it's an exciting time of year here in the emcell weather tech sports car
championship you know the NFL has their playoffs the NCAA has the Final Four
NASCAR has the chase well in sports cars we have petite Lamar it is truly one of
the endurance classics but it comes at the end of the season what does that
mean for teams and drivers well it is your final chance to set your course on
where you're going to finish in the championship and every year nearly every
category comes down to a defining moment in this 10 hour enduro and of course in
prototypes it's all about the Taylor brothers in this the number 10 dpi
prototype and in gtlm it's a battle of the Titans the biggest manufacturers in
the world are battling it out with some of the world's top sports car drivers
it's going to be an epic so I thought I don't find out what's it gonna take to
win the championship but first you got to win the race were here with Ricky
Taylor and Ricky you've had a season where let's face it was dominant right
out of the box dominant and then you have that midseason dip and end it was a
very big moment for the team and you and your brother to regroup you want a
higher gain coming to the end of the year how does that feel how does it feel
coming to take them off it's really exciting I think you know that midseason
dip was really an awakening for us I think it's a bit of reality check
especially after winning five straight to start off the season and in sports
car racing you really have to put it all together it's not like going to the
Super Bowl where you start with a clean slate you're going in the playoffs or
something so really that midseason dip was scary
but good race around America heads up the seat and hopefully close it up you
know you have such a moments of dominance out there but it takes one
moment one moment of a mistake or whether it's in the pits whether it's by
you guys whether it's by someone else how do you sort of calibrate that
internally and not let yourself tighten up yeah I mean the team has been
performing so well all year and just tiny little issues of have almost taken
us out of the championship and that's the margins you're playing with and
sports car racing these days you you have to take risks to win races and to
get the results you have to take some risks and oftentimes the difference
between you know winning a race and not finishing at all is you know slight
miscalculation so to finish the season with the ten hours just it's cruel on
the teams and drivers because it's so so difficult and at the beginning of the
year and the 12-hour if you don't know what the situation the championship is
yet so you go out there you take your risks and you know however the cards
fall they fall so at the end of the year everyone knows what's at stake and
everybody feels the pressure and everybody you know is on their game all
the other teams you know want the championship bad you're being chased
down and that just adds a whole nother dimension to situation
as exciting as the prototype category is it's really in gtlm that we are seeing
sports car racing on steroids you see when you have some of the world's top
car men adventures all trying to prove their own superiority it becomes almost
a case of national pride because what they do on the racetrack definitely has
a reflection on car sales on a Monday morning it really at the old adage win
on Sunday sell on Monday when it comes to the in soliciting sports car
championship these big manufactures have a lot to prove and Apetit them off the
championship is coming to a very sharp point we have Corvettes
Ford and BMW all trying to win this very prestigious category obviously one of
the fan favorites Indy GLM are the Ganassi Racing for GTS and Jerry handed
you know so far this season through the season it's really been about individual
raceway this you know you start off day I want to win data water in serie go to
Long Beach but as we come into Petit Lamar obviously the gamers change it's
all about winning a championship for the manufacturer for the drivers how does
that sort of change internally for you how well those guys I always go to win
dad always said championship will come if we win the races you know so I've
always a got it have a tough time watching championship points I really
don't you know for sure Daytona was one of
those ones who want to win after Whalum on last year we were like next on the
list but record for chip was winning Daytona
so that we got that early that was great you know we've we had some issues in
between there and then we got another win at Road America and you know I still
think we're in a win situation you don't want to be racing two points here and at
the very last race because you know you're Stu many good cars this is a ten
hour race though thirteen limo which of course has its own set of variables not
just that you can do roll other people do run strategy whether whether it's
always played to be part of a team ending the year with such an enduro
classic that's tough is there that makes it tougher than normal what is because
especially like it's one thing if you got the championship wrapped up yeah and
they don't just kind of like oh joy Bon Appetit right but when you go when
you're coming into such a dog bite with so many cars that kid quit then it
changes everything because yeah you got ten hours to have something go wrong you
have day and you have headlights and you know and
pettite is one of the toughest races actually I mean people don't probably
don't give it enough credit for how difficult it is yes I mean yes Daytona
is 24 hours and Sebring is 12 hours but it they always say got more it's it's
harder than 24 hours em petit is only ten hours only but it really is hard
it's a tough track to pass you have a lot of cars when it gets dark prototypes
are bearing barreling down on us quickly and they put you in awkward situations
while we're trying to pass GTD and race ourselves so in the GTI eleven Faso we
we cut are in the middle of everything trying to do the itemize the back your
head decide everywhere and still go out and fight those guys for the win so yeah
I think it's a it's a tough one but that's what makes it perfect to end on
because it's already intense championship them so weathertech
championship is is crazy difficult and and crazy competitive with all these
different teams and manufacturers and drivers but to end on that is just like
yeah let's make it difficult and that's what it is
Betina more in some ways doesn't get the full credit deserves as a truly tough
motorist yes it's ten hours yes it's at the end of an already very tough season
but it's far more than that the stakes are incredibly high and that puts the
pressure on everybody involved the drivers for sure but what about their
crew members what about the technical people what about the support crews what
about the people that have to feed them everybody has to be on their a-game
because it's big money at stake for the car manufacturers as I said it's about
honor for drivers it's about career tributes and winning but for the fans
it's about incredible motor race and that for you and I is the petite limo
can be all about in 2017 catch the entire ten hours of the Motul petite
Beaumont on FS go