Date: Sept. 30, 2016
Event: 19th Annual Petit Le Mans (Round 10 of 10)
Series: Prototype division of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
Location: Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia (2.54-mile, 12-turn road course)
Pole Winner: Olivier Pla of Michael Shank Racing (1:13.061 at 125.1 mph)
Wayne Taylor Racing: 9th by Ricky Taylor (1:14.533 at 122.6 mph)

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP for Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) will start Saturday’s 19th annual Petit Le Mans on the inside of the fifth row after IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying Friday afternoon at Road Atlanta.

Ricky Taylor, who’s sharing the cockpit with his brother and full-time co-driver Jordan Taylor and also this weekend with veteran Italian Max “The Ax” Angelelli, drove a fast lap of 1 minute, 14.533 seconds at 122.6 mph around the 2.54-mile, 12-turn layout. It was good for ninth overall among 41 car-and-driver combinations that will take the green flag for Saturday’s 10-hour season finale.

“That was an interesting session, definitely not what our car will be like in the race tomorrow,” said Ricky Taylor, who qualified on the pole for the 13th time in his career and the first time this season two weekends ago en route to victory at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. “We can’t put our finger on one thing to explain why we qualified where we did. But tomorrow it won’t matter. It’s a 10-hour race and this is a track where we have a very good history on race day.”

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP is third in the driver and team standings heading into Saturday’s race, seven points behind the first-place No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette DP and six points behind the second-place No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP. A win by the Taylors and Angelelli, combined with no better than a fourth-place finish by either Action Express car, would bring both championships to the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP camp.

The top-five qualifiers for Saturday’s Petit Le Mans are:

1. Michael Shank Racing (No. 60 Honda HPD Ligier JS P2) with Olivier Pla, Oswaldo Negri and John Pew (1:13.061 at 125.1 mph)

2. Mazda Motorsports (No. 55 Mazda) with Tristan Nunez, Jonathan Bomarito and Spencer Pigot (1:13.520 at 124.3 mph)

3. Action Express Racing (No. 31 Corvette DP) with Eric Curran, Dane Cameron and Simon Pagenaud (1:13.903 at 123.7 mph)

4. Mazda Motorsports (No. 70 Mazda) with Tom Long, Joel Miller and Spencer Pigot (1:14.061 at 123.4 mph)

5. Action Express Racing (No. 5 Corvette DP) with Christian Fittipaldi, Joao Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque (1:14.160 at 123.3 mph)

The green flag flies at 11:10 a.m. EDT Saturday with live video of the entire race available via the FOX Sports GO app beginning at 11 a.m. In addition, live television will be provided by FS1 from 11 a.m. until noon, and FS2 from 2:30 to 6 p.m. Live timing and scoring during all on-track sessions is available at IMSA.com and the IMSA smartphone app.