Tag: Wayne Taylor Racing

Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing retains core driver line-up for 2025

Wayne Taylor Racing will retain its core lineup as it switches to Cadillac for the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the GTP category, while a Cadillac regular and some familiar faces join in for the endurance races. Ricky Taylor and …

Wayne Taylor Racing will retain its core lineup as it switches to Cadillac for the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the GTP category, while a Cadillac regular and some familiar faces join in for the endurance races. Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque (main image) will drive the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R for the full season, while Jordan Taylor and Louis Delétraz continue in the No. 40.

WTR and Cadillac Racing also announced their endurance additions for each car. Brendon Hartley moves to Daytona-only, while McLaren F1 test and development driver Will Stevens takes the wheel of the No. 10 for the three long-distance Michelin Endurance Cup races — the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Motul Petit Le Mans. Alex Lynn, who has spent the last two seasons racing the V-Series.R in the FIA World Endurance Championship after a season with Cadillac in IMSA, is the third driver in the No. 40 for the races longer than six hours, while Kamui Kobayashi returns to IMSA competition for Daytona.

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“I’m excited for the No. 10 lineup in 2025,” said team principal Wayne Taylor. “Three of the four drivers have been with us at least four years and working together. Adding in Will Stevens for the endurance races will be a big advantage as well. All four drivers understand the setups and are used to working closely together — a necessity for winning in Daytona and for being on top in this incredibly close championship.

“The No. 40 car is an exciting driver line-up as well. Louis and Jordan (below) are back together again, and Alex Lynn will be helping with the endurance races. Alex has worked with us before, helping us win the Twelve Hours of Sebring back in 2017. Kamui Kobayashi’s abilities speak for themselves, having run with us before and won the Rolex 24 twice, once with Jordan. Everyone in this group works to get the job done, no egos — it is what wins races, especially the Rolex 24.”

Richard Prince/Cadillac Racing

Wayne Taylor’s history with GM Motorsports dates to 1990 when the South African native turned his first laps in the U.S. as a General Motors factory driver in a Chevrolet-powered GTP race car. Since Taylor founded the team in 2007, Wayne Taylor Racing has been a frontrunner in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2021 Michelin Endurance Cup champions have won three IMSA driver championships, nine manufacturer titles and have four Rolex 24 victories.

It’s a homecoming for Ricky Taylor, who has been an Acura racer since 2018, first with Team Penske, where he won the 2020 DPi championship with Helio Castroneves, and then back with WTR after the team took over the Acura DPi program, switching from Cadillac.

“It is exciting to be rejoining Cadillac Racing,” said Ricky Taylor. “I am looking forward to learning about what has made them so competitive over the past two GTP seasons as well as working with a new group to work together to win races and championships. I think we will be curious to learn what has made them strong over the first two years, but also to bring our own experience to the program. I think the team has something special in how the two cars and four full-time drivers work together to push each other on and off the track in a healthy way that supports both cars succeeding.”

Ricky Taylor and Albuquerque have been partners for four years now, since Taylor’s return to the WTR fold. Together they have garnered numerous victories, but a championship has eluded them.

“Since I started racing in America in the overall class, it was with the Chevy DP in 2016, then I did another four years with Cadillac DPi, and now to be back is amazing,” said Albuquerque. “I am really looking forward to returning ‘back home.’ My first overall Daytona win was with Cadillac, so for sure I want to be back to those winning feelings.

“I remember very well fighting hard WTR in a Cadillac, they were a big stone in my shoe — this is a very Portuguese expression to not say something else — but I remember as well that I won some of them too. Now being all together, me, Ricky, WTR and Cadillac, I think we have the dream together.”

Jordan Taylor spent a dozen years as a GM driver before this past season, first with WTR and Cadillac, winning a DPi championship, then a stint with Corvette Racing that resulted in back-to-back GTLM titles.

