Reading Time: 11 minutes
LAKEVILLE, Conn. – September 28, 2013 – Chevrolet was a double winner in today’s GRAND-AM Rolex Series season finale at Lime Rock Park. Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor took the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) to Victory Lane and claimed the 2013 DP Driver’s Championship. And Eric Curran and Lawson Aschenbach driving the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette GT.R were with winners in the Grand Touring (GT)P class.
It is the fifth victory of the 2013 season and third consecutive to end the final GRAND-AM Rolex Series season for Angelelli and Taylor. The trip to Victory Lane extended the team’s undefeated streak at Lime Rock Park to four races. The performance of the Wayne Taylor Racing team culminated in the popular pair winning the Rolex Daytona Prototype Drivers’ Championship by 13 points.
“Congratulations to Jordan Taylor, Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor and the entire No. 10 Corvette DP team on their win at Lime Rock Park today,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “Today’s victory was their fifth win of the season as they clinched the Rolex DP driver’s championship. While the season had itsups and downs; the team made adjustments and finished the season strong with the championship. It is extra special to see Wayne Taylor and his team win the championship in the final season of GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series. This will certainly give them momentum as they enter the Tudor United SportsCar Championship in 2014”
This is the eighth win of the season for the Corvette Daytona Prototype and propelled Chevrolet to clinch the 2014 DP Engine Manufacturers’ Championship.
Late-race contact ended the championship opportunities for Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney, No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP. They have one win in 2013, at the Circuit of the Americas, and finished third in the final DP driver and team standings. The No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP team with drivers Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa finished in a tie for fourth in the DP team points with two wins during the season.
“Congratulations to the entire Wayne Taylor Racing team on their Lime Rock win and the 2013 Rolex DP drivers’ championship,” said Jim Lutz, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, Rolex Sports Car Series. “The entire team all season never gave up, and overcame adversity to triumph at the end of the season.”
Today’s win was the first of the season for Curran and Aschenbach in the No. 31 Marsh Racing Corvette GT.R. Aschenbach was substituting for Boris Said who is the full-time driver, but was unable to attend the Lime Rock race.
“Congratulations to Eric Curran and Lawson Aschenbach on winning the GRAND-AM Rolex GT race today at Lime Rock,” Campbell said. “They have been knocking on the door of victory all season, so it was nice to see them end the GRAND-AM Rolex Series era with a win. The entire Marsh Racing Corvette GT.R team executed flawlessly to secure the win.”
Robin Liddell and John Edwards, No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R fought back from a tire issue to finish fourth and claim third in the final GT driver and team standings.
“Congratulations to Marsh Racing for their win by the Whelan Corvette in the GT class,” said Lutz. “And to Stevenson Motorsports drivers Robin Liddell and John Edward for achieving third place in both the driver and team championships in the GT class.”
In the final Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race of the season, the Stevenson Motorsports No. 9 Camaro GS.R finished second, and moved to second in the final team and driver standings.
Chevrolet Racing will return to competition in 2014 as the inaugural season of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship begins with the 52ND running of the Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona International Speedway on January 24-26, 2014.
PRESS CONFERENCE: MAX ANGELELLI, JORDAN TAYLOR AND WAYNE TAYLOR, NO. 10 VELOCITY WORLDWIDE CHEVROLET CORVETTE – RACE WINNERS ROLEX SPORTS CAR SERIES OVER-ALL AND DP, AND 2013 DAYTONA PROTOTYPE GRAND-AM ROLEX SPORTS CAR SERIES DAYTONA PROTOTYPE DRIVER’S CHAMPIONS:
CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE THE 2013 DAYTONA PROTOTYPE CHAMPIONS. TELL US WHAT THAT MEANS TO YOU:
JORDAN TAYLOR: “That is pretty crazy. I’ve been coming to watch my dad all these years and GRAND-AM was really the place that I kind of grew up and started to understand racing and understand that I wanted to be in the sport. First of all to win the final GRAND-AM season is pretty crazy just because it’s kind of where I grew up and watched Max (Angelelli) and my dad (Wayne Taylor) over the years and kind of grew up as a driver and made a career out of it. It’s a little special, but after the past few races it’s obviously come down to the team. Every single time we have won a race they have put us out in front. All Max or myself had to do was keep everyone behind us and when you have track position it’s a lot easier. I think we have passed like two or three cars all year on track and everything else has been done in the pits. It’s definitely a team championship. It’s unfortunate that the team didn’t win the championship the driver’s did, but we can’t really complain too much.”
