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GRAND-AM
IN THE COCKPIT: Ricky Taylor, Lime Rock
Our season finale at Lime Rock was a perfect end to an otherwise very difficult year...
Ricky Taylor and Max Angelelli capped off the 2012 Rolex Sports Car Series season with a victory at Lime Rock. (Photo: Brian Cleary/GRAND-AM)
What a way to end a season! Our season finale at Lime Rock was a perfect end to an otherwise very difficult year. Racing and life are full of ups and downs, but this year we have seen this in such magnitude that, at times, it was almost overwhelming.
From winning two straight races at Homestead and New Jersey and believing this was our year to win the championship, to three consecutive DNFs highlighted by two critical mistakes by me, which was followed by a streak of races where we simply struggled to find pace.
Finally, after all of the struggles and disappointments throughout the year, we come away from Lime Rock with the only thing that could cure the pain – a win. It was truly a dream ending to the season and a great way to kick off the off-season with a positive vibe.
Coming to Lime Rock, we felt we were going to have to make some severe commitments and aggressive setup changes if we were going to be competitive. We were going to have to take risks and put the car right on the edge as the series has become so incredibly competitive this season.
Day one was marred by rain all day and we only achieved about 15 dry laps, which was only enough to create even more questions about what we were going to do with the setup of the car before qualifying the next morning. Max (Angelelli) went out for qualifying and we had made a few changes to the car, but it was not quite enough and we ended up fourth and more than a half-second from cracking the top-three.
The car clearly needed some monumental changes if we were going to be in contention for a win. Monumental is exactly how large the changes were, as it turned out. Our engineer Brian completely transformed our car for the race, but we did not know if we had gone too far.
The race began and Max settled into fourth and later moved by the 99 into third and the car appeared to be improved. But it was on the next restart when everyone pitted and Max was in clean air that we really saw how much the car had improved as he pulled an immediate gap from the 9 car of Darren Law.
When we pitted under caution for our driver change 45 minutes into the race, we were slightly off sequence from the other cars because we had not pitted during the first yellow. So, we had to fuel the car slightly more. The guys still managed a fantastic stop, keeping our track position. We restarted a bit deeper in the pack because this time a few other cars opted to stay out.
The car was great and we managed to run solidly in third, pressuring the leaders who were on slightly older tires. We pushed our final stop as far as possible to finish on one more stop. It was very close, so we would have to save fuel. We made the stop and immediately began saving fuel while trying to hold the lead as everyone else would have to make one more stop.
Everything was going well and we were looking good to make it to the end, but everyone behind us would be on slightly newer tires, which is a bit of an issue at Lime Rock.
A full-course caution flew with about 30 minutes to go and this was definitely a point in the race where I felt we might be able to pull off the win. It was an opportunity for us to let the tires cool, as well as guarantee our fuel to the finish. Lined up directly behind us was the 90 on new tires, the 99 on older tires, the 8 on old tires, then the rear of the field which had all stopped for brand new tires.
So I was expecting the majority of the pressure to come from the 90 while the cars on new tires would likely be held up by the 8 and 99 if they managed to get through the field.
When we went green, I was very nervous as 30 minutes is an extremely long time to hold off someone like Antonio Garcia in the 90 car.
Our car was great and I was quite comfortable during the first few laps after the yellow and was able to get quite lucky in traffic many times. Simon Hodgson, our general manager who calls the race on the radio, gave me the 10-to-go and, from that point onward, I kept count myself – “10 to go, nine to go, eight to go, etc.,” I said to myself until we got to two to go and the tires were completely gone and I was truly holding on for dear life.
Garcia always races very clean but aggressively, so I knew he would take any opening I gave him, so I was forced to defend down the front straight on a few occasions. The white flag came out and I knew that if I could make it through turn one cleanly, I would be safe to the checkered flag.
We caught a GT car in the final corner and it was a very tense moment, but I could tell that he saw me, so I committed to the inside and he gave us plenty of room. It was an incredible feeling to finally breathe normally after holding my breath for 30 minutes trying to not open the door or make any mistakes.
For me, it meant so much to drive my best to finish a race in the best possible way while holding off a driver who I’ve looked up to and learned from the last several years. The best car doesn’t always win the race, and all we can ever hope for is that everyone does his best and the results will sort themselves out.
On that day at Lime Rock, we had the best car we could have had, our strategy was flawless, the pit stops were fast and clean, the car ran without issue every time it was on track, everyone performed to his best and, for once, there is a win to show for it.
With that, the 2012 GRAND-AM season ends, but there is still one thing on the calendar for me – the Gold Coast 600 at Surfers Paradise in Australia. I’m so looking forward to it!
