Corvette Daytona Prototypes Take Points Lead Into Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix At Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

Corvette Daytona Prototypes Take Points Lead

Into Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix At Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

Ontario’s Marcelli, Performance Tech Seek To End Starworks Winning Streak

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 5, 2016) – Brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor, drivers of the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette Daytona Prototype, return to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park as defending IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship winners in Sunday’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix (live, FS1, 11 a.m. ET), with Corvette DPs holding the top four positions in the Prototype standings.

“Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is an awesome place – a very high speed, old-school track that’s really challenging and rewarding for the driver,” Jordan Taylor said. “We didn’t expect to win last year’s race because we didn’t have the fastest car. We ran our own race and we didn’t have any problems. Hopefully, we’ll be a little faster this year. It’s an intense race, and track position is important, so I think qualifying will be one of the keys to winning this race.”

Action Express Racing is coming off a 1-2 finish in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa won their first race of the season in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP, taking over sole possession of the Prototype points lead in the process with 187 points. Eric Curran and Dane Cameron finished second in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP.

After six of 11 Prototype races, Fittipaldi and Barbosa hold a seven-point lead over the Taylor brothers along with Curran and Cameron, tied with 180 points. They are followed in the team standings by the No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette DP with drivers Marc Goossens and Ryan Dalziel, with 168 points.

“I am looking forward to going back to Canada, because historically we have been very strong there,” Fittipaldi said. “Watkins Glen was a very strong win, and our team worked very hard to it. We are looking to carry that momentum from The Glen to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.”

Other challengers include a pair of Mazda Prototypes for Jonathan Bomarito, Tristan Nunez, Tom Long and Joel Miller; the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Honda Ligier JS P2 of Ozz Negri and John Pew; and the No. 0 Panoz DeltaWing Racing Coupe of Katherine Legge and Sean Rayhall.

Performance Tech Motorsports Seeks Hometown Edge In Quest Of First PC Triumph

Kyle Marcelli of Ontario will be looking to lead Performance Tech Motorsports to its first Prototype Challenge (PC) class victory in the WeatherTech Championship when he joins James French in the No. 38 Ric-Man Construction / Children’s Miracle Network / NeuroSpine Institute / Fer-Pal Infrastructure ORECA FLM09. The team is coming off a second place finish in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

“We needed that strong finish at Watkins Glen, the team worked hard for it,” Marcelli said. “We’re getting the car to where we need to be to fight for the win. They talk about ‘home ice advantage’ in hockey, so who knows if home track advantage will play to our favor this weekend.”

Starworks Motorsport has momentum on its side as Renger van der Zande and Alex Popow are coming off back-to-back victories at Detroit and Watkins Glen in the No. 8 ORECA FLM09, with the team also placing the No. 88 Popcorn Sutton on the Sahlen’s Six Hour podium with a third-place finish. Van der Zande and Popow lead the PC standings with 198 points.

“We think Canadian Tire Motorsport Park owes us one, because we could have won last year,” said Starworks Motorsport owner Peter Baron. “I like that track that for our drivers and how our car works. I’d like to see if we can get a turkey dinner there for three in a row.”

Two-time 2016 winners Misha Goikhberg, from British Columbia, and Stephen Simpson are paired in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Hi-Tide Boat Lifts/Red Line Oil entry, coming off a fourth-place finish at Watkins Glen.

Meanwhile, CORE autosport, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports and BAR 1 are looking to bounce back from mechanical issues at Watkins Glen. Jon Bennett and Colin Braun scored their lone 2015 victory in the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix, en route to their second consecutive WeatherTech Championship PC title in the No. 54 CORE autosport Flex Box/Composite Resources ORECA FLM09. Robert Alon and Tom Kimber-Smith are paired in the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry, currently holding second place in PC, while Johnny Mowlem and Matt McMurry share the No. 20 BAR 1 Motorsports ORECA.

Practice for the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix begins at 10:35 a.m. ET on Friday, with qualifying on Saturday at 3:40 p.m. ET.

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