2013 Detroit Pre Race Report
DETROIT (May 28, 2013) – In the shadows of the Renaissance Center and the worldwide headquarters of General Motors, whom they so proudly represent, the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Dallara DP duo of Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor look to finish the job the No. 10 Corvette DP team started so strongly a year ago this weekend.
The second-ever Chevrolet GRAND-AM 200 Rolex Series race takes place Saturday on the Streets of Belle Isle temporary circuit, and it’s a race Angelelli and Ricky Taylor – Jordan’s older brother – looked like they were well on their way to winning the first time around.
Angelelli qualified second kept close to the polesitting Jon Fogarty in the No. 99 Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP for the opening 30 minutes of last year’s race. The veteran Italian handed the No. 10 Corvette DP over to Ricky Taylor, who made short work of passing four-time series champion Scott Pruett for the lead and kept it there until just short of the race’s midpoint.
Good luck appeared to be on the No. 10 team’s side as the elder Taylor brother was at precisely the right place at the right time during an incident involving a GT competitor to be able to dive into the pits for a final load of fuel and also maintain the race lead. But, as fate would have it, heavy left-side contact with a concrete barrier as he was exiting pit road led to an abrupt end to the No. 10 team’s day – just … like … that.
Meanwhile, Jordan Taylor, who was co-piloting the No. 88 Autohaus Motorsports Camaro GT.R with Paul Edwards, drove the race of his life to that point in bringing home the GT-class victory – the second Rolex Series win of his career. That certainly bodes well for his and the Velocity Worldwide team’s outlook as they hope to finish the job they started at Belle Isle a year ago.
Practice for Saturday’s two-hour, Chevrolet GRAND-AM 200 begins Friday morning with qualifying set for 4:55 p.m. EDT. Race time Saturday is 12:30 p.m. with SPEED providing same-day-delayed television coverage beginning at 5 p.m. Live radio coverage by the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 begins with pre-race festivities at 12:15 p.m. Live timing and scoring during all on-track sessions can be found at www.grand-am.com, and on mobile devices at m.grand-am.com and the GRAND-AM smartphone app.
Max Angelelli, co-driver of the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Dallara DP for Wayne Taylor Racing:
After five weekends away from the racetrack, you’re back in the Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP to resume what from here on out will be a normal schedule. What are your thoughts heading to Detroit?
“Finally, we are back racing, and Detroit is a very special event. It’s extremely important for our Chevy team and we have to represent the brand properly on the racetrack and outside the racetrack. We have to do that as best we can starting with winning the race. I’m very much looking forward to that race event because of the success we had there last year. But, as you know, in racing, everything can change so rapidly. Just look at what happened to us in the middle of the race. Also, a good racecar the year before is not like the rule that you will have the perfect racecar the next time you come back. The perfect racecar is always the result of background work starting at the shop. What we need to have is a fast racecar right off the trailer. When we unload the car, that’s when our car has to be fast. If you start practice with a fast racecar, the rest of the weekend is downhill. We focus a lot and spend a lot of time analyzing data to make sure we have everything in place so that, hopefully, we will start fast this weekend and every weekend.”
Your co-driver Jordan Taylor was victorious at Detroit last year in the GT class. What does that mean for this weekend?
“Absolutely, it’s a major plus that Jordan won last year at Belle Isle. It doesn’t matter that this year he’ll be driving a Daytona Prototype. As far as we’re all concerned, he stepped into the DP class a long time ago. He’s not new to this car, this team, this situation, anymore. He knows the track, so it’s a major advantage. He has the confidence, the knowledge and the understanding of everything he has to do this weekend so we can run our schedule at full pace. We do not have to compromise, we can do it properly.”
So, what have you been up to the last six weeks?
“Six weeks is a long time in this business. I focused all of my energy on looking after the mechanical side of the team with the boys in Indianapolis. We were not on the racetrack, but there was constant development of the car going on to maintain the link tightly between the the people and the resources at Wayne Taylor Racing, Dallara, Pratt & Miller, and Chevrolet to increase our knowledge and to increase our tools in order to have a fast Corvette. Chevrolet has been such a good partner of ours, constantly allowing us to experience new stuff and giving us the tools we need to improve our car on an ongoing basis.”
