Joao Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque drove the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R to victory at Round 3 of the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship over the weekend, ending a three-year winning streak for the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac of Wayne Taylor Racing. The Konica Minolta Cadillac went home with a third-place finish, just behind the No. 2 Tequila Patrón ESM Nissan DPi – enough to bump the team up into fourth place in the championship standings, and to beat Jordan Taylor’s brother Ricky Taylor in the No. 7 Team Penske Acura DPi.
Through the first half of the race, the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R and No. 6 Team Penske spent time as frontrunners before the Mustang Sampling Cadillac took the lead after a blistering pit stop. The team maintained that lead through to the checkered flag.
“I was trying to stay up front and save fuel to shorten our pit stops, and it helped, we were able to jump some positions during our pit stops and we were off and running,” said Joao Barbosa after the race. “We did a great job managing tough conditions and our Cadillac was good on long runs and we were able to make it run well for a really long stint. That made for good success today. And we made good decisions on the pit stand to move up in the standings.”
“Brilliant!” said co-driver Filipe Albuquerque. “This was my first time on a street course in a prototype and it was fun. When the yellow came out I was in the lead and feeling good. I had to concentrate on the restart, not getting too comfortable with these walls lining the track. The Nissan and Acura were battling behind me, so I just managed my race and brought the Mustang Sampling Cadillac home for the win.”
A bit further back, Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande were working the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R up the field after starting the race in sixth on the grid. In the last few minutes, Jordan had to reel in and pass his brother Ricky in the No. 7 Acura in order to move into third.
“It is a tough track to pass on, so finishing third is a good points day,” Jordan said. “You never know what you are going to get on a street course. Anything can happen when you go around a corner, you can end up in the wall. I think Ricky was struggling with his car and I went for it, I think he gave me a lot of room. I am glad we didn’t touch each other or my dad would have been upset. I think we are going to have some fun racing each other this year.
“I had a moment going into Turn 11, I think Ricky had some pick-up on his tires and he was a little cautious. He braked early and I didn’t expect it and I went wide a little bit and then turned in and didn’t lose a position. I think I have a little poop in my pants as a result.”
The next race on the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship calendar is at Mid-Ohio on May 6th.
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