Taylor brothers take WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win in Detroit

Jordan and Ricky Taylor took the win in Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at Belle Isle, giving Wayne Taylor Racing its fifth victory in the last seven street races in IMSA competition.

Jordan Taylor edged out the pole-sitting No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Joao Barbosa by 1.740 seconds, in a caution and incident-filled race, particularly in the prototype ranks.

Taylor took the lead from Barbosa following the second restart with 48 minutes remaining and held a steady gap over the two-time and defending WeatherTech SportsCar champion throughout the remainder of the 100-minute race.

It marked the Taylor brothers second consecutive street race victory after taking top honors in Long Beach in April. It was also another 1-2 finish for Corvette DP machinery, in the backdrop of GM’s headquarters.

Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi finished second, despite Fittipaldi starting on less-than-ideal tires after spinning and flat-spotting tires in qualifying, and per rules only being allowed to change one tire.

Unofficially, Jordan and Ricky are now tied with Fittipaldi and Barbosa for the lead of the championship.

It was a race of survival for the rest of the Prototype class contenders, which all hit trouble or were delayed by issues.

A heavy crash by the No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette DP of Marc Goossens, triggered by Goossens’ rear wing becoming dislodged, collected the championship-leading No. 31 Action Express entry of Eric Curran with just 13 minutes compete.

It brought out the first of four full-course cautions over the course of the race.

The incident promoted the pair of Mazdas to third and fourth, ahead of the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2 Honda of Katherine Legge, which later retired with suspension failure.

The No. 70 Mazda was hit with two overboost infractions, resulting in a 9th place finish overall for Tom Long and Joel Miller, behind Tristan Nunez and Jonathan Bomarito’s No. 55 car, which finished 7th overall and 3rd in class.

It nonetheless marked Mazda’s first P class podium finish in series competition.

Despite the early accident, Curran and Dane Cameron managed to finish the race and collect crucial championship points, although 17 laps behind in 23rd overall.

A late-race spin by Colin Braun handed Prototype Challenge class honors, and a third place overall finish to Starworks Motorsport and drivers Renger van der Zande and Alex Popow.

Braun spun his No. 54 CORE autosport Oreca FLM09 with just 4 minutes remaining, after coming under pressure from the Dutchman in the closing stages.

It gave back-to-back Detroit class wins for van der Zande and the Peter Baron-led team, and their first of the season.

Braun and Jon Bennett salvaged a second place class finish, ahead of the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry of Tom Kimber-Smith and pole-sitter Robert Alon, which completed the podium in third.

Of note, the No. 85 JDC/Miller Motorsports car of Misha Goikhberg and Stephen Simpson completed 18 laps after missing the early stages of the race after replacing its tub due to an accident in warmup.

They entered the weekend tied for the PC championship lead with PR1’s Kimber-Smith and Alon, who now assume sole control of the title race.

Jeroen Bleekemolen survived late-race attacks by Joerg Bergmeister and Alessandro Balzan to win the GT Daytona battle for Riley Motorsports and with co-driver Ben Keating.

After a hectic first half, Bleekemolen assumed the lead halfway through the race.

He remained out front in his No. 33 Dodge Viper GT3-R, but had to defend from Bergmeister and Balzan until the end.

Bleekemolen finished 2.489 seconds ahead of Bergmeister’s Park Place Motorsports-run Porsche 911 GT3 R, and the Dutchman set the class’ fastest lap of the race on his penultimate circuit, a 1:30.626.

Bergmeister and Patrick Lindsey hit problems in the pit lane with a refueling delay costing the team valuable seconds, but nonetheless the No. 73 Porsche came through to finish second, aided by multiple caution periods.

Alessandro Balzan would go on to bring the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 home in third, the car he shared with Christina Nielsen.

Bryan Sellers had led the race from the pole position, but the Paul Miller Racing driver lost the lead at the first restart. He and Madison Snow could only continue to finish eighth in class, in their Lamborghini Huracán GT3.

Fourth went to the No. 23 Alex Job Racing Porsche of Alex Riberas and Mario Farnbacher, while Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell brought the best of the Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS entries to fifth.

Corey Lewis and Spencer Pumpelly secured sixth in the only Change Racing Lamborghini present this weekend. Next to finish was the second Alex Job Porsche of Leh Keen and Cooper MacNeil, in seventh.

Matt Bell hit troubles in his No. 6 Audi quite early on in the race, and was the only one of the GTD runner to finish out of the main pack.