MAX ANGELELLI: “It’s special I mean it’s a lot because I did it with Wayne (Taylor) when he was a lot younger and now I’m doing it with his younger kid. So I’m very proud of them Jordan and Ricky. It’s been an amazing journey for me and the Taylor family and Chevy obviously. It’s been great and finally clinch the championship. Wayne are you going to be relaxed I hope for the next 24 hours and looking forward to a new challenge and more races to win.”
CAN YOU COMPARE THE FEELINGS OF WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP WITH MAX YOURSELF AND WINNING IT WITH YOUR SON JORDAN?
WAYNE TAYLOR: “Well you know I’m sure everybody knows this, but the relationship between Max and I goes back to 1998. I don’t know how many driver pairings that have existed for the length of time that Max and I did. It was great him and I winning the 2005 championship as well as my second Daytona win. Obviously he’s been so supportive of both Ricky and Jordan and nurtured them and brought them up as good as we can. Both of these guys did unbelievable jobs but there are so many people behind the scenes the team has just been superb. Then at the end of the day none of this can happen if somebody doesn’t pay for it. I have to say a special thanks to Ryan Stockman, Enda McShane and Paul Blakely. Paul and I met and instantly we thought there was a way to work together. Toshiba has been with us since 1997, General Motors, Chevrolet and I couldn’t be happier. Imagine having my teammate win the championship with me and then he wins the championship with my youngest son. I couldn’t have written a script any better.”
YOU GUYS HAVE THE MOST WINS THIS YEAR, FIVE, BUT YOU ALSO HAD THAT STRETCH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEASON WHERE YOU HAD FOUR PRETTY BAD RACES IN A ROW. TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT AND WHAT YOU FELT THEN VERSUS HOW YOU FEEL NOW:
JORDAN TAYLOR: “I think everyone was very hopeful in the middle of the year. Going into Watkins Glen I think we had a lead and then the car was great during the race, but we had an unfortunate break, but we still left there within I think two points of the lead. We still knew there was a shot. I think we went to Indy and then Road America two consecutive bad races. I think from then on we kind of thought we were basically out of the championship. Then that is when we kind of made a few changes and we were going to start going for race wins. Just fortunately for us everyone else had their own issues. Starworks had a couple of bad races, GAINSCO, Ganassi, so we were just kind of doing what we were trying to do and that’s win races and the other guys kind of lost their championships. I think everyone had their issues throughout the year we just kind of maximized those races that we didn’t have problems.”
IT LOOKED LIKE YOU GUYS WERE SORT OF IN A COMMANDING PERFORMANCE AGAIN TODAY. DID YOU FEEL ANY PRESSURE FROM ANYBODY BEHIND YOU OR WERE YOU JUST RUNNING YOUR OWN RACE?
JORDAN TAYLOR: “I think when we I got in the car Max was saying how good the car was. He was just stuck behind (Justin) Wilson who was pretty aggressive. We knew we had a decent car, but we didn’t know how good it was because it’s obviously hard to pass here. Running behind someone you are going to lose a lot of lap time. Max didn’t take any risks which was good for the championship. When I got in we just had clear track and we were saving fuel for the whole middle stint. When it went to that restart that was the only time we really had an idea of how competitive we would be compared to everyone else. I really didn’t know how fast we were going to be, but when we went green and we could gap them pretty easy I was pretty happy to see that. I thought Gustavo (Yacaman) was going to do a good job holding off (Scott) Pruett and everyone so I was happy he was the one in between us he’s pretty hard to get by. We were able to gap them and kind of maintain it so I was pretty happy out there.”
