Cadillac V-Performance racing team Konica Minolta Cadillac retired from today’s IMSA WeatherTech Championship Motul Petit Le Mans just over two-hours in, but accumulated enough run time to win the DPi drivers and team championships for 2017. The Mustang Sampling Cadillac closed the year as the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup (TPNAEC) champions and Cadillac was crowned manufacturer champ.

Cadillac season ending honors:

• Cadillac wins DPi manufacturer championship
• Cadillac wins TPNAEC manufacturer title
• Ricky and Jordan Taylor 2017 IMSA WeatherTech DPi driver champions
• Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi team champions
• Mustang Sampling Cadillac drivers Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Filipe Albuquerque win the TPNAEC DPi driver championship
• Mustang Sampling Cadillac wins the TPNAEC DPi team championship
• Whelen Engineering drivers Dane Cameron and Eric Curran finish second in the driver’s championship
• Mustang Sampling Cadillac drivers Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi finish third in the driver’s championship
• Cadillac teams combine to win seven races in 2017: Rolex 24 Hours At Daytona, Twelve Hours of Sebring, Long Beach, Circuit of the Americas, Detroit, Watkins Glen, and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac team with drivers Ricky and Jordan Taylor, with help in the long races from Max Angelelli, Jeff Gordon, Alex Lynn and Ryan Hunter-Reay, were able to capitalize on their five-win season for the team and driver crowns.

“We are happy to win the championship,” Ricky Taylor said. “The team and car have run flawlessly all year. It’s too bad to have an issue at Petit when we were fighting for the TPNAEC title. It was a crazy start to the race with the wet and then going dry. It was a lot of work at the start. The team did a great job all year, everyone at Cadillac, Dallara and our sponsors at Konica Minolta all have a hand this championship. The five wins to start the season was great and especially winning the Rolex 24 and Sebring – the stuff all drivers dream about. To win it with my dad, Jordan and Max, who is also family, is really a dream season.”

“Being with Ricky the past four years, we have been close to winning the championship,” Jordan Taylor said. “It means a lot to win it with family and Max is like family, as well. We started the year strong with five straight wins. Add the victories at Daytona and Sebring, Ricky had all of those poles, and we won Long Beach, too.

“Winning at Detroit is great, as well. We are a family team. The crew is very close. We were the first ones to work with the Cadillac this year. For us to win the championship with Cadillac, the ECR guys and Dallara in the first year of the DPi prototypes is special. For us to win the championship, it means a lot to everyone who developed the car, as well as our sponsor Konica Minolta.”

“We are really happy to win the drivers and team championship, as well as helping to secure the manufacturer championship for Cadillac,” Wayne Taylor said. “We had finished every single race this year. I am not really sure what happened today. We lost drive to the car and we had to withdraw from the race. That doesn’t take away from what we accomplished this year with five straight wins and taking the big ones at Daytona and Sebring. Winning in Detroit for Cadillac is always special, as is winning on the streets of Long Beach for Konica Minolta. A great accomplishment by the team, everyone at Cadillac, Dallara, ECR Engines and, of course, our sponsor Konica Minolta.”

“We had a good race going,” Ryan Hunter-Reay said. “We were focused on the Endurance Cup. I took over the car from Ricky. I was getting heat in the tires and then, on the backstraight, we all of a sudden lost drive to the rear wheels. It is amazing what the team has accomplished this year with the five wins. I joined them a little too late, but a great season for them and congratulations to everyone on the championship.”

“Winning the IMSA regular season DPi drivers, team and manufacturer titles along with the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance driver and manufacturer championships reinforces the spirit of winning that is pervasive throughout Cadillac,” said Rich Brekus, Global Director of Product Strategy for Cadillac. “It starts with our single-minded engineering group that develops award-winning road cars that are built by a quality-driven manufacturing team, these accomplishments are a testament to what performance focus can achieve.

“Having strong team partners like Konica Minolta that won the drivers and team championships and put the car in the winner’s circle five times this year is impressive. The points earned toward the manufacturer title by the Mustang Sampling team, who were crowned Tequila Patrón North American Endurance champs today, and the Whelen Engineering group who had a great win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park makes it a total team effort toward an incredible year of accomplishments.”