Date: Sept. 17, 2016
Event: Lone Star Le Mans (Round 9 of 10)
Series: Prototype division of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
Location: Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas (3.4-mile, 20-turn road course)
Start/Finish: 1st/1st (Running, completed 75 of 75 laps)
Winner: Ricky Taylor and Jordan Taylor of Wayne Taylor Racing (Corvette DP)
Point Standing: 3rd (278 points, seven out of first)

Racing in the most brutally hot conditions of the season proved to be a piece of cake for brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor, who in stifling Texas heat and humidity co-drove the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP for Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) to a stifling victory in Saturday’s Lone Star Le Mans IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Circuit of the Americas on the outskirts of Austin.

Starting from the pole for the first time this season, they led 70 of the 75 laps raced around the 3.4-mile, 20-turn home to the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix in 93-degree temperatures outside and 130 degrees inside the cockpit.

And, to add a measure of excitement, the victory came despite a midrace spin while leading that, in the long run, proved to be just a blip on the radar on an otherwise flawless performance by drivers, crew and strategists.

The Taylor brothers were quick to credit the team’s racecar setup that made the Konica Minolta Corvette DP easy to drive in the extreme conditions, as well as the team’s brand new coolsuit technology from RINI Technologies that considerably eased the challenge of staying focused in the cockpit in such high temperatures.

Today’s win was the 14th in major North American sportscar competition for each Taylor brother. Ricky Taylor started from the pole and easily took charge of the opening 40 minutes of green-flag racing, opening up a comfortable 15-second gap on the field before handing the car over to his brother during the race’s first caution period for a stalled Prototype-class competition on-track.

Jordan Taylor took over from there and also opened up a 15-second lead early in his stint before what was discovered to be a brief traction-control issue led to a spin coming out of turn 20 onto the frontstretch. Taylor quickly righted the Konica Minolta Corvette DP and continued, having lost only 10 seconds of his lead.

“It was an awesome race,” said Ricky Taylor, who earned his 13th career pole position Friday night. “We had the best car today and not often do you have the best car and everything goes your way and everything goes right. Today, we had a little hiccup with traction control cutting out for a couple of laps, and it was a bit of a panic for the guys with about 40 minutes to go about how we were going to get it working again. With a one-second lead with no traction control, (40 minutes) would have been a long, long time. But they worked through it and Jordan controlled the race after that. The conditions were not that bad. The car was very comfortable inside. We were able to build such a good gap and Jordan was able to bring it home from there. Coming into it, during the strategy meeting, we asked the question today whether we’re going for the win or if we’re going for points. Today was all about the win and I think we executed well, the team did a great job, and today we had the fastest car. The stops went well, the strategy was perfect. It was a shame we got that first yellow because we had a big buffer and it seemed like they could’ve pushed that (stalled) car behind the wall. But, anyway, Jordan opened up a really good gap and then we had some electrical gremlins with traction control and that allowed the gap to get closed up a bit. But Jordan did a great job controlling the race from the front once those problems were sorted out. I feel like we’ve had a good car the last three times we’ve been here and it’s nice to finally get a win.”

For Jordan Taylor, it wasn’t the outside or cockpit temperatures that caused the most heated part of the race, but the frantic moments surrounding his midrace spin.

“It was obviously a good day, our third win of the year,” he said. “We had a strong car, so I knew we had a shot at it when Ricky won the pole. Then Ricky had a flawless run, pulled out a 10-second lead and I knew, basically with me finishing it, it was up to me to lose it. I think we pulled it out to 15 seconds and then something happened – I thought either I made a mistake by spinning or we had a traction-control problem. I spun, and the next five laps we were fighting what turned out to be traction-control problems and I was probably freaking out on the radio a little bit. Whatever the reason, I spun and I just knew I had to bring it home for the guys because of the big lead they and Ricky got us. Thankfully, the guys got it sorted, we fixed it. By that time, we only had a two-second lead so the race was back on. It got a little close, but the only thing that made it close was traffic coming and going. It was a good race. We had a little battle, but obviously a great day for us. Konica Minolta and DLL had 70 people here, so it couldn’t have been a better weekend for us. We knew it was going to be hot. I spent two hours and 10 minutes in the car and, if it wasn’t for our new technology with RINI (coolsuits), I don’t think I would’ve made it. We were talking almost the whole race about whether Ricky was going to get back in the car or not. Thankfully, this new coolsuit system helped a lot and it’s something we can use at Petit (Le Mans), as well, for the 10-hour.”

The victory enabled the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP team to shave precious points off its deficit to first place in the season-long championship. The team entered the weekend in third place, trailing the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa by 11 points and the No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Eric Curran and Dane Cameron by 10 points. With one race remaining, the No. 31 team leapfrogged its team car to take a one-point lead in the championship while the Konica Minolta Corvette DP is now seven points out of the lead and six out of second place.

“Well, I’m obviously ecstatic with this win,” team owner Wayne Taylor said. “We dominated. Thanks to Chevy’s support – Mark Kent, Jim Campbell, Mark Reuss, Terry Dolan and everybody. Konica Minolta with Rick Taylor, everybody there who has supported us for so long. And DLL – what an amazing story there with Steve Riggs, who heads the company. He’s only come to five races and every one of the five we’ve won. So we’ve got to make sure he comes to more races. As far as the championship is concerned, we came in here knowing the race was going to be between the 31 and the 5, so we just came to get the outright win. This weekend proved a lot of things. We know we have the best team and we know we have the best drivers, and that’s all there is to it.”

The 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship concludes Saturday, Oct. 1 with the traditional Petit Le Mans endurance classic at Road Atlanta. The 10-hour race will be broadcast live via a mixed bag of FS1, FS2 and IMSA.tv handoffs beginning at 11 a.m. EDT.