Taylor takes Spirit of Daytona Racing to fifth on Detroit 200 grid

Detroit, Mich. (31 May 2013) – Spirit of Daytona Racing will start the Chevrolet GRAND-AM 200 at Belle Isle from the third row as Ricky Taylor and Richard Westbrook look to make the most out of Saturday’s two-hour sprint event as GRAND-AM stages Round 5 of the Rolex Sports Car Series championship.

Taylor qualified the No. 90 VISITFLORIDA.com Chevrolet Corvette DP fifth during Friday’s 15-minute qualifying session. He will open the two-hour sprint race from behind the wheel of the Corvette machine before handing the car over to Westbrook to take to the finish.

“I think we’re okay for the race, I just so badly want a pole,” lamented Taylor. “I think maybe I want a pole a bit too much and maybe just tried a little bit too hard. I had a lap to fight for it at the end there and I tagged the wall. We had a good car for qualifying but I think we have a little work to do for the race. I’m just disappointed because I think we definitely had a front row car - if not the pole for sure.”

The condensed weekend schedule saw Spirit of Daytona Racing participate in just two practice sessions ahead of qualifying with the No. 90 machine posting the fourth quickest time of the day’s first session.

“I think everybody is so close,” offered team owner Troy Flis. “Ricky had a good lap there at the end and hit the wall a little bit on the last lap. I think the racetrack just sped up a bit quicker than we thought. I think we have a good racecar. We didn’t think we’d get to qualify today (because of the rain in the forecast). Qualifying fifth is where we would have started anyhow based on points, so we’ll take it. We just have to get better in the points so we can make sure we’re always up front. Both Ricky and Richard are pretty happy with the car so we’ll just see how the day goes tomorrow.”

All eyes have been on the weather throughout the weekend as the forecast has predicted rain for Saturday’s race which could add some excitement to the already thrilling run through the streets of Belle Isle.

“If it rains tomorrow, we have the best guy (Westbrook) finishing in the world,” added Taylor. “He is the best so I have no question about it. I think we will be just fine.”

Spirit of Daytona Racing will participate in a final practice session tomorrow morning ahead of the two-hour race which is set to start at 12:25 PM (ET).

Spirit of Daytona Racing