Taylor Scorches Field to Road America Pole

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

Ricky Taylor has scored a dominant pole for Sunday’s Continental Tire Road Race Showcase, outpacing the competition by more than one-second in qualifying at Road America.

The second-generation driver reeled off a blazing 1:53.058 in his No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R for his fourth IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole of the season and second straight in Prototype competition.

Taylor edged out the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier JS P217 Gibson of Jose Gutierrez by 1.017 seconds, with Scott Sharp third in the No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi.

Positions second through sixth were separated by less than two-tenths.

Ricky and brother Jordan Taylor will be seeking their sixth win in nine races in Sunday’s two-hour and 40-minute race.

The No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Ligier of Marc Goossens will roll off fourth on the grid in the team’s debut with the car, while Johannes van Overbeek completed the top-five in the No. 22 ESM Nissan DPi.

Both Action Express Cadillacs struggled in the 15-minute session, and were more than 1.5 seconds adrift from the pole-sitting WTR Cadillac entry.

James French snatched his sixth pole in seven races in Prototype Challenge, in another dominant qualifying run for the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FLM09.

French’s 1:59.149 lap time outpaced the second quickest driver, Don Yount, in the No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports entry by 2.979 seconds for his third consecutive pole at Road America.

Both of the BAR1 entries failed to beat the GT Le Mans class pole-winning time.

French and Pato O’Ward can clinch the PC championship this weekend, one race early.

The Continental Tire Road Race Showcase is set for 1:35 p.m. CT on Sunday with live coverage on FS1.

RESULTS: Qualifying

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