Wayne Taylor Racing loses Daytona 24 Hours podium
The Wayne Taylor Racing Dallara-Chevrolet Corvette DP has lost third place in last weekend's Daytona 24 Hours for exceeding the Tudor United SportsCar Championship's driving-time regulations
Officials notified WTR that Jordan Taylor was about to violate a rule that stipulates that one driver cannot spend more than four hours behind the wheel in any six-hour period in the closing stages of the race when it was battling for victory with the winning Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford EcoBoost DP.
An unscheduled pitstop with 11 minutes to go, during which Jordan Taylor handed over to brother Ricky, and a subsequent drive-through penalty for stopping when the pits were closed under a safety car dropped the WTR Dallara to third position.
IMSA has now calculated that the younger Taylor did exceed the four-hour limit and has penalised WTR, dropping the car the brothers shared with Max Angelelli to 16th and last in the Prototype class.
IMSA race director Beaux Barfield would not be specific on how much the limit was exceeded, but said it was "more than a couple minutes".
"IMSA conducted a thorough review of drive times post-race, which revealed that Jordan Taylor exceeded four hours over a six-hour period late in the race," Barfield explained.
"Drive-time maximums are in place to ensure that drivers do not get fatigued and create safety concerns, as well as to prevent any one driver from making too large a contribution to a team's result."
The regulations would have permitted IMSA to exclude WTR, runner-up in last year's inaugural USC, but it opted to put them to the back of the Prototype classification.
They will now score 16 points instead of 31 and lose the prize money for third place.
WTR boss Wayne Taylor, father of Ricky and Jordan, said that his team would "not challenge the penalties levied against us".
The decision promotes the Spirit of Daytona Coyote-Chevrolet Corvette DP driven by Richard Westbrook, Michael Valiante and Mike Rockenfeller to third behind the similar Action Express Racing car.
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