WTRAndretti – Syndication Server

Wayne Taylor Racing confirms Cadillac IMSA GTP program for 2025

Cadillac Racing has made official its long-rumored partnership with Wayne Taylor Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for 2025. WTR will run two Cadillac V-Series.Rs in the GTP category; together with longstanding Cadillac team …

Andretti Global, which currently partners with WTR on an Acura GTP program under the WTRAndretti banner, was not mentioned in the announcement. Team principal Wayne Taylor tells RACER the name change from WTRAndretti to WTR was done at the request of Cadillac to both simplify the name and to honor the longstanding, championship-winning heritage that exists between Taylor and General Motors in endurance racing.

“Cadillac Racing is thrilled to run an expanded three-car factory program in the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “Wayne Taylor Racing and Action Express Racing bring decades of proven racing and technical expertise, and we look forward to continued success on the track.”

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GM’s motorsports history with Wayne Taylor dates to 1990 when the South African native turned his first laps in the U.S. in a Chevrolet-powered GTP car. He has achieved success as a driver and team owner with multiple GM brands including Chevrolet and Cadillac. During its previous relationship with Cadillac (2017-’20), Wayne Taylor Racing won the Rolex 24 At Daytona three times (2017 and 2019-’20), two Petit Le Mans races (2018, 2020) and the Sebring 12 Hours (2017). In 2017, the team set an unprecedented five-race win streak with the Cadillac DPi and went on to win the IMSA WeatherTech drivers and manufacturers’ championships.

“I am so glad to return to the Cadillac family,” said Taylor, whose team last raced for Cadillac in 2020. “Having teamed with GM for so many years, with so many wins and championships, and having enjoyed such a fantastic relationship with them, this global program we have put together could not be more thrilling. We have exciting things coming and I look forward to discussing our commercial relationships in the coming months.”

Action Express Racing, which captured the 2023 team and driver championships in the inaugural year of the new era of GTP, along with the Michelin Endurance Cup, will return in 2025 as Cadillac Whelen and will continue to run the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R. Action Express Racing has had an alliance with GM since 2012 in IMSA, initially with the Corvette DP and Chevrolet 5.5L V8 engine and since 2017 with Cadillac Racing’s DPi, with which the team won the 2021 title, and GTP programs.

“All of us at Action Express Racing are thrilled that Cadillac has chosen us again to represent their iconic brand,” said team manager Gary Nelson. “I have worked closely with GM for my entire career in motorsports. We have always been impressed with the people we work with at Cadillac. We are excited to compete for wins and championships at the highest level of sports car racing in America.”

Drivers will be named at a later date. Some of WTRAndretti’s current full-time lineup of Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Jordan Taylor and Louis Delétraz are believed to have contracts with HRC, and some are contracted to the team, although the duration of such contracts is unknown.

Currently racing Cadillacs in IMSA for the full season are Jack Aitken and Pipo Derani for Action Express (although Derani is known to be out for next season) and Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande for Chip Ganassi Racing, which will be losing its Cadillac program at the end of the year. Bourdais and van der Zande are currently third in the championship, ahead of Aitken and Derani in fourth, with two races left.

Cadillac had previously announced that Hertz Team JOTA would be running a two-car V-Series.R program in the FIA World Endurance Championship beginning in 2025.

This story has been updated to reflect the change of team name.

Detroit breakthrough brings a ‘huge sense of relief’ for WTRAndretti

Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque have been racing partners for four years, and have achieved much during that time. And there’s no denying the winning history of Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti in its various guises over the years — championships, Rolex 24 At Daytona victories, Sebring wins … Wayne Taylor is one of the most successful owners in IMSA’s recent history.

There’s also no denying that 2023 was a rough year for the team. Running a single Acura ARX-06 in the first year of the new GTP formula, WTRAndretti suffered a rare winless year, although there was still a chance for a championship heading into Motul Petit Le Mans. Until the team won at Sebring with the second car it added for 2024 with Jordan Taylor, Louis Delétraz and Colton Herta, the most recent victory was at Road America in 2022. That was the last win for Ricky Taylor and Albuquerque.