“It feels like I am coming back home to see lots of familiar faces,” he said. “The Cadillacs have obviously been extremely strong in GTP the last two years, so I can’t wait to see what the car is like from the inside. WTR always does an amazing job at putting together strong lineups. Not just strong on track, but guys that are able to work well together off the track with the teammates, team members, and sponsors. I think putting together all the drivers that we have is bringing an amazing amount of experience that can push us all in the right direction.”

“GM is what brought my mom and dad to America back in the early ’90s, giving my dad his first drive in the States. It was also where my career began and where Ricky has had so much success in the past as well. We have kept in touch with all those people that we’ve dealt with in the past, and there’s no doubt that it will be a seamless transition coming back together. “

For Delétraz, this will be his first experience with Cadillac, and it’s one he’s relishing.

“Cadillac and GM have achieved so much in motorsport, I can’t wait to start working together. I look forward to understanding how they work and make such fast cars,” he said. “Since I joined IMSA, Cadillac Racing has always been extremely competitive and hard to beat. I’m happy to have them on our side and not against us now. I think together we can win many races and championships in the future.”

The 2025 season kicks off with the Roar Before the 24 (Jan. 17-19) and the Rolex 24 at Daytona (Jan. 23-26). The Cadillac WTR team and drivers will have their first IMSA-sanctioned test during the homologation test on Nov. 15-17.

IMSA teams preparing for new and upscaled programs in 2024

As the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season heads toward its conclusion, several teams are hard at work preparing for new or expanded programs in 2024. That includes Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport, which expands to a two-Acura …

As the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season heads toward its conclusion, several teams are hard at work preparing for new or expanded programs in 2024. That includes Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport, which expands to a two-Acura ARX-06 GTP car operation next season.

“We’re on time, maybe a bit ahead of time in terms of getting people,” said Wayne Taylor. “We’re pretty confident that we’ll have all the right pieces in place. We put out a fairly aggressive ad on social media for people and we’ve been inundated. We’re short two or three people now, which is pretty damn good. But we’ve also got other teams in our organization we can call on for people, so we’re in good shape.”

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AWA Racing is moving from LMP3 to GTD with a pair of Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs. Team principal Andrew Wojteczko reports that he expects a driver announcement to come just before Petit Le Mans. Meanwhile they’ve been delving into the Z06 GT3.R program wherever they can.

“We were able to participate with the test at Road America,” said Wojteczko. “It was great to have a bunch of my staff on hand. That was our first opportunity to see the car in action, which was great, we learned a lot, and it started to prepare ourselves on the equipment side and what we’re going to need to support the cars. We’re two months out now to our first test with our cars at at Sebring.”

Wojteczko says that scaling up to the GTD program won’t involve much change in the way of procedures and equipment; the bigger change will be more races — 10 weekends instead of six or seven — plus a new track for the team, Long Beach.

“I think from an operational standpoint, as a team, there’s more similarities than dissimilarities. So you know, we adapt our equipment and get rehearsed on the car, but I don’t see any any fundamental changes in approach. Some detail stuff like driver changing and stuff like that — with the prototype, we use a driver changer and in GTD, it’s still to be decided if that’s something we’re going to use or not. But the majority of our processes will remain and just move on.”

In the LMP2 category, which is set to grow for 2024 as some LMP3 entrants move up and new teams come in, some teams are reporting progress, and others are finding some challenges. United Autosports, which will run two cars in the class, including one for Ben Keating and Alex Quinn, has found its new home in JR III’s shop in North Carolina, as well as its general manager in Billy Glavin. Sean Creech Motorsport is moving from LMP3 with the unique choice of the Ligier JS P217. The team, however, is waiting for a lot of parts and spares to arrive at the shop before it can get to work. They do expect to meet their testing schedule, though.

Albuquerque blasts WTR Acura onto IMSA Long Beach GP pole

As was to be expected based on the two practice sessions today, the battle for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach pole in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship came down to Acura vs. Acura. This time it fell to Filipe Albuquerque and the Wayne …

As was to be expected based on the two practice sessions today, the battle for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach pole in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship came down to Acura vs. Acura. This time it fell to Filipe Albuquerque and the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport team, Albuquerque getting the No. 10 ARX-06 into the 69s range with a 1m9.909s lap, an average of 101.34mph around the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary circuit. Albuquerque’s time was half a second off the DPi record set by Sebastien Bourdais last year.

