Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s hopes of having Alex Albon as part of its line-up for the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona have fallen through.
In September, team owner Wayne Taylor spoke of a current grand prix driver who was set to join the team’s line-up at Daytona in January, but said an announcement wouldn’t be made until after the end of the Formula 1 season. RACER understands that driver was Albon, who had been approached and shown a keen interest. Williams was fully supportive of the deal and the opportunity for Albon to gain experience in different machinery as long as the commitment did not negatively impact on Formula 1 responsibilities.
After initial positive discussions, it is understood that a number of factors led to the deal not progressing. While Williams was on board with the idea, the team and driver are limited somewhat by the earlier start of pre-season testing from February 21-23. The 2024 F1 season starts in Bahrain on the weekend of February 29-March 2.
Although the logistics proved unworkable for all involved on this occasion, RACER understands Albon remains interested in sampling endurance racing at Daytona in future an attempt to widen his skillset – something Fernando Alonso has highlighted the benefits of in the past.
Albon would have followed a number of current drivers on the grid in competing at Daytona after Alonso, Lance Stroll and Lando Norris – then a Formula 2 driver – all took part in the 2018 edition in LMP2 machinery, while Kevin Magnussen was due to race last year before an operation on his left hand ruled him out as he needed to time his recovery for the F1 season.