Fittipaldi One-Ups Ricky Taylor, Captures Detroit TOTAL Pole Award

Christian Fittipaldi and Ricky Taylor swapped the fastest lap seven times in Friday’s qualifying session for the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic presented by the Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers. The veteran won out, with Fittipaldi capturing his first TOTAL Pole Award of the season with a track-record lap of one minute, 24.746 seconds (99.828 mph) in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP.

 

“Today is good news,” said Fittipaldi, who earned his second career pole in TUDOR United SportsCar Championship competition, and third for Action Express Racing. “But tomorrow is what counts. If we can get a win here tomorrow, that will be great for the team, the sponsors and of course Chevy.”

 

Round 5 of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship takes the green flag on Saturday at 12:05 p.m. ET (FOX Sports 2, Noon ET; FOX Sports 1, 2-4 p.m. ET).

 

“I had a good car, and I didn’t get a lot of laps in practice and it was still fast,” said Fittipaldi, “I’m extremely excited for the team, because we’ve had some rough races. After our last race at [Mazda Raceway] Laguna [Seca], we went back home and put a lot of thought into why the competition killed us. We had two really good test days, and I think it translated into our speed here.”

 

Fittipaldi threw down the gauntlet early in the 15-minute session, with Taylor coming back to beat his time in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP. After managing to one-up Fittipaldi three times, Taylor came up .050 seconds short at the end with a best lap of 1:24.796 (99.769 mph) in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP co-driven by his brother, Jordan Taylor.

 

“It’s always a good thing when you’re disappointed with second, but Christian did an amazing lap,” said Taylor. “I told our guys on the radio, I haven’t pushed that hard and been that close to the wall, ever. Hat’s off to Action Express, they seem to be back on their game.”

 

Wayne Taylor Racing will be seeking its third consecutive victory at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park, with Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli winning a GRAND-AM Rolex Series event in 2013. Jordan Taylor also won the GT class driving a Camaro for Autohaus Motorsports in 2012.

 

VisitFlorida.com Racing will start third, with Michael Valiante turning a lap of 1:25.156 (99.347 mph) in the No. 90 Corvette DP co-driven by Richard Westbrook. He will be joined on the second row by Scott Pruett, who ran 1:25.987 (98.387 mph) in the No. 01 Ford EcoBoost/Riley co-driven by Joey Hand for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

 

Adam Sinclair