Lexington, Ohio (May 15, 2022) — In today’s Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio, the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 team fought hard for their second consecutive victory of the season and second win in a row at the Midwest road course. The blue and black machine led an Acura one-two finish at Honda Performance Development’s “hometown” race, catapulting them into the lead of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with a total of 1,707 points.
True to form, Filipe Albuquerque got an unbelievable run at the green flag and took the lead around the outside of the first corner. He held first position for the first 13 minutes of the race before the polesitter bumped his way back past. Undeterred, Albuquerque handed the car to Ricky Taylor in second position with exactly two hours remaining.
With an hour down, co-driver Ricky Taylor proved he was on the hunt by setting the fastest lap of the race. He closed the gap to former Wayne Taylor Racing driver, Renger van der Zande, making a move around the outside that was highly reminiscent of Albuquerque’s move on the opening lap. This time, the two cars made contact, but Taylor’s Acura came away the better of the two, driving into the lead. He drove expertly, avoiding traffic and spinning prototype cars ahead to secure another impressive win for the team.
“I’m so happy here in Mid-Ohio,” said Ricky Taylor. “The Konica Minolta guys nailed it all day. We may not have been the favorite coming in. After practice and qualifying we thought that we needed to find a bit more pace, but the end result is amazing. We come away with a fifth straight victory for Acura at Mid-Ohio, second in a row for the team and we got the points lead back. So many great things happened today. We have about half of the season left, so we need to keep up the intensity and the pressure. That’s how we got the points lead today, and that’s how we need to finish the season.”
“What an amazing race,” said Filipe Albuquerque. “I’m so happy for this group of people—amazing job by everyone. It was a great start from my side, to be able to go into first position. It’s super tricky to start here on the outside, and then the car was super, super tricky on old tires, especially with them being qualifying tires. I was really worried whether we could do another two hours and Ricky pulled it out amazingly. I tried to help the team with whatever I could to help Ricky. The car came back to us and Ricky did a fantastic job and he pulled it off again. We’re going back and forth with who is finishing and who does the best job. Perfect job by everyone in the Konica Minolta Acura team.
“I’m so proud of this team and all of our partners at HPD, Acura, Konica Minolta, Harrison Contracting Company and the guys,” said team owner Wayne Taylor. “The pit stops, the strategy by Brian [Pillar], Logan [Sprung], the drivers—Filipe doing a good job on tires that he used in qualifying, which were terrible, but to keep that position and then hand the car to Ricky was all excellent. For Ricky to stay in for so long and make that maneuver on the No. 01 car basically got us the win. I’m ecstatic.”
The 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season continues for the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 in two week’s time with another sprint race, the Detroit Grand Prix. Practice 1 begins at 8:00 a.m. ET on June 3rd. Green flag for the 100-minute sprint waves at 3:10 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 4th. Full coverage, starting at 3:00 p.m. ET, can be streamed on Peacock or viewed on USA Network.
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 clients’ digital transformation through its expansive office technology portfolio, including IT Services (All Covered), intelligent information management, 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. The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 effort and Wayne Taylor Racing is supported by an outstanding lineup of partners including Harrison Contracting, Acura Motorsports, Hammer Nutrition and CIT.
