The Cadillac crew continued its dominance in Texas this weekend, as the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing car set an IMSA record at the Circuit Of The Americas.
Ricky and Jordan Taylor have notched four victories in as many races this season. The brothers were the obvious favorites heading into the weekend, dominating the qualifying session with a record-breaking lap. The black Caddy maintained its position from start to finish during the race itself, setting a new record for a winning streak in IMSA SportsCar history.
The two other DPi-V.Rs would contribute to a Cadillac lockout on the podium. The No. 31 Whelen Engineering car crossed the line 18.855 seconds behind, while a late-race accident for the Tequila Patrón Nissan promoted the No. 5 Cadillac to third. The Nissan caught fire with barely ten minutes left on the clock — thankfully, driver Ryan Dalziel was unharmed.
Down in Prototype Challenge, the No. 38 car enjoyed a similarly strong performance, snapping up another victory after winning the first two rounds of the season. James French put the car first in-class during qualifying, though the No. 26 BAR1 car took the lead off the start.
French regained the lead and stayed there until the first pit stop, where he handed it over to teammate Pato O’Ward. Coming out in third, O’Ward slowly reeled in the leaders before Nick Boulle pitted the No. 26 car. A drive-through penalty for that car cemented O’Ward’s lead — not a bad way to celebrate an 18th birthday!
It was anything but smooth sailing in the GTLM class. First-lap mayhem put five cars out of contention for the win in Texas: both Ford GTs (which entered the weekend first and third in the standings), the No. 62 Ferrari 488, No. 4 Corvette, and No. 912 Porsche all were affected.
The Corvette team may have suffered defeat at the last round, but the No. 3 car of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen emerged victorious at COTA. By lap 27 of 73, the C7.R was in the lead, and it never looked back. The BMW M6 of Bill Auberlen and Alexander Sims crossed the line only 2.5 seconds behind, while its pole-sitting sister car rounded out the GTLM podium.
Ben Keating and Joroen Bleekemolen secured the GTD win in the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG. This was the fourth win in five starts for Texas native Keating, while also the third consecutive win for the German marque this season. Another AMG GT secured third position: No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Tristan Vautier and Kenny Habul, which led for two laps.
Sandwiched between the AMG machines on the podium was the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 of Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan.
The next stop on the WeatherTech Championship calendar is at Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan. The 100-minute race will take place June 3, and host the Prototype, PC, and GTD classes.
See more articles on IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Challenge 2017 Season.