Until Saturday. And not only did they win, they won it in WTR style, with a ballsy pass for the lead, courtesy of Ricky. Albuquerque had put the No. 10 in position with a fantastic start, and Ricky Taylor sealed the victory despite the apparent overwhelming strength of Porsche Penske Motorsport.

Winning the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic on the streets of downtown Detroit — and, no, the irony of Acura winning in Detroit while Cadillac took the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach this year was not lost on them — ended a 21-month drought for Taylor and Albuquerque. That meant something.

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“Filipe and I have been together for … this our fourth year,” said Ricky following the Detroit victory. “We’ve had a lot of success together and the 10 car was on a roll for our first three years together. We’ve had a really rough last year and a half. Really struggling, haven’t had a win in a long, long time, and it seemed like nothing could go our way. I think first of all everybody at [Honda Racing Corporation], Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti worked really hard to kind of put us back in the game. Street courses were not our thing. This year we haven’t been fighting really for wins outside of Sebring, and they turned it around here.

“We had we had performance in qualifying — it looked like Filipe and Jordan [Taylor] could have been fighting for a top three very easily. And then at the start of the race, starting from fourth on such a tight track, it’s so difficult to pass we thought a podium would be a bit of a win.”

This is a team and driver pairing that has gone into the finale solidly in the championship fight for the last three years, to the point that finishing a single position ahead of its championship rival would have garnered a title. And for three years they’ve missed that target. But race victories were always on the table, and always a check in the achievement column until last year. But not standing on the top step of the podium didn’t break them; it only made them more determined.

“It’s almost like in a family when you are struggling… in a family when something goes wrong, you just get more united,” said Albuquerque. “Head down; be more humble. Look at details and try to motivate each other on the bad days. So many times we would deserve to win, but things were not coming our way. Just comforting each other — never lose that faith, sticking even more together and knowing that the tables will turn and it’s just around the corner. We just never stopped believing it and I think that’s what happened.”

Albuquerque is no stranger to winning races. And while this one wasn’t one of the “big ones,” it definitely meant something, to the point that it nearly brought him to tears.

“I think this moment just made our team, our Konica Minolta 10 car just stronger. I nearly cried. I mean, it’s just a race … but it felt like almost like winning the 24 hours of Le Mans or Daytona, just because it’s so special. We’ve been suffering so much … I’m not saying unfair but it’s sometimes like we would deserve definitely some wins, but things didn’t come our way. But today came to our side and I’m just super happy that it’s out of the way and now I think it’s the relief of going forward.”

Albuquerque (left) and Ricky Taylor had to wait a long time for this one… Brett Farmer/Motorsport Images

The gap between victories shouldn’t have been that big. Long Beach in 2023 should have gone their way, but a slight miscue during the single pit stop and driver change scuttled their chances. The team learned from its mistakes and made some changes. On Saturday, the single pit stop in the 100-minute race went perfectly.

“The guys nailed the pit stop with the driver change … the driver changes aren’t about the drivers – we can only mess it up – they nailed the pitstop and all the little details went well,” explained Taylor. “Filipe had an amazing start. Without any little detail of that happening the way it did, we don’t win the race. All the tiny decisions on the systems — the set up throughout the weekend understanding all of our practice without IndyCar rubber, and how it evolved…. I can name 100 things that led to the way that the car was and what led to us getting the win.”

Those are the details that make the difference between winning or being runner-up or missing the podium entirely. And finally the No. 10 notched a victory in GTP.

“It’s a huge sense of relief. Every weekend we keep saying we just need to put it together and it’s little details at this level where it separates wins from from being off the podium,” Taylor said. “One thing we can say is we’ve always done our best we’ve never sort of given up and motivation kept increasing, like it doesn’t go down when you stop winning — it keeps going up and we wanted to win more than ever coming in here.”

How doubling up is paying off for WTRAndretti

If this were 2023 and Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti only had a single car, the No. 10 Acura ARX-06, they’d be looking at a DNF at Daytona and a fifth-place finish at Sebring to show for their efforts. But it’s 2024, WTRAndretti is now a two-car team and the sole operator of Honda Racing Corporation’s GTP efforts in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and with a victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and a podium finish at Daytona, the team has a car tied for the championship lead.