The second-ever Chevrolet GRAND-AM 200 Rolex Series race takes place Saturday on the Streets of Belle Isle temporary circuit, and it’s a race Angelelli and Ricky Taylor – Jordan’s older brother – looked like they were well on their way to winning the first time around.
Angelelli qualified second kept close to the polesitting Jon Fogarty in the No. 99 Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP for the opening 30 minutes of last year’s race. The veteran Italian handed the No. 10 Corvette DP over to Ricky Taylor, who made short work of passing four-time series champion Scott Pruett for the lead and kept it there until just short of the race’s midpoint.
Good luck appeared to be on the No. 10 team’s side as the elder Taylor brother was at precisely the right place at the right time during an incident involving a GT competitor to be able to dive into the pits for a final load of fuel and also maintain the race lead. But, as fate would have it, heavy left-side contact with a concrete barrier as he was exiting pit road led to an abrupt end to the No. 10 team’s day – just … like … that.
Meanwhile, Jordan Taylor, who was co-piloting the No. 88 Autohaus Motorsports Camaro GT.R with Paul Edwards, drove the race of his life to that point in bringing home the GT-class victory – the second Rolex Series win of his career. That certainly bodes well for his and the Velocity Worldwide team’s outlook as they hope to finish the job they started at Belle Isle a year ago.
Practice for Saturday’s two-hour, Chevrolet GRAND-AM 200 begins Friday morning with qualifying set for 4:55 p.m. EDT. Race time Saturday is 12:30 p.m. with SPEED providing same-day-delayed television coverage beginning at 5 p.m. Live radio coverage by the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 begins with pre-race festivities at 12:15 p.m. Live timing and scoring during all on-track sessions can be found at www.grand-am.com, and on mobile devices at m.grand-am.com and the GRAND-AM smartphone app.
Max Angelelli, co-driver of the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Dallara DP for Wayne Taylor Racing:
After five weekends away from the racetrack, you’re back in the Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP to resume what from here on out will be a normal schedule. What are your thoughts heading to Detroit?
“Finally, we are back racing, and Detroit is a very special event. It’s extremely important for our Chevy team and we have to represent the brand properly on the racetrack and outside the racetrack. We have to do that as best we can starting with winning the race. I’m very much looking forward to that race event because of the success we had there last year. But, as you know, in racing, everything can change so rapidly. Just look at what happened to us in the middle of the race. Also, a good racecar the year before is not like the rule that you will have the perfect racecar the next time you come back. The perfect racecar is always the result of background work starting at the shop. What we need to have is a fast racecar right off the trailer. When we unload the car, that’s when our car has to be fast. If you start practice with a fast racecar, the rest of the weekend is downhill. We focus a lot and spend a lot of time analyzing data to make sure we have everything in place so that, hopefully, we will start fast this weekend and every weekend.”
Your co-driver Jordan Taylor was victorious at Detroit last year in the GT class. What does that mean for this weekend?
“Absolutely, it’s a major plus that Jordan won last year at Belle Isle. It doesn’t matter that this year he’ll be driving a Daytona Prototype. As far as we’re all concerned, he stepped into the DP class a long time ago. He’s not new to this car, this team, this situation, anymore. He knows the track, so it’s a major advantage. He has the confidence, the knowledge and the understanding of everything he has to do this weekend so we can run our schedule at full pace. We do not have to compromise, we can do it properly.”
So, what have you been up to the last six weeks?
“Six weeks is a long time in this business. I focused all of my energy on looking after the mechanical side of the team with the boys in Indianapolis. We were not on the racetrack, but there was constant development of the car going on to maintain the link tightly between the the people and the resources at Wayne Taylor Racing, Dallara, Pratt & Miller, and Chevrolet to increase our knowledge and to increase our tools in order to have a fast Corvette. Chevrolet has been such a good partner of ours, constantly allowing us to experience new stuff and giving us the tools we need to improve our car on an ongoing basis.”
Jordan Taylor, co-driver of the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Dallara DP for Wayne Taylor Racing:
It was a big day for you at Belle Isle last year when you co-drove with Paul Edwards to the GT-class win in the No. 88 Autohaus Motorsports Camaro GT.R. What are your memories of a year ago this weekend?
