Taylor Brothers Conquer Long Beach

Photo: Brian Cleary/bcpix.com

Jordan Taylor held off Joey Hand to claim a commanding victory in Saturday’s Tequila Patron Sport Car Showcase on the streets of Long Beach.

The third round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship saw a dominant performance for the pole-sitting Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP, which led nearly the entire 100-minute race.

While pole-sitter Ricky Taylor stretched out into an early lead aboard his No. 10 Corvette DP, a quick stop for the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford, started by Scott Pruett, saw Hand edge out ahead of Jordan Taylor.

However, a slight slip-up for Hand on the completion of his out lap saw Jordan Taylor re-take the top spot with less than 50 minutes remaining, thanks to a bold overtake into Turn 1.

Taylor remained out front from there, taking a 3.3-second victory over the Ganassi pairing, who settled for second in the caution-free race.

It marked the Taylor brothers first win of the season, rebounding from the disappointments of a post-race drive-time penalty at Daytona that stripped them of their second place result with Max Angelelli.

The No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Racing Corvette DP of Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante completed the podium in third, followed by the No. 31 Action Express Racing entry of Eric Curran and Dane Cameron in fourth.

Cameron’s late-race charge relegated teammates Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi to fifth, although the duo unofficially maintain the championship lead by one point over Westbrook and Valiante.

The No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2 Honda of Ozz Negri and John Pew came home in sixth after opting for a two-stop strategy, which ultimately didn’t pan out.

Both of the SpeedSource Mazda SKYACTIV-D prototypes finished 13th and 15th overall, respectively, after struggling to match the pace of the leading P class cars.

Early race electrical issues, meanwhile, dashed hopes of a finish for the DeltaWing, making its street race debut.

RESULTS: Tequila Patron Sports Car Showcase

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John