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Texas Showdown
- Updated: May 5, 2017
GTD pole winning Porsche at the Circuit of the Americas. [Photo by Jack Webster]
By Jack Webster & Eddie LePine
All eyes are on Texas this weekend for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at the beautiful Circuit of the Americas in Austin.
Can the Taylor brothers continue their perfect season? Well, in the first two practice sessions on Thursday Ricky and Jordan Taylor topped the time charts with their Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi – taking the top spot in both sessions. In qualifying on Friday, it was more of the same, as Ricky Taylor put the Konica Minolta Cadillac on pole for the race, setting a new track record in the process.
In LMPC, the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA was fastest in practice, and just like the Wayne Taylor Racing team in DPi, the #38 car looks to extend their perfect season with another win in Texas. James French qualified the #38 machine on the pole in the LMPC class, and just like in the DPi class, his time was a new track record as well.
In GTLM, BMW was fastest for the first time this year in the first two sessions, but as usual the GTLM field is very competitive and if the races held earlier this season at Daytona, Sebring and Long Beach are any indication this race is totally up for grabs. In qualifying it was still BMW on top, with John Edwards putting the #24 BMW on pole with a new track record.
In GTD, Mathieu Jaminet put the #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R machine on pole, again with another track record. Jaminet put the Porsche on pole in his very first WeatherTech series race, and it was the first pole position for Alegra Motorsports as well. Look for them to be very strong in the race.
A very healthy field of 40 cars are entered for the Austin round of the championship and the close competition and exciting action that has been the hallmark of the series so far this year will likely continue at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday.
You can catch all the action on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 7pm Eastern Time on Saturday.
Jack Webster has been shooting motorsports since the early 1970’s, covering Formula One, CanAm, F5000, TransAm, GrandAm and American Le Mans races, among others. In addition to his photography, he has also worked on racing teams, both in IMSA and IndyCar, so has a complete knowledge of the inner workings of motorsport. Both his photography and writing can be seen here on racingnation.com. Eddie LePine has been involved in motorsports for over 30 years as photographer, columnist, and driver. Eddie also is now a retired racer (well, retired unless a good ride pops up). You can usually find Eddie in the paddock area, deep in conversation with a driver.