TODAY WAS A LOT HOTTER THAN YESTERDAY. CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE ABOUT TIRE MANAGEMENT AND HOW THAT WENT TODAY?
MAX ANGELELLI: “Tires performed really well. Continental Tires did really well for the tires during the weekend. When they were cold they were good, quick to pick up grip and the race there was no problem. They were really good all the way.”
LAST GRAND-AM RACE LAST RACE AT LIME ROCK WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?
JORDAN TAYLOR: “I actually won my first ever or my only other championship here in Skip Barber in 2007. So it’s kind of cool to win my only other one here. It’s a cool track. When you think of American road courses you think of Lime Rock. It’s very traditional. I was happy to drive on the old surface and now the new surface. Obviously a little sad to see it go, but I’m sure it will be back on the schedule sometime in the future.”
THE TWO OF YOU HAVE WON THE LAST FOUR RACES HERE AT LIME ROCK. WHAT IS REALLY THE DIFFERENCE IN DOING IT BESIDES BEING UP FRONT AND HAVING TRACK POSITION? WHAT IS YOUR SECRET?
WAYNE TAYLOR: “If you have watched the races this year the competitiveness is at an all-time high. I don’t know any other series that there is not even a second that separates 15 cars. When you have that situation it’s impossible to pass on the track. So everything has to get done in the pit. We had to put all the drivers in the best position. The first three wins we had here was Max and Ricky and obviously we know that the car worked really well here and track position was everything yet again and we were able to do that.”
PRESS CONFERENCE: LAWSON ASCHENBACH AND ERIC CURRAN, NO. 31 WHELEN ENGINEERING/TEAM FOX/MARSH RACING CORVETTE GT.R– RACE WINNERS ROLEX SPORTS CAR SERIES GT CLASS
YOU STARTED THE DAY PUTTING THE NO. 31 CORVETTE ON THE POLE AT A RACE YOU WEREN’T REALLY EXPECTING TO RACE. TALK ABOUT THAT AND HOW IT FEELS TO BE SITTING HERE IN VICTORY LANE:
LAWSON ASCHENBACH: “Well first and foremost I really want to say thank you to everybody at Whelen Engineering, Team Fox, Marsh Racing the Chevrolet Corvette was just fantastic. It rolled off the trailer fast. We barely really made that many changes to it and it was just fantastic all weekend. Secondly, obviously I’ve got to thank them for the opportunity. I know Boris (Said) obviously wanted to be here and would have done a fantastic job in the car as he always does. I’m really proud to be able to race with Eric (Curran). Getting the pole this morning was really cool. It felt good and I knew we had a shot at it, just had to put the lap together and fortunately it worked our way. I had a decent start there. I got kind of blocked up on the restart. I got the green flag a little bit late and John (Edwards) got by me, but I was able to get back by him and take off from there. Eric did a fantastic job. With all the restarts and everything he had to go through I mean that is a superb drive. That is exactly what you want in a teammate. I expect nothing less of him every time he is in the car. Had a fantastic weekend I can’t thank them enough for doing it and really happy for everybody on the team.”
