Ricky Taylor credits Acura Team Penske stablemate Dane Cameron after taking pole position for the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America, stating that Cameron showed him ‘how it’s done’.
Taylor came out on top in a qualifying battle between the pair of Acura ARX-05s, with the #7 car outqualifying Cameron’s #6 by 0.318s before a red flag prevented any further improvements
“Dane kind of showed me how it’s done,” Taylor said. “I tried to apply what I learned from him. That’s the power of having good teammates and a great team. There’s no reason to be behind when somebody is always pushing you and helping you to run faster.”
It marks the second time this season that Penske has captured pole position after Taylor’s co-driver Helio Castroneves took pole for the Weathertech 240 at Daytona. Despite this, the team has struggled during its season so far and is yet to finish on the podium.
“We’ve had a tough season this year with little things going on here and there,” Taylor said. “Even though it’s not a race win, it’s really nice to keep all the guys motivated. I’m excited to go out tomorrow.
We’ve shown great pace all weekend. To convert it to a race win would be really, really amazing.”
Despite victory hopes, the 30-year-old admits Road America will be a tough track to conquer.
“Road America is always difficult,” he said. “There are a lot of places where you can create gaps and lose lots of time in traffic.
It’s really an interesting track, one where you can lose lots of ground and momentum.
“It’s going to be a handful. It’s going to really demand a lot of the teams and the drivers to put together a perfect race.
I think for us in the #7 car, we are just trying to get through the race unscathed without any issues and let the pace hopefully dictate our outcome. And we’ve had a lot of pace so we’re happy with that.”