The No. 10 team with core drivers Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, with endurance addition Brendon Hartley and Marcus Ericsson on board for Daytona, has not had the best of luck so far this season, quitting in the night at Daytona and suffering a fluid leak at Sebring, and is currently eighth in the standings. Conversely, the new No. 40 with Jordan Taylor and Louis Delétraz, plus Colton Herta and Jenson Button, soldiered to a third-place finish at Daytona and won Sebring in style with a late-race push to the front.

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“It’s a huge win for the team,” said Jordan Taylor after Sebring. “I think it’s their first win in the GTP class for Acura. First time as a two-car team as well. Our car, we stayed at a triple [stint] all day, didn’t have any big issues. The 10 car was extremely quick, drove to the lead at one point but had their little issue that they recovered from and recovered to a top five.”

Delétraz, Jordan Taylor and Herta are now tied for the championship lead with the Porsche Penske Motorsports No. 6 squad of Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr and Matt Campbell after their 963 won Daytona with Josef Newgarden also on board. From that perspective alone, taking on the second ARX-06 previously run by Meyer Shank Racing has been a blessing.

“We are recognized now as a bigger team,” said team principal Wayne Taylor as the season began. “Ganassi and Penske have always been at that level — we haven’t. I think now is basically us starting from ground zero. But I can already tell, listening to the drivers and mechanics and engineers of all the different options we have on how we’re going to run … that’s the most important part. When you’ve got one, it’s always a risk. When you’ve got two, you’ve got two chances. That’s what we wanted, that’s what we’ve got, and now we have to execute.”

Filipe Albuquerque and the No. 10 team have had the speed, if not the fortune of their new teammates thus far, but are still already benefitting from the expansion. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

Albuquerque, of course, would like to have been spared the bad luck the team has experienced so far this season. Last year, he and Ricky Taylor were in the championship fight to the end, despite not visiting victory circle. But he recognized the value of having a second car from the beginning.

“It’s a big change, for sure,” he explained. “When you have options of trying things, you can spread them out. That’s the good thing having two cars — one car tries this, and the other one tries that to validate what we tested in the simulator. And when one car is faster than the other, sometimes we don’t know why, and then we get to learn about, ‘Oh, it’s this, causing a reaction to the car we were not expecting.’ All these things are important.”

In the second year of WTR’s union with Andretti’s motorsports empire, the benefits of the partnership are evident. As Wayne Taylor notes, it’s a short trip if they need some machining that requires tools they don’t have. And in 2025, all of Andretti Global’s North American teams will be under one roof in its new headquarters in Fishers, Ind.

WTRAndretti brought on one of Andretti’s IndyCar Series engineers in its expansion to more than 100 team members. It takes eight transporters to move the team’s three cars — the team added a Lamborghini Huracán GTD effort for Kyle Marcelli and Danny Formal as well in 2024 — its equipment and the massive pit stand. That pit stand houses 66 screens, 32 workstations, thee crew for the three cars, 12 drivers at Daytona, and some 40 Honda Racing Corporation personnel.

WTRAndretti is now fulfilling the vision that Wayne Taylor had for the team from its beginning, running two cars in a top factory program. And he’s happy that now that he no longer has to race another Acura team.

“We’ve got great drivers, a great crew, we have a great partnership with HRC and all our commercial partners,” he said. “Being the sole Acura team is really the best it could be — we don’t want to race against [other Acura teams], because when that happens, you start racing each other and forget about everybody else. Now, there’s a factory program that is focused on these two cars. All the resources of HRC, all our team, can focus on beating everybody else, and we’ve got nobody else to beat in an Acura.”

WTRAndretti claims Sebring crown, as Era Motorsport backs up Daytona LMP2 victory

A caution with 1h20m left in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac turned strategy on its head and put all the GTP contenders back on equal footing, turning it into a contest of fuel conversation balanced by pace…until a pair of …

The No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R of Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon, along with the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 of Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron and Matt Campbell, were in the situation of requiring one more stop than the other contenders to make it to the end. But with everyone pitting under the yellow, and the Cadillac and Porsche both having stopped minutes before the caution, they needed less energy and left the pits ahead of the others, Bourdais followed by Nasr. The best of the others was Louis Deletraz in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06.

