Next month, the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 team enters the final few races of the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season with a 41-point lead in one of the most competitive championships in recent sportscar memory. But before Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque will race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca next month, the teammates will turn their heads to the 89th 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend. Taylor and Albuquerque will compete on different teams in the LMP2 category in hopes of securing another 24 Hour victory in 2021 after winning the Rolex 24 at DAYTONA earlier this year.
Ricky Taylor will compete in the PRO|AM class with Dennis Andersen and Marco Sørensen in the No. 20 High Class Racing Oreca 07-Gibson for his seventh 24 Hours of Le Mans. Filipe Albuquerque has teamed up with Philip Hanson and Fabio Scherer in the No. 22 United Autosports USA Oreca 07-Gibson for his eighth Le Mans in hopes of securing a back-to-back victory at the historic event.
“I’m very excited to get the opportunity to compete at Le Mans again,” said Ricky Taylor. “It is such an iconic event around the world and as a sports car driver is one of the key races to win in your career. For this year we are in the pro-am class and expectations are high for a win. There is a lot of competition in the class and there is always a good opportunity to learn here in Le Mans. To win Le Mans and Daytona in the same year is something not many people get the opportunity to attempt, let alone be in the position of coming to Le Mans as Daytona winners. Luckily Filipe and I are in separate classes this year so it has been nice to share our experiences and discuss our weekends in a constructive way. We are continuing to work well together even from different cars.”
“Le Mans is the big race of the year along with Daytona,” expressed Filipe Albuquerque. “We’re currently leading the World Championship with my teammate with United Autosports and we are candidates for the win. The pretest went well and we have good pace and we are very competitive. I think we have all the ingredients. Nowadays with how competitive Le Mans is you have to be on your game the entire race without an issue. There is a big part that we don’t control, so we have to keep both our feet off the ground and take every stint on the limit, but very careful.”
The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 team will support Ricky and Filipe stateside this weekend for the 89th 24 Hours of Le Mans. Green flag will wave at 8:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, August 21st. Full race coverage can be streamed in the United States through MotorTrend. Download here.
About Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. is reshaping and revolutionizing the Workplace of the Future. The company guides and supports its customers’ digital transformation through its expansive office technology portfolio, including IT Services (All Covered), content services, managed print services and industrial and commercial print solutions. Konica Minolta has been included on CRN’s MSP 500 list nine times and The World Technology Awards recently named the company a finalist in the IT Software category. Konica Minolta has been recognized as the #1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys for fourteen consecutive years, and received Keypoint Intelligence’s BLI 2021 A3 Line of The Year Award and BLI 2021-2023 Most Color Consistent A3 Brand Award for its bizhub i-Series. Konica Minolta, Inc. has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for nine consecutive years and has spent four years on the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World list. Konica Minolta partners with its clients to give shape to ideas and works to bring value to our society. For more information, please visit us online and follow Konica Minolta on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter. Wayne Taylor Racing’s existing lineup of partners that also features Harrison Contracting, Acura Motorsports , Hammer Nutrition and CIT.
