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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