The Ricky Taylor Speed Show continued Saturday at Raceway Laguna Seca.
After comfortably pacing two practice sessions, Taylor smashed the track record for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in qualifying by nearly half a second in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 DPi (Daytona Prototype international) to secure pole position for Sunday’s Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship Presented by Motul.
Taylor clocked two laps in the 1-minute, 13-second bracket, with his best effort of 1:13.924 (108.987 mph) claiming the Motul Pole Award. Oliver Jarvis completed a front row sweep for Acura, lapping at 1:14.013 in the No. 60 Meyer Shank with Curb-Agajanian ARX-05 DPi.
“Our car has been good since the start of practice and we tried not to mess it up,” said Taylor after clinching his 34th career pole in IMSA competition. “When you have a car that unloads that well, it’s very easy to get lost at a place like this because the track changes so much. So, we tried to not make too many changes. We placed a lot of emphasis on qualifying, so to get the pole is satisfying.”
Filipe Albuquerque set the previous lap record of 1:14.441 (108.230 mph) in the same WTR Acura in 2021, and Taylor said he assumed his teammate would again qualify and start the two-hour, 40-minute race again this year.
“They just told me I was doing it and I tried not to mess it up,” he said.
“Laguna Seca is a track that requires a lot of front grip in qualifying, then you need really good rear tire degradation for the race,” he added. “The Cadillacs have really found a lot of pace since last year, so I’m sure we’ll have our work cut out for us in the race. The competition has been creeping closer in every session, but as long as they don’t get any closer, we’ll be happy.”
Alex Lynn was the fastest Cadillac qualifier in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing DPi.V.R, recording a time of 1:14.072 to secure third on the starting grid.
Lynn and co-driver Earl Bamber head into Sunday’s racing with a seven-point lead in the WeatherTech Championship DPi point standings over No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac co-drivers Tristan Vautier and Richard Westbrook. Vautier qualified fifth for Sunday’s race.