Taylor, van der Zande, Hunter-Reay qualify 10th for 66th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring - Speedway Digest

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R will start the 66th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Saturday from the outside of the fifth row after IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying Friday at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway.

Renger van der Zande, who opened the season with a pole qualifying effort at the Rolex 24 At Daytona seven weeks ago and is joined again this weekend by full-time co-driver Jordan Taylor and third endurance driver Ryan Hunter-Reay, turned a fast lap of 1 minute, 48.370 seconds at 124.242 mph around the 3.74-mile, 17-turn road course. It was good for 10th among the 43 car-and-driver combinations that will take the green flag for Saturday’s 12-hour endurance marathon.

“It is not what we came for, to qualify 10th,” said van der Zande, the Dutch driving veteran who will be making his fifth career start at Sebring and second in the Prototype class. “We are trying to find a good-handling car. We have seen some speed, but not exactly what we want. We are still working on the Cadillac. It’s a long race, and if we can make it just right for the end of the race tomorrow, we can win it. The Konica Minolta team is strong and we will make some adjustments for the warm-up tomorrow.”

The top-five qualifiers for Saturday’s 66th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring are:

1. Spirit of Daytona Racing (No. 90 Cadillac DPi-V.R) with Tristan Vautier, Matthew McMurry, Edward Cheever (1:47.432 at 125.326 mph)

2. Tequila Patron ESM (No. 2 Nissan DPi), Olivier Pla, Scott Sharp, Ryan Dalziel (1:47.592 at 125.140 mph)

3. Acura Team Penske (No. 7 Acura DPi), Ricky Taylor, Helio Castroneves, Graham Rahal (1:47.773 at 124.930 mph)

4. Tequila Patron ESM (No. 22 Nissan DPi) Pipo Derani, Johannes van Overbeek, Nicolas Lapierre (1:47.834 at 124.859 mph)

5. Action Express Motorsports (No. 31 Cadillac DPi-V.R) Felipe Nasr, Eric Curran, Mike Conway (1:47.853 at 124.837 mph)

The green flag flies at 10:40 a.m. EDT Saturday with live television coverage beginning on FS1 at 10:30 a.m.

Author
Recent Posts

Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.