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USC Petit Le Mans: Wayne Taylor crew wins, title for Action Express

Wayne Taylor Racing claimed victory in the United Sportscar season-closing Petit Le Mans endurance classic with its Dallara-Chevrolet Corvette DP shared by brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli

Jordan Taylor overhauled the Action Express Coyote-Chevrolet Corvette DP driven by Christian Fittipaldi in the penultimate hour and then pulled away into a lead of more than 30 seconds.

That lead was removed when the safety car was deployed for the 12th time with just 18 minutes of the 10-hour USC finale at Road Atlanta left to run.

The race went green for the final six minutes and Taylor was able to stretch a 2.7-second advantage over Fittipaldi's co-driver Joao Barbosa when the safety car pulled in to 11s at the chequered flag.

Jordan Taylor said: "We set the car up for the night, because we wanted a car that worked well in the cooler conditions; it's always the last couple of hours that matters.

"They [Action Express] were struggling and we were able to control the race, even after the final safety car."

Barbosa and Fittipaldi failed to follow up on their victory in the Daytona 24 Hours at the start of the season, but they were crowned USC champions after each completing 45 minutes, the minimum driving time required to score points, thanks to the paucity of entries in the Prototype class.

Petit Le Mans boiled down into a straight fight between the WTR Dallara and the #5 Action Express Coyote in the eighth hour when the solo Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford EcoBoost DP dropped off the lead lap due to Memo Rojas pitting with a broken wheel rim after a tap from behind at the chicane.

Rojas and team-mates Scott Pruett and Scott Dixon ended up third, one lap down on the battling WTR and Action Express cars.

Fourth place went to the DeltaWing-Elan DWC13, the best result for the car in any of its configurations.

Katherine Legge, Andy Meyrick and Gabby Chaves were able to run with the leaders early in the race before losing time to a change of nose because a light failure and then gearbox issues.

The OAK Racing Ligier-HPD JSP2, the only meaningful LMP2 entry in the Prototype class, went out early after a troubled event in the hands of Alex Brundle, Gustavo Yacaman and Ho-Pin Tung, which included an engine failure in qualifying, more engine problems early in the race and then the incident with the DeltaWing that put it out of the race with suspension and steering damage.

The winning Prototype Challenge contender, the Starworks entry driven by Renger van de Zande, John Martin, Alex Popow and Mirco Schultis, took fifth place overall.

The final yellow flag was caused by a heavy shunt involving class leader Sean Rayhall's 8Star entry, which would have been overhauled by van de Zande because it needed to make a final splash-and-dash pitstop.

FALKEN PORSCHE BEATS FACTORY TO GT VICTORY

The privateer Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR claimed a narrow victory in GT Le Mans over the marque's factory team.

Wolf Henzler, who shared the Falken car with Bryan Sellers and Marco Holzer, looked secure at the front when the final safety car came out.

He then had to fight off Michael Christensen in the CORE-run factory car he shared with Patrick Long and Earl Bamber.

Third place for Dodge driver Kuno Wittmer was enough to claim the title in the Viper SRT GTS-R he shared with Marc Goossens and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

GT Daytona victory went to the Paul Miller Racing Audi R8 LMS shared by Bryce Miller, Matt Bell and Christopher Haase, which finished three seconds up on the Snow Racing Porsche 911 GT America shared by Jan Heylen and Madison Snow.

RESULTS - 400 LAPS:

