Jordan Taylor felt the second place finish in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring was just what was needed to kickstart Wayne Taylor Racing’s season, especially after their retirement from the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.
Although they fell just 12.427 seconds short on the victory, Taylor the way the team came through was great, particularly as they were embroiled in some close battles throughout, with at one point the Cadillac DPi-V.R lost some of its bodywork after contact with the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac.
Taylor shared the car with Renger van der Zande and Ryan Hunter-Reay, and saw the car improve throughout the race, particularly in the cooler conditions once darkness engulfed the Sebring International Raceway.
“It’s not a win, but to come away with a second the way we started is good,” said Taylor on WayneTaylorRacing.com. “The team adapted well to everything that happened on track and in the pits.
“It was a great day for the team. They executed well and it was a great points day after our finish at Daytona. We are on the right footing now heading to Long Beach. We are learning more about the new tyre and hope to continue to learn more at Long Beach.
“We made good changes throughout the weekend on the car. We struggled a little in the heat in the middle of the day today, and then the car came back to us at night when we really needed to race.”
Taylor had one scare early in the race when he came into contact with one of the GT Daytona Audi’s, but he knew it was important to stay out of trouble during the daylight hours so they could attack when darkness fell.
“It was starting to go well,” said Taylor. “We were just trying to stay out of trouble. After my first pit stop, I was coming out of the pits, I was way right and then an Audi drove into the side of me.
“It didn’t damage anything and I just kept going. We were running in the top-three. We knew we just needed to stay competitive for the next several hours and then go racing once it got dark.”
