With his father being honored as one of six Honorary Grand Marshals at next weekend's opening ceremonies for the 60th running of the Rolex 24 of Daytona, Ricky Taylor, his teammate Filipe Albuquerque and the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 team brought home top honors with a win and dominant performance in today’s 100-minute Roar Before the Rolex 24 sprint race for the coveted pole Motul Pole Award. With today's win, the blue and black Konica Minolta machine will now lead the 61-car pack to the green flag for the start of the epic 24-hour endurance battle that kicks off next Saturday, January 29th at 1:40 p.m. 

Filipe Albuquerque took the green flag from seventh position for the qualifying race around Daytona International Speedway’s 3.61-mile, 12-turn road course. In a continuation of what is becoming a hallmark of his driving style, Filipe displayed the perfect amount of aggression at the start, moving up to fifth place in the opening minutes. Using GT traffic to his advantage, he made a move for fourth through the dogleg and held position for the remainder of his stint.

Ricky Taylor took the wheel with just over an hour remaining, emerging from the pit cycle in third. Ricky inherited the lead during the second round of stops, and the team executed an over-cut to perfection, retaining the lead after their final stop. Despite constant pressure from the No. 5 Cadillac for the final half-hour and a desperate lunge by its driver, Richard Westbrook, which resulted in light contact going into Turn 1 of the final lap, Taylor held on. He showed nerves of steel to take the win, pole position for the Rolex 24 at DAYTONA and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship lead.

“It is always nice to be in victory lane at Daytona,” explained Ricky Taylor. “Although it isn’t the 24, it still means a lot. I think the team did a great job and we’ve had our ups and downs already this weekend. The team stayed on track and executed really well. Thanks to Acura and HPD for always providing us with a great car and thanks Alex (Rossi), Will Stevens and all the Konica Minolta boys on the strategy. The stops were flawless, they put me in the lead twice and thankfully we held on for the win at the end. It’s always really special here at Daytona and to start on the pole is really cool. We’ll have our work cut out for us, but that’s why they don’t give you trophies. You have to work for them.”

“What a way to start the year,” said Filipe Albuquerque. “Starting last and going on to win the race in 100 minutes was great. This is just the beginning. We’re happy because we treat any race as a big race. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t count for much, if starting from first or last doesn’t mean much. The 35 qualifying points is good, but the most important thing is learning about the car and how it reacts in the race compared to others. In the beginning I was very strong and in the end Ricky struggled a little bit, but he did extremely well to hold it. It was a great job from everyone in this No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 team and a terrific race with strategy. Ricky held on beautifully until the end and got us the win, so hats off to everyone.”

“I believe Ricky and Filipe together as teammates are probably the best pairing in the world,” praised Team Owner Wayne Taylor. “There’s no question about it. Neither have egos and if they have bad days they work around the issues. Today, though, was all about the team. We came here to see where we stacked up in terms of competitiveness. It was only in the qualifying race that we realized we don’t have the speed that the Cadillacs have, but they didn’t seem to be able to keep it together with all sorts of things going on. If they hadn’t had penalties, it would have been different. Then again, Ricky held off Richard Westbrook for 30 minutes of hard, hard driving, and I know Richard, he’s a good driver. It was really hard to hold him off. At the end of the day, I’m still very happy because this team is everything. They helped the win so much. Filipe brought the car from seventh to fourth. With the final stop, we kept Ricky out because it was essentially a free track in front of us and he could make up some time, and that won the race. His in-lap, his out-lap, and the crew doing a terrific job getting him in and out faster than anyone else. I am looking so forward to next weekend when Alexander Rossi and Will Stevens will be back in the cockpit with Ricky and Filipe and when all our partners from Konica Minolta, Harrison Contracting and CIT will be with us and cheering us on!”

Thursday, January 27th will mark the start of the Rolex 24 at DAYTONA weekend with Practice 1 at 11:05 a.m. EST. Green flag for the 24-hour battle drops at 1:40 pm EST on January 29th.

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.