HOME RACE FOR YOU, HOME RACE FOR THE TEAM, LAST RACE FOR THE CAR, PUT IT ALL TOGETHER FOR A WIN HERE:
ERIC CURRAN: “I mean it’s truly unbelievable for us really. It’s interesting to think back and 19 years ago I was winning IT races in SCCA at Lime Rock Park. This is my home track. I used to come here as a kid and sit in the outfield with my father. This is home track I’m from Massachusetts and it couldn’t be better to put this all together here this weekend. Most importantly Sonny Whelen is sitting up in that white tent right above us right there and all of his Team Fox members, but most importantly Sonny Whelen we wouldn’t be here without him. He supports this team through all the stuff that we have been through continues to support it, a superb guy and it’s just amazing to get the pole and to lead a bunch and then to win the race at Lime Rock Park. It’s the last race for us in the GT car and it really has good momentum going into our Corvette DP direction that we are going to do for next year. This is just awesome. Lawson (Aschenbach) did an amazing job. Lawson and I are teammates on a regular basis anyway in the Continental CKS Camaro. It’s fun to jump over here and do a race here together and it really couldn’t have went better. Pole, win, home track, Sonny Whelen is here on the hill, Team Fox all the members. Have to thank Marsh Racing, Teddy (Marsh) all the guys working so hard to get us here and we’ve got a big road ahead next year with the DP. To finish here home track Whelen Engineering all the folks at Whelen Chester Connecticut right up the road. All my family, friend, everybody it couldn’t be sweeter to pull this off together here. I have to thank Lawson and Marsh Racing and Sonny Whelen and everybody that helps put this together. Awesome.”
DID YOU FEEL ANY CHALLENGE THERE COMING ON AT THE END FROM PAT LONG BEFORE HE HAD HIS INCIDENT?
ERIC CURRAN: “Oh yeah for sure. I think the No. 63 Ferrari put the pressure on me pretty hard. I just wanted to keep him behind me and not burn the tires off the car which is easy to do here. The No. 63 was tough and yeah you never want to have Pat Long in your mirror (laughs). I mean that is no fun. The traffic kind of helped me some. The DP stuff is really tricky here. These guys will tell you too the DP’s are passing you in crazy places and you are just trying to work with them the best you can. The track is so narrow and it’s tough. The No. 63 pressured me and Pat Long definitely put the pressure on. The traffic kind of helped me. It looked like Pat got tangled up with somebody at the end. I hate to see that for Pat he is a good friend of mine, but it made it a little easier for me I’ve got to say.”
MATT BELL, NO. 9 STEVENSON CAMARO CHEVROLET GS.R – FINISHED SECOND IN CONTINENTAL TIRE SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE RACE:
YOU DEFINITELY GAVE A VALIANT EFFORT THERE AT THE END. TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY:
“I don’t get a chance to finish many races so this is a lot of fun and that is just trial by fire. It was very tough. I said over the radio it felt like I was driving in the wet and everyone else was in the dry. It’s not completely true, but it was very difficult. I would understeer turning in and big oversteer coming out. My best bet was to just kind of park them at the apex. I would just watch my mirror every time he would pop out and try to get a run I would be like ‘well I’m pushing too hard anyway.’ Back off get under my tire and try to power on. That worked for a while, but he had such a good car off the final corner which is obviously the most important turn on the track. I just could only last so long. Unfortunate couldn’t hold on for just one more lap.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE EFFORT OF THIS TEAM THIS YEAR?
“It’s been an unbelievable season actually. We have had a lot of difficult seasons, a lot of breakages. Really trying to cut our teeth with this car and we really didn’t feel like we were done. We had a bunch of issues and we really felt or personally I felt like this is the first year we’ve really had a handle on this car. It’s not for not trying. The effort they have put in between running the car through CAS technologies and just everything that Chevy gives us it’s been a huge effort and as sad as I am to see Charlotte (referring to the car) here go I’m very excited to see what Chevy brings us next year.”
JOHN EDWARDS, NO. 9 STEVENSON CAMARO CHEVROLET GS.R – FINISHED SECOND
ON HIS DAY:
“It was a little nail biting, but Matt (Bell) drove as hard as he could. I knew the car was going to struggle at the end of the stint particularly when some of the fast guys are in the cars and putting pressure on him. You could see the car sliding coming out of (turn) two every lap and you could see it pushing into the downhill and then sliding coming out. I knew he was driving for his life right there. I think we can accept second as a good result, but it’s a little frustrating losing on the last lap as always.”
Reach out to us to see how we can help solve your toughest design, engineering and production problems and bring your innovative vision to reality.