In a contest of pace, it was Deletraz and the Acura — on fresher tires, because the Acura took tires on the final stop and the Cadillac didn’t — that had it. On the first restart, he easily got past Nasr. It took after the next two cautions, though, before the final battle would commence. Bourdais pulled out a bit of a lead on the final restart, but Deletraz, who had set the race’s fastest lap on lap 187, came charging back. A move alongside in 17 didn’t get the job done, but a couple of laps later, as Bourdais took the middle of the track in defense into Turn 7, Deletraz dove even further inside, taking away the line into the Hairpin. A few turns and several bumps between the Cadillac and the Acura later, and Deletraz had the lead.

RACE-WINNING MOVES!

Louis Delétraz passed Bourdais with under six minutes to go to take victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring!@IMSA | @WTRAndretti pic.twitter.com/vTwNq6P0T5

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) March 17, 2024

“I saw I was strong on braking, especially the low speed like T7, T10,” related Deletraz. “But every time I was close he was defending very well on the inside and I was on the outside and he squeezed me off. So I realized quickly I was never going to make it on the on the outside, which, fair enough … IMSA racing is tough and that’s the way, so I thought about it.

“I saw a gap in [Turn 7] and I just just went for it — bleed off the brake, go in and try to avoid him crossing back. Then I think there was some more contact on the straight, which again, hard racing, but I think fair and in the end we both made it to the flag, which is also down to two drivers. I could not have done it by myself; if he didn’t respect me, we’d both be in the wall too, so I’m really thankful for that.”

Wayne Taylor Racing had its first Twelve Hours of Sebring victory since 2017, and Acura its first (although the second win for Honda Racing Corporation, which won in 2016 with ESM). The No. 01 Cadillac was second, and the No. 7 Porsche third. The No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 of Connor De Phillippi, Nick Yelloly and Maxime Martin finished fourth to make it four different manufacturers in the top four. The No. 10 WTRAndretti Acura had shown winning pace, but a fluid leak in the late stages that took some time to repair left them salvaging a fifth place to go with the team’s victory, its first in the new GTP era.

“It’s a huge win for the team,” said Jordan Taylor. “It’s their first win in the GTP class for Acura. So it’s a big win for the team, first time as a two-car team as well. I think our plan was we stayed at a triple all day, didn’t have any big issues. The 10 car was extremely quick, drove to the lead at one point, but had their little issue that they recovered from and recovered to a top five. Overall, Louis’s closing stint was what made a difference today. I think the team did a good job keeping us in the fight, but he really fought for that win and got it for us.”

Both Cadillacs had dominated the early going, but the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing car went out in a big crash, and the No. 01 had to battle through some electrical gremlins.

“We had ABS failure, like time and time and time again, we had to do some defaults and stuff and it seemed to come back every time we cleared it,” said Bourdais. “But then the motor stopped coming out of [Turn 7]; that’s where lost the two spots to the two Acuras and the BMW. We got going again. And we never heard that anymore. So it was kind of weird. I don’t remember when it was but it was during my second stint. I had no regen for a while so the rear brakes start to get on fire and the real tire pressures take off and it didn’t look pretty for a minute, but the guys did a great job — they debugged the problem and found the solution and and we got going and we were there at the end, so it’s all you can ask for.”

Era Motorsport’s ORECA once again had the legs on the LMP2 field when it counted. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

LMP2 boiled down to a battle between Connor Zilisch in the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA and Felipe Fraga in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports ORECA. Colin Braun and the No. 01 CrowdStrike Racing by APR entry would have been a part of the final battle, but in making a move on Fraga, he made contact and spun, dropping out of contention.

The No. 74 would later suffer a problem and drop down the order, leaving Zilisch to fend off a late charge by Mikkel Jensen in the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA. He did so and thus claimed the second consecutive victory for Era Motorsports and teammates Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel after the Rolex 24 at Daytona victory in January.

