Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R Team Looks To Dial Up Another Detroit Win

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Fresh off a track where the drivers and team still have yet to score a victory to one where they’ve enjoyed more recent success than anywhere else, the duo of Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande and their No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R teammates are more than ready to hit the streets of The Motor City for Saturday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

 

Despite their sixth-place finish at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington earlier this month on a weekend where they struggled to find race-winning speed, Taylor, van der Zande and company are still very much in the thick of the 2019 championship battle as they arrive at the 2.36-mile, 13-turn Streets of Belle Isle circuit just a stone’s throw from downtown Detroit, where the No. 10 won four times in five tries from 2013 to 2017.

 

Just seven points separate the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R team from first place in the standings as the series heads to its fifth of 10 races this season, and a return to its winning ways in the home race for partners Cadillac and General Motors would certainly go a long way toward its hopes of securing a second championship in three years over the second half of the schedule.

 

Those hopes are certainly in capable hands starting with Taylor, who’s tied with retired veteran Johnny O’Connell as the winningest driver in Belle Isle history with five victories apiece. Taylor first won the GT class of this event in 2012, co-driving the No. 88 Autohaus Motorsports Camaro GT.R with Paul Edwards. He joined Italian veteran and co-team owner Max “The Ax” Angelelli behind the wheel of the No. 10 Prototype the following year for his second consecutive victory – this time overall – before winning three more times in the next four visits co-driving with his older brother Ricky Taylor. Those victories came in 2014, 2016 and 2017.

 

This weekend, Taylor and van der Zande look to rebound from last year’s uncharacteristic fifth-place finish at Belle Isle with a much-needed return to the top step of the podium. After last year’s thrilling victory at the season-ending Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta alongside third driver Ryan Hunter-Reay, they picked up right where they left off with another thrilling victory at this year’s season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona alongside Formula One veteran Fernando Alonso and former Formula One and current FIA World Endurance Championship star Kamui Kobayashi. That was followed by a hard-earned runner-up finish at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring alongside third driver Matthieu Vaxivière of France, and the feeling was the team had some serious championship momentum.

 

A 10th-place result on the Grand Prix of Long Beach (Calif.) street circuit after an early race accident and the struggle to finish sixth at Mid-Ohio certainly left Taylor, van der Zande and the team street-fighting mad and looking forward more than ever to their return to Detroit.

 
Practice for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix begins Friday morning with DPi-class qualifying set for 5:45 p.m. EDT with live streaming video via IMSA.tv and the IMSA Mobile App beginning at 5:100 p.m. The green flag for Saturday’s one-hour, 40-minute race is at 12:40 p.m. with live television coverage by NBCSN set for 12:30 p.m. Live timing and scoring during all on-track sessions is available at IMSA.com and via the IMSA smartphone app. 
 
Adam Sinclair
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