WATKINS GLEN, New York (June 27, 2017) – In the spirit of the iconic children’s television show Sesame Street, this week’s race is brought to you by the letter W, and the number six.

W, for starters, is for Wayne Taylor, the three-time sportscar champion and father of the driver duo of Ricky and Jordan Taylor, as well as owner of the team that campaigns their No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

W is also for Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, the historic racetrack in New York’s Finger Lakes region where the Taylor brothers and their team kick off the second half of the season this weekend.

And finally, W is for winning, which is all the Taylor brothers and their team have been doing through the first half of 2017 in the most remarkable streak in recent North American sportscar racing history.

Moving on, six is the number of hours the Taylor brothers and their team will be competing Sunday in one of the crown-jewel events of endurance racing around the world. The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen also is the sixth event on the 2017 WeatherTech Championship tour. Most importantly, six is the number of consecutive race wins the Taylor brothers and their team hope to achieve by being the first to cross the finish line at 4:10 p.m. local time Sunday.

Oh, and six just so happens to be the number of years since the team last scored a victory in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, when older brother Ricky Taylor qualified on the pole and he and co-driver Max “The Ax” Angelelli led 128 of 174 race laps to win the 2011 Watkins Glen enduro in dominating fashion. For good measure, Taylor and Angelelli returned to The Glen 10 weeks later to score an equally dominating victory in the two-hour sprint race during that year’s NASCAR road course weekend, once again starting on the pole and leading 77 of 100 race laps along the way.

When last seen on the WeatherTech Championship trail four weekends ago on the Streets of Belle Isle circuit in downtown Detroit, Ricky and Jordan Taylor tied a North American-based sportscar series record by winning their fifth race in a row. In 2001, the Audi R8 prototype duo of Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen opened the season with five consecutive victories – Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway, Donington (England) Park, the Jarama Circuit in Madrid, and Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway – racing an American Le Mans Series schedule that included European Le Mans Series events. Capello and Kristensen won eight of the 10 events on that combined 2001 schedule.

As they head to Watkins Glen this weekend, the Taylor brothers and the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R team remain focused in their effort to continue their winning ways by combining the ingredients that have worked to perfection so far this season – heady driving, superior preparation and lightning-fast pit stops, and creative and opportunistic strategy.

Practice for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen begins Friday morning with Prototype-class qualifying set for 12:55 p.m. EDT Saturday with live video provided by IMSA.tv beginning at 11:30 a.m. The green flag flies at 10:10 a.m. Saturday with live TV coverage set for FS1 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and FS2 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Live timing and scoring during all on-track sessions is available at IMSA.com and the IMSA smartphone app.

RICKY TAYLOR, driver, No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R:

Overall thoughts heading back to The Glen? Can we make it six in a row at the six-hour? What will it take?

“Watkins Glen is my favorite racetrack on our schedule. We have had a good history there, also, which always makes it a highlight of the season. Making it six in a row on the season will be very difficult. We have had a lot of BOP changes this year and the other cars are very competitive. One of the main things on our side is that it is a return to endurance racing. We will be able to pick up on the execution our team has shown so far this season with strong strategy and great races.”

New this year is that you’re doing it with just Ricky and you. What challenges does that present? Easier? More difficult?

“I think there are definitely positives to doing the race with only two drivers, the main one is that we will get more seat time throughout practice, which will mean less compromise in the setup and we will be able to work through more changes. The challenge will be that Watkins Glen is the fastest track on the schedule and it will physically be a very demanding six hours with only two drivers.”

Is the DPi more physical to drive at a fast track like The Glen, or less so? Any other performance differences you expect this year?

“The DPI will be different, for sure. We have more downforce and higher loading in the corners, but the cockpit should be a little cooler. I think, regardless of the car you’re driving at The Glen, it’s always quite physical getting around this racetrack.”

Talk about your Le Mans experience this year. How was it for you? Positives you took out of it? Good to have that experience to keep you sharp in the month between Detroit and The Glen?

“It was an exhausting Le Mans plagued with some really freak issues, but Le Mans is always such a great experience. To go back to Le Mans in a prototype was also very exciting and something that I am more accustomed to. Any seat time is good to keep us sharp during the season. Everybody is on top of their game and Jordan and I need to maintain the performance we’ve had so far.”

With a 30-point lead in the standings, is the team even remotely thinking about going into cruise mode or safe mode, or are you fiercely attaching for more wins?

“Yes, I think we must keep doing what we’ve been doing. The team all wants to keep winning and I think if we relax, we are probably more liable to make mistakes than if we keep our eyes focused and intensely trying to keep winning races.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, driver, No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R:

Overall thoughts heading back to The Glen? Can we make it six in a row at the six-hour? What will it take?

“I definitely think we can make it six in a row in Watkins Glen. Watkins Glen has always been a track that suits our team. We have always had strong cars but the results haven’t always shown it. I think, coming in this year, we have had a strong car at every race so far and our team has been executing perfectly in the races, so I don’t see why we can’t make it six in a row.”

New this year is that you’re doing it with just Ricky and you. What challenges does that present? Easier? More difficult?

“Having two drivers will make the race a little more physical for Ricky and I – more time in the car and less time to rest between stints. I think the good thing about it is not having to have any compromises with a third driver and being more relevant to the track and race conditions when we are getting in the car. Sometimes it can take a lap or two to get back into the groove, but we should be ready to go now.”

Is the DPi more physical to drive at a fast track like The Glen, or less so? Any other performance differences you expect this year?

“The DPi is going to be a bit different around the Glen. We produce a lot more downforce, so G-forces will be higher. I don’t think it’ll change much of the racing itself. The new surface at the track offers such high grip, we were never really sliding around much even before this year.”

Talk about your Le Mans experience this year. How was it for you? Positives you took out of it? Good to have that experience to keep you sharp in the month between Detroit and The Glen?

“Obviously, my Le Mans didn’t end how I would have liked. We had a couple of unlucky things happen early on in the race with a puncture and getting caught out by safety cars but, after that, we fought back really well. We came back from being last in class to battling for the lead at the end. Overall, I learned a lot from the weekend that I’ll be able to take to future events.”

With a 30-point lead in the standings, is the team even remotely thinking about going into cruise mode or safe mode, or are you fiercely attaching for more wins?

“We can’t change the way we’ve been doing things all year. What we’ve been doing has been working, so if we start playing it safe, we may get caught out.”


WAYNE TAYLOR, owner, No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R:

Your overall thoughts as the series heads to Watkins Glen this weekend to start the second half of the season?

“Watkins Glen, like I’ve always said, is my favorite track, and it’s even better now that it has been resurfaced. We tested there a while back and it went pretty well for us. It’s definitely going to be a very fast race with the Tequila Patron team, the Mazdas and the other LMP2s. They’re all extremely fast. We will have to once again do it with our pit stops and strategy if we are going to be there at the end. The beauty of this team is that we have the best drivers, as a unit, and the best team and strategists. So that should go a long way toward helping us bring home a win on Sunday.”