Braselton, GA. (September 30, 2022) — The final qualifying of the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and of the DPi era, took place Friday, setting the grid for the famed MOTUL Petit Le Mans. Ricky Taylor piloted the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 around the 12-turn road course to post a lap time of 01:08.802 (132.902 mph) and will start Saturday’s season finale in third position after a very close qualifying session amongst competitors. Utilizing every inch of the track in hopes of earning a pole position, Taylor slid off into the Turn 5 gravel in the closing minutes but recovered with no damage to the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05, securing a second row starting position.
With the result, the blue and black squad’s season points total increases to 3,096, and they enter tomorrow’s enduro 14 points ahead of their rivals in the sister Acura team. With pole position for the other Acura today, the marque is guaranteed to secure the drivers’, teams’ and manufacturers’ championships in the race. All that is left to be seen is which Acura squad will take the crown.
“Qualifying was important for points,” said Ricky Taylor. “Going into it, if we outqualified the No. 60 Meyer Shank Acura, they had a lot to lose in terms of championship points. So, we were trying to increase the gap over 20 points which would’ve made a big difference for tomorrow. We would have loved to get the pole and qualify ahead of the No. 60, but in the scheme of the points it didn’t change a whole lot. I’m feeling good since it’s such a long race and the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura team does such a good job strategizing and putting us in a good position. I’m very confident in our lineup and our team compared to them over the course of 10 hours. I’d put my two teammates up against those guys any day. I think we are all feeling optimistic and strong for tomorrow.”
Green flag for the 25th Anniversary of MOTUL Petit Le Mans waves at 12:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 1 with full 10-hour coverage streaming on Peacock, and partial television coverage on NBC from 12:00-3:00 p.m. ET. The night stints will be covered on USA Network between 7:00-10:30 p.m. ET.
DPi STARTING GRID:
1.) Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian (No. 60 Acura ARX-05) Oliver Jarvis, Tom Blomqvist & Helio Castroneves (133.381 mph)
2.) Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing (No. 02 Cadillac DPi) Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn & Ryan Hunter-Reay (132.929 mph)
3.) Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 (No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05) Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque & Brendon Hartley (132.902 mph)
4.) JDC Miller Motorsports (No. 5 Cadillac DPi) Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook & Loic Duval (132.804 mph)
5.) Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing (No. 01 Cadillac DPi) Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais & Scott Dixon (132.704 mph)
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.