“It was really tough to pass out there,” said Zilisch. “It was kind of just whoever could get track position and get to the lead was gonna end up winning. So there with about an hour to go, we were all running in a train. I think I was seventh, and I knew I wasn’t going to pass them. So I just started saving fuel and was going to wait for the last pit stop. I saved enough to get back and I took the lead when I came back out.”

It was far from an easy day for the team, as they had to go from the back to the front three times due to a variety of maladies, including a puncture and blocked radiators.

“Every time we got to the front we ended up in the back and think when I got in the car — the plan is double me, double Connor — I get in the car, we were in the lead,” explained Dalziel. “Then we had one of the GTPs went off and threw up some carbon and so in the space of one lap, we had overheating and then we got a puncture, so that’s when we pitted off sequence. That was only four or five laps after the restart. Honestly, I thought that was it. Without a yellow I knew we were going to be struggling to make time back.

“We still knew we had the pace in the car. We definitely didn’t give up. We were already a little bit offset with the fuel time and Connor just started saving a little bit of fuel. There was a whole conversation for a few minutes on the intercom which is, this call is going to be the hero or zero call for the team.”

It was the first Sebring victory for the team and the drivers, although Dalziel has won at Sebring in a WEC race. It was a relief for Merriman after a bunch of podiums at Sebring.

“I’m super happy because every time I’ve been here before we podium, but never won,” said the emotional Merriman. “So, first time I was really excited. The third time, it was like, ‘Are we ever gonna win this race or not?’ The team did a great job, including these guys, but also engineering and the whole crew. These these off-sequence stops, either the one for debris or the one that was just off sequence by strategy, they were fast. Mistakes were not made.”

Jensen, Steven Thomas and Hunter McElrea finished second by only 1.127s, ahead of the No. 22 United Autosports ORECA of Dan Goldburg, Paul Di Resta and Bijoy Garg. In an impressive turnaround after a rough Rolex 24 At Daytona, the Sean Creech Motorsports squad of Lance Willssey, Joao Barbosa and Jonny Edgar finished fourth in the No. 33 Ligier.

RESULTS

Button, Ericsson join WTRAndretti for Daytona

Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti (WTRAndretti) has completed its driver lineups for the Rolex 24 At Daytona, naming 2009 Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button and 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner — and newly named Andretti Global NTT IndyCar Series driver — Marcus Ericsson as the additional drivers joining in the team’s pursuit of its sixth victory in the endurance classic.

Ericsson will drive the No. 10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 GTP alongside Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Brendon Hartley, while Button joins Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz and Colton Herta in the No. 40.

“Marcus is absolutely the perfect guy for our team because of the way he goes about racing,” said team principal Wayne Taylor. “He’s finished in the top 10 something like 30 times in IndyCar, he’s won the Indy 500. He has really shown loads of interest by meeting with the team already and he is very dedicated and focused. I’m happy to have him, and of course, as he is part of Andretti Global program, so we are lucky to have him.

“Jenson and I have spoken for quite a few years. We’ve just never been able to make it happen, but this round we got it to happen. He drove for JDC at Petit Le Mans and the relationship that he’s built with Jordan from the Garage 56 program closes the loop on our driver lineups as Jenson will take the last driver slot that’s open.

“The guy is really fast. I mean he is a Formula 1 world champion. He’s very motivated, my team is very motivated, HPD and Acura are motivated with having him as well as all our sponsors. We look forward to working with him. He obviously is coming from a different background, but we’ve had Formula 1 drivers before and they’ve all done really well. I have no question about his ability to do well for us and for himself. I’m really excited after three years to finally get Jenson to sign up with us.”

It will be Ericsson’s second attempt at the Rolex 24, the Swede’s first coming in 2022 with Chip Ganassi Racing.

“I’m very excited and proud to join the WTRAndretti team for the Daytona 24-hour,” Ericsson said. “After getting a taste of the race in 2022, I have been eager to get back on the grid for this legendary race. It feels fantastic to be racing with one of the best and most successful teams in the sport. It is extra special for me to be racing with Acura, HPD and HRC which I know very well from racing my entire IndyCar career with them.”

