This weekend’s Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix is jam packed full of racing action. The event features Stadium Super Trucks, the Pirelli World Challenge, IndyCar and the Tudor United Sportscar Championship, all racing on the same track. Despite the fast, open wheel excitement of IndyCar and the high-flying jumps of the Super Trucks, some might argue that the real entertainment Saturday was provided by the Tudor series.
Ricky and Jordan Taylor piloted their No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette Daytona Prototype to a win Saturday during the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic after some extremely tense closing laps. The Taylor’s day was almost finished when the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Joao Barbosa gave Ricky a nudge, slamming him into the wall. This cost them the lead, but only temporarily. The No. 5 car experienced a puncture soon after, ending Barbosa’s day and giving the lead back to Taylor once again.
Taylor held off the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP of the determined Richard Westbrook in the final laps, but only just. Westbrook finished just 0.207 seconds behind Taylor for the second place finish. Coming in third was the No. 42 OAK Racing Morgan/Nissan of Olivier Pla and Gustavo Yacaman, the team’s first podium in the Tudor series.
Soon after their victory, the Taylor’s hopped on a plane to France to catch the mandatory test session for the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jordan will be driving the Corvette C7.R for Corvette Racing as the team looks to capture its eighth class victory at the famous French road race, while Ricky will be competing in a Morgan-Judd LM P2 car for Larbre Competition.
In the GT Daytona class at Detroit, Alessandro Balzan in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 GTD scored a first place finish, followed closely by the No. 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 of Mario Farnbacher in second. The podium was completed by Christopher Haase and Bryce Miller in their No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Audi R8 LMS.
The next round of the Tudor United Sportscar Championship is the The Grand Prix of Kansas at Kansas Speedway on June 6 and 7.
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