59.199 (102.6 mph). Fifth was Christian Fittipaldi, a two-time 2016 pole winner running 1:59.421 (102.4 mph) in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP co-driven by Joao Barbosa.

Entering the event, Fittipaldi and Barbosa lead Curran and Cameron by one point, 253-252, with only two races remaining.

View full results via Al Kamel Systems at Results.IMSA.com

NOTEBOOK

• No track records were broken. Alex Brundle holds the Prototype record with a lap of 1:57.809 (103.897 mph). In PC, the record is 2:00.528 (101.553 mph). Both marks were set in 2014.
• While Ricky Taylor scored his 13th career pole, it was his first since Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in July 2015.
• Joel Miller posted the fastest practice time of the weekend in Friday morning’s final practice, running a lap of 1:58.033 (103.6 mph) in the No. 70 Mazda Prototype.
• Saturday’s on-track activities for the WeatherTech Championship begin with a 20-minute warm-up session beginning at 8 a.m. CT.
• The Lone Star Le Mans will be televised live on FS1 beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET.