Corvette adds Jordan Taylor to ALMS lineup

[dalyduo]

Announced last week in Racer and worth passing along here.

GM has added some of its factory drivers to Corvette Daytona Prototypes in 2012, and now one of its best young GT talents will join the Corvette Racing Le Mans program in the year as well.

Jordan Taylor, the 20-year-old son of Wayne Taylor, joins Corvette Racing's GT program for the endurance races at Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans – where he will be making his first starts. His full-season assignment will be with Autohaus Motorsports in a Camaro in the Grand-Am Rolex Series GT class, co-driving with Paul Edwards. Taylor finished second in the 2011 class championship.

"Corvette Racing is one of the most iconic names in motorsports, and joining this team is a huge opportunity for me," said Taylor, who's also a student at the University of Central Florida. "There are certainly going to be challenges as I learn the capabilities of the Corvette C6.R racecars, become familiar with the team, adapt to new tracks, and race with new competitors. It's going to be amazing to race a Corvette at Sebring, Le Mans and Road Atlanta, and I can't wait to get started!"

Corvette announced the rest of its ALMS lineup, with Olivier Beretta's departure confirmed. The Monaco-born driver is set to run with Risi Competizione Ferrari at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and perhaps beyond depending on what the team decides to do the rest of 2012.

Antonio Garcia replaces Beretta in a full-season role, partnering Tommy Milner, with Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen set to continue as co-drivers. Taylor's third driver counterpart in endurance races is Richard Westbrook. Garcia will run dual full-season efforts in ALMS and Rolex, having also been confirmed to Spirit of Daytona's Corvette DP entry with Westbrook for the year, and Gavin and Magnussen at the Rolex 24.

"We have watched Jordan develop as a fine young driver over the years, and when he had an opportunity to test for Corvette Racing, his performance was very impressive," said Mark Kent, GM Racing director. "He is totally dedicated to racing, gives great feedback, understands how to interpret data, and knows how to make changes to the car and his driving style to suit the conditions. He has tremendous potential and we see this opportunity as an investment in the team's future.

"I also want to acknowledge the contributions of Olivier Beretta to Corvette Racing," Kent added. "Olivier was a valued member of the team, and he played a key role in our success in the ALMS and at Le Mans. Although we have parted company with Olivier, we'll look forward to seeing him at the racetrack, and we wish him all the best in the future."

There are two weekends where ALMS and Grand-Am run on the same weekend. On May 12, ALMS runs at Mazda Raceway with Rolex running May 13 across the country in New Jersey. Meanwhile in August, the 18th will see the ALMS round at Road America and 19th has Rolex in Montreal. It remains to be seen how these conflicts will be handled.