“It was actually my first street course race in anything, so it was somewhat of an unknown coming in. On top of that, it was made even more difficult because it rained all through practice. I did about three laps in dry conditions before the race. It was pretty much the same for all of the drivers doing the closing stints who got in. We were all driving blind, for the most part, learning as fast as possible. It was interesting to see all the different lines and braking points people were trying in real-time as the race went along. For us, it turned out to be a flawless day. We were running third, got ahead on one of the pit stops, led a majority of the race and the rest is history. All in all it was a good weekend. Especially winning there with Chevy, right in their hometown, is cool. It was only my second win in GT so, yes, it was a very good weekend.”
This year, you’re with the team that seemed to be the car to beat in the Daytona Prototype class before a very untimely mishap halfway through the race. What are your thoughts about this coming weekend?
“Ricky (Taylor, older brother) was in the same boat as me last year as far as having very little practice time and having to learn the track in real-time during the race. Ricky was definitely going to be the car to beat that day. It’s good to go in there feeling like we’re going to have a strong weekend. I’m pretty confident going in. The track’s changed a little bit so I won’t be the only one in a DP having to learn the changes they made since last year. All the Corvettes were strong there last year. No matter how good we are in particular, I think Corvette will be a strong as a package. But our guys are good at showing up at a track and having a quick car right off the bat.”
What have you been up to for the last six weeks?
“Six weeks off is like an entire offseason, it seems like. Yes, you get bored when all you want to do is get in the racecar and drive. So you end up taking up other pursuits, like learning how to surf, and shooting music videos, etc. Fortunately, there was a lot of other good racing to watch, like Formula 1 and IndyCar. It just felt strange to not be in my own racecar for such a long stretch. I’m really looking forward to the month of June. We start with a one of the best events of the year in Detroit. Then I head to Le Mans for pre-qualifying, then to Mid-Ohio for the next Rolex race, and then back to Le Mans, and finish it all off at the Watkins Glen Six-Hour. June is going to be awesome.”
Speaking of music videos, you and Ricky are releasing this week your followup Marky Mark’s “Good Vibrations” that you released in January and was so popular. What’s this next effort all about that is scheduled for release at 7 p.m. EDT Wednesday?
“I don’t want to give anything away, but it’s basically a Beastie Boys song that we all like. It features us being chased by the police. And we do this rap scene in Daytona. The whole music video thing started when Mark Jensen (childhood friend, fellow racer, and current marketing manager for WTR) and I were at dinner at a Mexican restaurant and there was a mariachi band there. We got interested in their dancing and their singing. One thing led to another, and we wanted to do a more interesting song, so we picked out ‘Good Vibrations’ for the first one. The weirder it got, the more people enjoyed it. We got a good reaction to the first video and it will be hard to top it, so we worked a little harder on this one.”
Wayne Taylor, team owner of the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Dallara DP for Wayne Taylor Racing:
You’re heading back to Detroit, where you had a fast racecar last year, and where Jordan drove a great race in winning the GT class last year. What are your thoughts about this weekend’s return visit?
“It’s Detroit, it’s Belle Isle, it’s a great facility, a great race, and it’s in the heart of General Motors Country. It’s obviously a pressure event for us because it’s so important to have a good run there. I feel now our team is working so well, I’m sure we’ll have a good car and a good race. We’ve just got to get on the podium every single race. If everybody just continues to do what they’ve been doing, that’s entirely within the realm of possibility. It was an exciting weekend for Jordan there last year. He won the race, then went straight to pre-qualifying at Le Mans, so that was all pretty special. When you win somewhere, it’s always good to be going back. I think they’ve changed the track just a little bit, but for the best. We’re going back there in a upbeat fashion.”
There have been photos floating around social media sites in the last week depicting a second Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP with the No. 11 on it. What’s that all about?
“I’ve made it known that my goal is to have a second car next year, so I wanted to show the world that it truly does exist. It looks great. I’ve been talking to sponsors and other parties of interest and, hopefully, we can make it happen.”
ABOUT VELOCITY WORDWIDE – Velocity Worldwide is a global customer engagement agency with headquarters in New York, London, Dublin and Belfast.Velocity Worldwide has converged all digital and traditional communication channels into a single, unique platform called Darius. The Darius platform helps companies and brands create a continual conversation “eco-system” that enables them to meaningfully engage with and measure all interactions with their target audience.
It was a big day for you at Belle Isle last year when you co-drove with Paul Edwards to the GT-class win in the No. 88 Autohaus Motorsports Camaro GT.R. What are your memories of a year ago this weekend?
