Perennial Title-Contending Tudor United SportsCar Championship Team Enters Agreement with Ramsey, N.J.-Based Business Leader
Wayne Taylor Racing today announced that it has reached an agreement with Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta), to become the new primary sponsor of its No. 10 Chevrolet Corvette Dallara Daytona Prototype for the 2014 Tudor United Sports Car Championship.
The first race for the team in the new Konica Minolta colors is the Tequila Patron Sports Car Showcase Saturday (April 12), as part of the 40th annual Grand Prix of Long Beach Verizon IndyCar Series weekend, where Wayne Taylor’s sons Ricky and Jordan will partner together to drive the No. 10 Chevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype.
“We are so proud and incredibly happy to enter into this partnership with Konica Minolta,” said team owner and three-time sports car racing champion Wayne Taylor. Taylor’s younger son Jordan Taylor and longtime partner and former co-driver Max Angelelli blazed to the 2013 driver’s championship in the final season of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, in their No. 10 Corvette DP.
“After winning the championship last year, and with the merger of GRAND-AM and the American Le Mans Series this year, we knew that we would need to elevate our game in a big way if we were to continue competing for championships in the new Tudor United SportsCar Series. Having a business leader such as Konica Minolta come on board as the title sponsor of my organization just made sense.”
The No. 10 Konica Minolta Chevrolet Corvette Dallara Daytona Prototype enters the weekend’s event in Long Beach second in the championship standings after finishes of second and seventh, respectively, at the opening two events – the Rolex 24 At Daytona at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway.
“The motorsports program is an ideal platform for us to expand our sports marketing efforts while reaching a broader audience,” said Rick Taylor, president and Chief Operating Officer of Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. “With this sponsorship, there are clearly a multitude of options available that will help us further the Konica Minolta brand and we are really looking forward to this first event at Long Beach. Wayne and I have worked together in the past, so we know each other well and we look forward to a productive, long-term relationship.”
As a leader in enterprise content management, technology optimization and cloud services, Konica Minolta’s solutions help organizations improve their speed to market, manage technology costs, and facilitate the sharing of information to increase productivity. The company has been recognized as a “#1 Brand for Customer Loyalty” by Brand Keys for seven consecutive years. It also was awarded “MFP (multifunction peripheral) Line of the Year” by Buyers Laboratory LLC, and was recently named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for two consecutive years.
“It has been an exciting several weeks for us, working with the Konica Minolta team,” said Wayne Taylor. “Seeing the incredible amount of enthusiasm and the professionalism with which they’ve gone about getting this program started with us, I just can’t wait to get going and to deliver results. We’re very fortunate to have this great organization in our corner with title sponsorship of our racing program.”
Konica Minolta, as title sponsor, joins Wayne Taylor Racing’s existing lineup of partners featuring Velocity Worldwide, General Motors, Dallara Automobili, Siemens PLM Software, Titanium Metal Supply, and OMP America.
Saturday’s one-hour, 40-minute Tequila Patron Sports Car Showcase on the 1.97-mile, 11-turn Grand Prix of Long Beach street circuit will be televised live by FOX Sports 1 beginning at 6 p.m. EDT. For updates, follow on Twitter at #PoweredByPartnerships.