Button made his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and GTP debut at Petit Le Mans last month. Although it will be the Rolex 24 debut for the British driver, he has raced twice in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, including this year with the NASCAR Garage 56 project.

“I am very happy to announce that I’ll be racing with Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in the No. 40 Acura ARX-06 with one of my Le Mans teammates and good pal Jordan Taylor, super speedy Louis Deletraz and Colton Herta, whose career in IndyCar I’ve watched with great interest,” declared Button. “I had my first taste of IMSA last month at Petit Le Mans and loved it. I couldn’t be happier to race at Daytona with such a prestigious team that has achieved so much in endurance racing and especially at Daytona.”

WTRAndretti is embarking on its first season as a two-car GTP team in the WeatherTech Championship. The team’s quest for its third IMSA title after finishing second in the championship the last four years begins in January with the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

Hartley and Herta in at WTRAndretti for IMSA endurance races

Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti (WTRAndretti) has chosen Brendon Hartley and Colton Herta as the endurance co-drivers for the full IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup (IMEC) during the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. Hartley will join …

Hartley will join Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 while Herta will co-pilot the No. 40 sister car with Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz. WTRAndretti plans to announce additional drivers for the Rolex 24 At Daytona in the coming weeks.

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“It’s exciting that we’ve managed to get the services of Brendon Hartley again and Colton Herta as our third drivers who will be doing the IMEC,” said Wayne Taylor, team principal at WTRAndretti. “Brendon has driven for us before, and we’ve got to know him really well. Obviously, Colton is a part of the Andretti Global group which opened the door for us with him. He’s won Daytona in a GT car and drove a LMDh car last year and did a really good job. I’m really excited about having both Brendon and Colton on board.”

First joining the WTRAndretti family for the 2022 Motul Petit Le Mans, Hartley continued his tenure with the team as the Rolex 24 At Daytona co-driver in the No. 10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 earlier this year (pictured). Aside from his time with the WTRAndretti team, Hartley is a four-time FIA World Endurance Championship Drivers ’Champion winner (2023, 2022, 2017, 2015), three-time overall winner at Le Mans and former Formula 1 driver.

“I really enjoyed my time with WTRAndretti at Petit last year and Daytona this year, so I jumped at the opportunity to compete in the endurance races in 2024 when Wayne called me. WTRAndretti knows how to win and going to a two-car team will strengthen the whole operation even further,” declared Hartley.

Although a driver in the NTT IndyCar Series with Andretti Global, Herta is no stranger to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The California native has two class victories at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, most recently with an LMP2 overall win in 2022 and a GTLM win in 2019. Complementing his accolades in sports car racing, Herta is a seven- time IndyCar race winner – including his first victory in 2019 at The Circuit of the Americas which earned him the title of the youngest winner in IndyCar history.

“It’s super exciting to join such a prestigious team like WTRAndretti for the endurance events. They’ve shown how successful they can be in the past and I’m looking forward to hopefully adding to that!” said Herta.

While Acura split its two-car ARX-06 effort between two teams for the inaugural season of GTP, both cars will run under the WTRAndretti banner for 2024. It’s a big expansion for the team after Wayne Taylor Racing joined with Andretti a year ago.

The 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season kicks off with the annual three days of Roar Before the 24 testing, Jan. 19 – 21, 2024, followed by the endurance classic, the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Jan. 25-28, 2024. NBC and Peacock, along with IMSA.TV, will provide flag-to-flag coverage of the race on its family of networks.

WTRAndretti’s Albon hopes for Rolex 24 fall through

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 …

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.