“It was actually my first street course race in anything, so it was somewhat of an unknown coming in. On top of that, it was made even more difficult because it rained all through practice. I did about three laps in dry conditions before the race. It was pretty much the same for all of the drivers doing the closing stints who got in. We were all driving blind, for the most part, learning as fast as possible. It was interesting to see all the different lines and braking points people were trying in real-time as the race went along. For us, it turned out to be a flawless day. We were running third, got ahead on one of the pit stops, led a majority of the race and the rest is history. All in all it was a good weekend. Especially winning there with Chevy, right in their hometown, is cool. It was only my second win in GT so, yes, it was a very good weekend.”
This year, you’re with the team that seemed to be the car to beat in the Daytona Prototype class before a very untimely mishap halfway through the race. What are your thoughts about this coming weekend?
“Ricky (Taylor, older brother) was in the same boat as me last year as far as having very little practice time and having to learn the track in real-time during the race. Ricky was definitely going to be the car to beat that day. It’s good to go in there feeling like we’re going to have a strong weekend. I’m pretty confident going in. The track’s changed a little bit so I won’t be the only one in a DP having to learn the changes they made since last year. All the Corvettes were strong there last year. No matter how good we are in particular, I think Corvette will be a strong as a package. But our guys are good at showing up at a track and having a quick car right off the bat.”
What have you been up to for the last six weeks?
“Six weeks off is like an entire offseason, it seems like. Yes, you get bored when all you want to do is get in the racecar and drive. So you end up taking up other pursuits, like learning how to surf, and shooting music videos, etc. Fortunately, there was a lot of other good racing to watch, like Formula 1 and IndyCar. It just felt strange to not be in my own racecar for such a long stretch. I’m really looking forward to the month of June. We start with a one of the best events of the year in Detroit. Then I head to Le Mans for pre-qualifying, then to Mid-Ohio for the next Rolex race, and then back to Le Mans, and finish it all off at the Watkins Glen Six-Hour. June is going to be awesome.”
Speaking of music videos, you and Ricky are releasing this week your followup Marky Mark’s “Good Vibrations” that you released in January and was so popular. What’s this next effort all about that is scheduled for release at 7 p.m. EDT Wednesday?
“I don’t want to give anything away, but it’s basically a Beastie Boys song that we all like. It features us being chased by the police. And we do this rap scene in Daytona. The whole music video thing started when Mark Jensen (childhood friend, fellow racer, and current marketing manager for WTR) and I were at dinner at a Mexican restaurant and there was a mariachi band there. We got interested in their dancing and their singing. One thing led to another, and we wanted to do a more interesting song, so we picked out ‘Good Vibrations’ for the first one. The weirder it got, the more people enjoyed it. We got a good reaction to the first video and it will be hard to top it, so we worked a little harder on this one.”
Wayne Taylor, team owner of the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Dallara DP for Wayne Taylor Racing:
You’re heading back to Detroit, where you had a fast racecar last year, and where Jordan drove a great race in winning the GT class last year. What are your thoughts about this weekend’s return visit?
“It’s Detroit, it’s Belle Isle, it’s a great facility, a great race, and it’s in the heart of General Motors Country. It’s obviously a pressure event for us because it’s so important to have a good run there. I feel now our team is working so well, I’m sure we’ll have a good car and a good race. We’ve just got to get on the podium every single race. If everybody just continues to do what they’ve been doing, that’s entirely within the realm of possibility. It was an exciting weekend for Jordan there last year. He won the race, then went straight to pre-qualifying at Le Mans, so that was all pretty special. When you win somewhere, it’s always good to be going back. I think they’ve changed the track just a little bit, but for the best. We’re going back there in a upbeat fashion.”
There have been photos floating around social media sites in the last week depicting a second Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP with the No. 11 on it. What’s that all about?
“I’ve made it known that my goal is to have a second car next year, so I wanted to show the world that it truly does exist. It looks great. I’ve been talking to sponsors and other parties of interest and, hopefully, we can make it happen.”
ABOUT VELOCITY WORDWIDE – Velocity Worldwide is a global customer engagement agency with headquarters in New York, London, Dublin and Belfast.Velocity Worldwide has converged all digital and traditional communication channels into a single, unique platform called Darius. The Darius platform helps companies and brands create a continual conversation “eco-system” that enables them to meaningfully engage with and measure all interactions with their target audience.