24h Le Mans
The 58th Rolex 24 at Daytona, once again the kickoff of the Weatertech SportsCar Championship season, was won by the #10 Cadillac driven by Kobayashi-van der Zande-Dixon-Briscoe and fielded by the team of Wayne Taylor (whose two sons, Jordan and Ricky, participated with other outfits). This was Taylor senior's third Daytona win.
Of the 38 cars fielded in the 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona, three were intimately linked. The race was sure to be extremely intense for one family, especially at the checkered flag. Wayne Taylor, owner of Wayne Taylor Racing, had been a successful driver with two wins at Daytona. His two sons Ricky and Jordan began their careers in the father's team, and in 2017 clinched the Prototype title in the Weathertech SportsCar Championship and also won the Rolex 24. The two brothers eventually left WTR: Ricky (30 years old) joined Acura Team Penske and this year Jordan (28 years old) joined Corvette Racing to compete in GTLM at the wheel of the new C8.R.
"It was a difficult period for the team when one after the other we left," Ricky Taylor admitted a few days ago. "Everyone thought after we left that our dad would lose his motivation, that he would support us in our various projects and it would signal the end of Wayne Taylor Racing." Instead, Taylor senior promptly recruited an enviable crew of Kobayashi, van der Zande, Dixon and Briscoe no less.
"It was a delicate decision to leave Wayne Taylor Racing," explained Jordan Taylor. "I was separating from a winning team with which I had a more than competitive program, and on top of that it was my family. When I got the offer from Corvette, I just knew it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up."
Father and two sons met on the starting grid on Saturday to wish each other a good race.
Twenty-four hours later, Wayne Taylor Racing's #10 Cadillac won the Rolex 24 at Daytona for the third time in the team's history. Drivers Kobayashi-Dixon-Briscoe-van der Zande crossed the finish line in first place with a comfortable lead of more than a minute.
As for the other Taylors, Ricky in Acura Team Penske's #7 shared with Castroneves and Rossi (both Indianapolis 500 winners) finished in eighth place, and Jordan in Corvette Racing's #3 CR.8 shared with Antonio Garcia and Nicky Catsburg finished fourth in his class.
The LMP2 class was won by DragonSpeed USA's #81 ORECA, victory in GTLM went to the #24 BMW and the GTD class was won by Paul Miller Racing's #48 Lamborghini Hurican.
PHOTO (Copyright - IMSA)