Ricky Taylor, 22-year-old son of three-time sports car champion and team owner Wayne Taylor, embarks on his third full season co-driving with veteran Max Angelelli in the No. 10 SunTrust Corvette Dallara of Wayne Taylor Racing. Follow him on Twitter: @RickyTaylor10 or at http://www.suntrustracing.com
From winning two straight races at Homestead and New Jersey and believing this was our year to win the championship, to three consecutive DNFs highlighted by two critical mistakes by me, which was followed by a streak of races where we simply struggled to find pace.
Finally, after all of the struggles and disappointments throughout the year, we come away from Lime Rock with the only thing that could cure the pain – a win. It was truly a dream ending to the season and a great way to kick off the off-season with a positive vibe.
Coming to Lime Rock, we felt we were going to have to make some severe commitments and aggressive setup changes if we were going to be competitive. We were going to have to take risks and put the car right on the edge as the series has become so incredibly competitive this season.
Day one was marred by rain all day and we only achieved about 15 dry laps, which was only enough to create even more questions about what we were going to do with the setup of the car before qualifying the next morning. Max (Angelelli) went out for qualifying and we had made a few changes to the car, but it was not quite enough and we ended up fourth and more than a half-second from cracking the top-three.
The car clearly needed some monumental changes if we were going to be in contention for a win. Monumental is exactly how large the changes were, as it turned out. Our engineer Brian completely transformed our car for the race, but we did not know if we had gone too far.
The race began and Max settled into fourth and later moved by the 99 into third and the car appeared to be improved. But it was on the next restart when everyone pitted and Max was in clean air that we really saw how much the car had improved as he pulled an immediate gap from the 9 car of Darren Law.
When we pitted under caution for our driver change 45 minutes into the race, we were slightly off sequence from the other cars because we had not pitted during the first yellow. So, we had to fuel the car slightly more. The guys still managed a fantastic stop, keeping our track position. We restarted a bit deeper in the pack because this time a few other cars opted to stay out.
The car was great and we managed to run solidly in third, pressuring the leaders who were on slightly older tires. We pushed our final stop as far as possible to finish on one more stop. It was very close, so we would have to save fuel. We made the stop and immediately began saving fuel while trying to hold the lead as everyone else would have to make one more stop.
Everything was going well and we were looking good to make it to the end, but everyone behind us would be on slightly newer tires, which is a bit of an issue at Lime Rock.
A full-course caution flew with about 30 minutes to go and this was definitely a point in the race where I felt we might be able to pull off the win. It was an opportunity for us to let the tires cool, as well as guarantee our fuel to the finish. Lined up directly behind us was the 90 on new tires, the 99 on older tires, the 8 on old tires, then the rear of the field which had all stopped for brand new tires.
So I was expecting the majority of the pressure to come from the 90 while the cars on new tires would likely be held up by the 8 and 99 if they managed to get through the field.
When we went green, I was very nervous as 30 minutes is an extremely long time to hold off someone like Antonio Garcia in the 90 car.
Our car was great and I was quite comfortable during the first few laps after the yellow and was able to get quite lucky in traffic many times. Simon Hodgson, our general manager who calls the race on the radio, gave me the 10-to-go and, from that point onward, I kept count myself – “10 to go, nine to go, eight to go, etc.,” I said to myself until we got to two to go and the tires were completely gone and I was truly holding on for dear life.
Garcia always races very clean but aggressively, so I knew he would take any opening I gave him, so I was forced to defend down the front straight on a few occasions. The white flag came out and I knew that if I could make it through turn one cleanly, I would be safe to the checkered flag.
We caught a GT car in the final corner and it was a very tense moment, but I could tell that he saw me, so I committed to the inside and he gave us plenty of room. It was an incredible feeling to finally breathe normally after holding my breath for 30 minutes trying to not open the door or make any mistakes.
For me, it meant so much to drive my best to finish a race in the best possible way while holding off a driver who I’ve looked up to and learned from the last several years. The best car doesn’t always win the race, and all we can ever hope for is that everyone does his best and the results will sort themselves out.
On that day at Lime Rock, we had the best car we could have had, our strategy was flawless, the pit stops were fast and clean, the car ran without issue every time it was on track, everyone performed to his best and, for once, there is a win to show for it.
With that, the 2012 GRAND-AM season ends, but there is still one thing on the calendar for me – the Gold Coast 600 at Surfers Paradise in Australia. I’m so looking forward to it!
Ricky Taylor, 22-year-old son of three-time sports car champion and team owner Wayne Taylor, embarks on his third full season co-driving with veteran Max Angelelli in the No. 10 SunTrust Corvette Dallara of Wayne Taylor Racing. Follow him on Twitter: @RickyTaylor10 or at http://www.suntrustracing.com
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