Pos Class Driver Team Car Gap
1 P J.Taylor, R.Taylor, M.Angelelli Wayne Taylor Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 10h01m11.256s
2 P J.Barbosa, C.Fittipaldi, S.Bourdais Action Express Racing Corvette/Chevrolet 11.062s
3 P S.Dixon, M.Rojas, S.Pruett Chip Ganassi Racing Riley/Ford 1 Lap
4 P A.Meyrick, K.Legge, G.Chaves DeltaWing Racing Cars DeltaWing/Elan 5 Laps
5 PC M.Schultis, R.van der Zande, A.Popow Starworks Motorsport ORECA/Chevrolet 5 Laps
6 PC J.Bennett, C.Braun, J.Gue CORE Autosport ORECA/Chevrolet 5 Laps
7 PC F.Montecalvo, G.Jeannette PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet 5 Laps
8 PC J.Hawksworth, C.Cumming, R.Mitchell RSR Racing ORECA/Chevrolet 6 Laps
9 GTLM W.Henzler, B.Sellers, M.Holzer Team Falken Tire Porsche 9 Laps
10 GTLM P.Long, M.Christensen, E.Bamber Porsche North America Porsche 9 Laps
11 GTLM R.H.-Reay, M.Goossens, K.Wittmer SRT Motorsports SRT/Viper 9 Laps
12 GTLM O.Gavin, T.Milner, R.Briscoe Corvette Racing Chevrolet 9 Laps
13 GTLM N.Tandy, J.Bergmeister, P.Pilet Porsche North America Porsche 10 Laps
14 GTLM J.Bomarito, R.Bell, D.Farnbacher SRT Motorsports SRT/Viper 11 Laps
15 P E.Curran, B.Said, M.Papis Marsh Racing Corvette/Chevrolet 12 Laps
16 GTLM J.M.Edwards, D.Muller, D.Werner BMW Team RLL BMW 12 Laps
17 GTLM J.Magnussen, A.Garcia, R.Briscoe Corvette Racing Chevrolet 12 Laps
18 PC M.Fuentes, J.Martin, A.Merzon Starworks Motorsport ORECA/Chevrolet 15 Laps
19 PC C.Miller, M.Goikhberg, S.Simpson JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet 16 Laps
20 PC S.Rayhall, E.Lux, T.K.-Smith 8Star Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet Not running
21 GTLM T.Krohn, N.Jonsson, A.Bertolini Krohn Racing Ferrari 17 Laps
22 P O.Negri, J.Pew Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Riley/Ford 17 Laps
23 P R.Westbrook, M.Valiante, M.Rockenfeller Spirit Of Daytona Corvette/Chevrolet 19 Laps
24 GTD C.Haase, B.Miller, M.Bell Paul Miller Racing Audi 24 Laps
25 GTD M.Snow, J.Heylen, P.Dempsey Snow Racing Porsche 24 Laps
26 GTD J.Potter, A.Lally, M.Seefried Magnus Racing Porsche 24 Laps
27 GTD D.Cameron, M.Palttala, C.Nygaard Turner Motorsport BMW 24 Laps
28 GTD I.James, M.Farnbacher, A.Riberas Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche Not running
29 GTD P.Lathouras, M.Griffin, M.Rugolo Spirit of Race Ferrari 25 Laps
30 PC M.Drumwright, M.Plowman, T.Drissi BAR1 Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet 25 Laps
31 GTD B.Sweedler, T.Bell, C.Grunewald AIM Autosport Ferrari 25 Laps
32 GTD C.MacNeil, L.Keen, C.Stanton Alex Job Racing Porsche 25 Laps
33 GTD A.Balzan, J.Westphal, B.Davis Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 27 Laps
34 GTD D.Block, C.Nielsen, J.Davison TRG-AMR Aston Martin 27 Laps
35 GTD P.Eng, D.Faulkner, B.Barker GB Autosport Porsche 33 Laps
36 GTD S.Neiman, D.von Moltke, A.Latif Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi 34 Laps
37 GTD P.Lindsey, K.Estre, N.Siedler Park Place Motorsports Porsche 54 Laps
38 PC D.Ende, B.Junqueira, D.H.Hansson RSR Racing ORECA/Chevrolet Not running
39 GTD N.Canache, S.Pumpelly, A.Palmer Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi Not running
40 P S.Tremblay, T.Long, B.Devlin Speedsource Mazda Not running
41 GTD M.Kvamme, D.Lloyd, L.Pegram Muehlner Motorsports America Porsche 175 Laps
42 P G.Yacaman, A.Brundle, H-Pin Tung Oak Racing Ligier/HPD Not running
43 GTD P.Perazzini, M.Cioci, E.Cheever Spirit of Race Ferrari Not running
44 PC D.Ostella, J.Mee, J.French Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet Not running
45 GTD J.Bleekemolen, B.Keating, S.Bleekemolen Riley Motorsports SRT/Viper Not running
46 P B.Frisselle, B.Frisselle, J.Fogarty Action Express Racing Corvette/Chevrolet Not running
47 PC T.Papadopoulos, J.Mowlem, D.Cheng BAR1 Motorsports ORECA/Chevrolet Not running
48 GTLM B.Auberlen, A.Priaulx, J.Hand BMW Team RLL BMW Not running
49 GTD P.Dempsey, A.Davis, J.Foster Dempsey Racing Porsche Not running
50 GTLM G.Fisichella, P.Kaffer, O.Beretta Risi Competizione Ferrari Not running
51 P J.Miller, T.Nunez, T.Vautier Speedsource Mazda Not running

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