“We knew we had a good car, and we had a little bit of an edge on on the competitors, other manufacturers,” stated Albuquerque. “But we’ve seen as well, the No. 60 was very competitive, so this pole position would not come for free and easily. So obviously the tension was there between us. But yeah, I really wanted this pole position and, for sure, the No. 60 wanted it as well. But at the end of the day, I was super pleased with pole position by half a second. It’s pretty good.”

For several teams, the first half of the 20-minute GTP-only qualifying session was dedicated to scrubbing the second set of tires for tomorrow’s race, and then getting the qualifying set up to temperature. Representative times didn’t begin to appear until about five minutes left, and Albuquerque set the pole time on his 11th of 13 laps.

“The boys were a bit nervous in the garage about that as well. But I knew what I was doing. I must say that here specifically in Long Beach, cold tires, it’s just a nightmare. So hard to bring up the temperature. So I’m glad that tomorrow, I’m not going to get in second and go with cold tires into the to the race because it’s hard; it’s very hard. It’s way harder than Daytona and Sebring. and here you do a mistake, you go sideways and you hit the wall, you’re done. So I took my time there to get the tires up to temperature. It’s about being patient and knowing what what you’re doing. So I was pretty sure about what I was doing, but as well a bit concerned because if there is a yellow, I could not post a lap and then that was it. But the car was good later on,” he explained.

Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian ARX-06 could only manage to get within 0.674s of Albuquerque’s time to sweep the front row for Acura. Sebastien Bourdais and the Chip Ganassi Racing team found some pace in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R to claim the inside of the second row with a 1m10.981s lap. The next two cars were the two M Hybrid V8s from BMW M Team RLL, Nick Yelloly claiming the outside of the second row for the No. 25 and claiming intra-team honors over Augusto Farfus.

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Records fell in the GTD classes, Marco Sorensen claiming the GTD and outright pole with the best lap for a GTD car in Long Beach history. In his first visit to Long Beach, his 1m17.811s (91.05mph) in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 set the new mark for the class around the street circuit as he edged GTD PRO polesitter Jack Hawksworth by 0.06s.

“I think always when you’re coming to a new-to-you track, basically for me it was just learning the whole day,” Sorensen explained. “For sure they have all the setups and all this from last year. But we all know that everything always changes during the seasons and during the years. For sure the car was in the right window for today.”

Not only is this Sorensen’s first time at Long Beach, but his first time driving a GT car on a street circuit.

“It’s the first proper street circuit in a GT. I’ve done a lot in formula cars back in the day…I feel old when I say that, but it’s the first time in a GT and I freaking love it,” he declared.

Two teams have a lot of work ahead of them to get their cars ready for tomorrow’s race after contact with the wall that brought out a red flag. First Ashton Harrison pancaked the No. 93 Racers Edge with WTR Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 against the wall at the exit of Turn 8. As the red flag came out to end the session with less than four minutes to go, PJ Hyett nosed into the wall at almost the same spot.

Hawksworth set the new GTD PRO mark with a 1m17.817s in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 to start alongside Sorensen, leading three other GTD PRO cars, starting with Sorensen’s teammate Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Patrick Pilet was third in GTD PRO in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche, followed by Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette.

“We kind of gambled a little bit on going out a bit later in the session then, knowing the track evolution was going to be important in terms of the track was getting faster the whole time. Maybe that hurt us a little bit because obviously it just got cut short at the end,” Hawksworth said.

Hawksworth admitted consternation about not getting the overall pole, but was buoyed by the progression the team made at this track compared to last year.

“It’s obviously a little bit frustrating to be on the outside and not on the inside going down to Turn 1, but if we look at the day last year, it was kind of a bit of a struggle for us at this track. We raced forward, but it was more through good fortune rather than speed, so it was really good to come back here and see the work the guys have done. We really kind of concentrated on trying to find a way to extract the most from the car and the minute we rolled off the truck, the car has been in a window,” he said.

