Ricky Taylor put forth a strong effort on Friday morning to qualify the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 in third position for the 70th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts. 30 points were awarded for his lap time of 1:45.301 at 127.861 mph, bringing the team’s season total to 385 points and trimming the gap to the championship leaders down to 20 points. With a quality performance on race day, the team can take the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship lead.

Full time teammate Filipe Albuquerque and endurance driver Will Stevens will join Taylor in the cockpit for the 12-hour endurance race around Sebring’s 17-turn, 3.74-mile circuit. The drivers are confident in their pace and will look to run a clean race and put the team in a position to push hard once night falls.

“Really happy with qualifying,” explained Ricky Taylor. “The guys have made lots of changes throughout the week. We didn’t know what to expect for qualifying. Obviously, the conditions are very hot. We’ve been really trying to work towards a good car at the end of the race when it’s cooler. To be third, right in the midst of the Cadillacs, makes us optimistic for the race. The last couple of years have proved that it is a race of attrition. With how strong everyone is, and with 53 cars out there, it’s going to be a race of survival until the last two hours. The next thing to do is keep working through warmup and go do 12 hours.”

Green flag for the Twelve Hours of Sebring will wave at 10:10 a.m. ET tomorrow, Saturday March 19 with full coverage streaming at 10:00 a.m. ET on Peacock and network coverage on USA beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET.

DPi STARTING GRID:

1. Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing (No. 01 Cadillac DPi) Renger van der Zande, Sebastian Bourdais & Ryan Hunter-Reay (128.025 mph)

2. Whelen Engineering Racing (No. 31 Cadillac DPi) Pipo Derani, Tristan Nunez & Mike Conway (127.994 mph)

3.) Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi) Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque & Will Stevens (127.861 mph)

4.) Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing (No. 02 Cadillac DPi) Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn & Neel Jani (127.835 mph)

5.) Ally Cadillac (No. 48 Ally Cadillac DPi) Jose Maria Lopez, Mike Rockenfeller & Kamui Kobayashi (127.528 mph)

ABOUT KONICA MINOLTA   Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. is reshaping and revolutionizing the Workplace of the Future. The company guides and supports its clients’ digital transformation through its expansive office technology portfolio, including IT Services (All Covered), intelligent information management, managed print services and industrial and commercial print solutions. Konica Minolta has been included on CRN’s MSP 500 list nine times and The World Technology Awards recently named the company a finalist in the IT Software category. Konica Minolta has been recognized as the #1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys for fourteen consecutive years, and received Keypoint Intelligence’s BLI 2021 A3 Line of The Year Award and BLI 2021-2023 Most Color Consistent A3 Brand Award for its bizhub i-Series. Konica Minolta, Inc. has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for nine consecutive years and has spent four years on the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World list. Konica Minolta partners with its clients to give shape to ideas and works to bring value to our society. For more information, please visit us online and follow Konica Minolta on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter. The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 effort and Wayne Taylor Racing is supported by an outstanding lineup of partners including Harrison Contracting, Acura Motorsports, Hammer Nutrition  and CIT.