Brownsburg, Ind. (August 2, 2022) — Over the course of the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, a pattern persists for The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 and drivers Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque. Whenever they have a difficult race, they win the next. Laguna Seca and Watkins Glen International were prime examples, and they’ll need to do the same at Road America this weekend to shrink the 56-point gap that currently separates them from the championship leaders.
The IMSA SportsCar Weekend at the famous Wisconsin circuit is the second-to-last event of the season and the last sprint race. Wayne Taylor Racing is chasing their first win at the 4.048-mile, 14-turn track and have achieved four podiums in 11 appearances.
Like many drivers, Ricky Taylor enjoys the challenge that ‘America’s National Park of Speed’ presents. He has won with an Acura chassis at Road America in 2020 and knows that returning the top step of the podium this weekend is imperative.
“This weekend is a critical race in the championship,” mentioned Ricky Taylor. “It’s a must win for us to get us in the fight for the championship. Road America is a fantastic track for the Acura, but we need to capitalize. The track is fast and can be a track where overtaking in traffic is quite opportunistic. It’s a track where people can make moves and make things happen. I expect it will be another epic fight for the win.”
Filipe Albuquerque is keen to achieve his first victory at Road America and head into the final round on a high note.
“Road America is an amazing track,” said Filipe Albuquerque. “Last year we were unlucky with a puncture, but we were running well so we know the car can run well there. We are in a situation where we need to finish ahead of our main rivals, the other Acura. So, our goal is very simple, to finish ahead of them and to obviously go for the win. It’s all about championship points with only two races to go, so we want to maximize that, plus Wayne Taylor Racing has never won at Road America, so we are looking to get our fourth win of the season there. We had a lot of ups and downs in the season, but we have three wins which is the most of any team this season. That shows that we can do the job.”
With four Road America podiums as a team owner, like his drivers, Wayne Taylor knows the importance of winning this weekend not only to his team but to securing the Championship.
“We are just focusing on winning as many races as we can,” said team owner Wayne Taylor. “We’ve won three and we’d like to win five this season. We’ve never won at Road America and the drivers and entire team want to win there this weekend. We did just get some BoP changes to our car again, but it’s not even worth discussing, it is what it is. We all want to win, so I’m really looking forward to the weekend.”
Practice for the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 team begins on Friday, August 5th at 12:05 p.m. ET. Qualifying begins at 12:20 p.m. ET August 6th with the green flag on Sunday the 7th at 11:40 a.m. ET. Live coverage of IMSA SportsCar Weekend will begin at 11:35 a.m. ET on Peacock, with television coverage on USA Network starting at 12:00 p.m. ET.
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.