Frankie Montecalvo will start sixth overall in the GT field, second in GTD, having turned a 1m18.376s lap in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus. Madison Snow, who had a pole streak going at Long Beach, will instead start the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 on the inside of the fourth row, with the No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Mike Skeen alongside.

UP NEXT: The 100-minute Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, with green flag scheduled for Saturday at 5:05 p.m. Eastern.

RESULTS

Albuquerque puts WTR Acura on top in opening Sebring IMSA practice

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 spent most of the first hour of the first practice session for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring sitting in the pits with an electric issue. But when the car finally turned some …

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 spent most of the first hour of the first practice session for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring sitting in the pits with an electric issue. But when the car finally turned some real laps, Filipe Albuquerque immediately put it on the top of the time sheet, posting a 1m48.303s, good for a 124.32mph average around the 3.74-mile, 17-turn Sebring International Raceway.

Cadillac spent most of the time at the top as teams prepared for the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Renger van der Zande the best of the two in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R at 1m48.436s, only 0.098s ahed of Pipo Derani in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac.

BMW looked much stronger than it did at Daytona, the two BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8s finishing the session fourth and fifth, Connor De Phillippi leading the squad in the No. 25, 0.432s off Albuquerque’s best. Mathieu Jaminet was the quickest of the Porsche Penske Motorsports team in the No. 6 963, while the No. 7 963 emerged only briefly before Matt Campbell spun in Turn 3 and hit the tire barrier, damaging the rear wing. The back end of the car was quickly changed, but Campbell never really set a representative time.

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Like the No. 10, the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura spent most of the time sitting in the pits, due to a problem with the steering wheel electronics. Tom Blomqvist did a few off-pace laps before coasting to a stop in Turn 16, bringing out the second red flag of the session with about 15 minutes left.

The adjusted Balance of Performance equation for the Porsche 911 GT3 R seems to have leveled things out, as Trent Hindman set the quick time for all the GT cars, a 2m1.092s lap (111.19mph) in the GTD-class No. 77 Volt Racing 911. Five different makes made up the top five in GTD, Kyle Marcelli second in the No. 93 Racers Edge with WTR Acura NSX GT3 Evo22, 0.102s off Hindman. Aaron Telitz was third in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 at 2m1.350s. Mikael Grenier (No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG) and Andy Lally (No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage) completed the top five.

Telitz’s teammate Kyle Kirkwood led GTD PRO in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F with a 2m1.156s time, second overall in the GT field. The Risi Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 had good pace, Daniel Serra turning a top time of 2m1.394s for second in GTD PRO, sixth within the GTD field overall, followed by Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage at 2m1.450s. Rounding out the top five in GTD PRO were Maro Engel in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG and Jordan Pepper in the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2.

Christian Rasmussen topped LMP2 for Era Motorsport in the No. 18 ORECA with a 1m50.926s lap, followed by Giedo van der Garde in the No. 35 TDS Racing car (1m51.140) and George Kurtz in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing ORECA another 0.026s back.

Dakota Dickerson led the LMP3 field in the No. 30 JR III Racing Ligier with a 1m56.349 on his last lap. Gar Robinson was second, 0.068s off Dickerson’s best, in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier, with Gabby Chaves third for Andretti Autosport in the No. 36 Ligier at 1m56.349s.

The session was interrupted by two red flags in addition to the one to retrieve the No. 60. One was for the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports LMP3 off course at Turn 17, and the sesssion was ended under red after Sheldon van der Linde stuffed the No. 25 BMW Team RLL M Hybrid V8 into the tires, also in 17.

UP NEXT: The second practice session for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring starts at 3:50pm ET. It will be a 90-minute split session with the Pro-Am classes having their own 15 minutes at the front and the GTP and GTD PRO classes having the track to themselves for the final 15 minutes.

RESULTS