Jordan Taylor, Deletraz for second WTRAndretti Acura in 2024

Jordan Taylor returns to the family team and Louis Deletraz gets the call-up to full-time GTP driver as Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport announces its full-season lineup for its second Acura ARX-06 for 2024. WTRAndretti and Honda …

WTRAndretti and Honda Performance Development announced earlier this year that the team would add a second Acura for the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, and the driver lineup brings a homecoming for Jordan Taylor, who competed for his father’s team for seven seasons including prototype championships in in 2013 and ’17 and two wins at Daytona in the 24 Hours. Deletraz has accompanied the WTR Andretti duo of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 Acura for endurance races in 2023, including the team’s second-place finish at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

“I’m excited to announce that Louis Delétraz and Jordan Taylor will be joining WTRAndretti as full-time season drivers of our second Acura ARX-06 GTP race car,” declared Wayne Taylor. “Louis has been with us for over a year in our endurance events and has quickly become an integral part of our team. I am looking forward to having Jordan back in our home stable after his great career with Corvette. It was a natural for us, since he and his brother drove together with our team and the Cadillac DPi program. With two cars and the Rolex right around the corner, we thank GM and Pratt & Miller for making Jordan available to us at this early stage.

“Now, with Ricky and Filipe in one car and Louis and Jordan in the other, it will be a great battle for the fans on who will take first and second. Not sure Shelley [Taylor, wife of Wayne and mother to Ricky and Jordan] and I will enjoy it as much as the fans, but both cars will share the number one status and be prepared identically. There will be no team orders on who comes first and who second. They will both fight for the win.”

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Jordan departed WTR for a four-year stint with Corvette Racing, where he took GTLM titles in 2020 and ’21 with Antonio Garcia. This season he has also made forays into NASCAR racing and was heavily involved in the NASCAR Garage 56 Project at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With the Corvette Racing program shifting to GT3 customer racing, it was a good time for Jordan to pursue another opportunity, which didn’t take a lot of searching.

“I’m super excited to be coming back to WTR, now partnered with Andretti Autosport, to go back and fight for overall wins with Acura alongside Louis,” he said. “After spending seven years with WTR from 2013-19, it’ll be nice to be heading back to work with some familiar faces and some new ones. I’ve known Louis for a few years now and have obviously followed his career. I think our driving styles will complement each other very well to bring success next year.

“I’ve spent the last few years in GT cars, so there will be a lot to learn coming into GTP, but I can’t wait for the challenge. I loved my time competing in GT with Corvette Racing alongside Antonio these past few years. We had a lot of success together. I’ve learned a lot and grown as a driver, so I’m looking forward to bringing that experience back to prototype racing.”

After joining WTRAndretti as the 2023 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup co-driver, Deletraz will move into his first full season as a GTP co-driver in the WeatherTech Championship in 2024. Deletraz’s resume in sports car racing includes two back-to-back European Le Mans Series Championships (2021-’22), and he is a two-time IMSA LMP2 race winner in 2022 highlighted by an overall LMP2 class win at Petit Le Mans. So far this season, Delétraz has two wins in the European Le Mans Series, a class podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, two podiums in the FIA World Endurance Championship and a FIA WEC victory at Spa in Belgium.

“I am extremely happy to continue with WTRAndretti in a full IMSA GTP season role,” said Deletraz. “I have really enjoyed working with the team, Acura and HPD this year and the 2024 two-car program makes it even more exciting. Sharing the car with Jordan is fantastic, having a multiple IMSA champion in Prototypes and GT, I couldn’t ask for a better teammate, and I think with our different motorsport experiences we will have a strong package with hopefully many successes. I’m thankful for the opportunity and trust, I can’t wait to get started!”

WTR has been in the thick of the championship fight for the last several seasons with Ricky Taylor and and Albuquerque, and the pair are currently leading the points in the inaugural season of GTP competition. This season, Acura’s factory effort in GTP has been split between WTRAndretti and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian, but for 2024 there will be two cars under the WTRAndretti tent. Andretti Autosport bought into WTR at the end of last year as it looked to gain a greater presence in sports car racing as the team has undergone a lot of changes in the past year.

“I’m very excited to get Jordan back in a GTP car and also to have Delétraz come on as a full-time driver with us in our second Acura,” said Michael Andretti, chairman and CEO of Andretti Autosport. “I think that across our two cars, our driver lineup is going to be the strongest in the paddock. This is another great step as we continue to build a closer collaboration with Wayne and build WTRAndretti to be even stronger.”

WTRAndretti has not announced what number its second Acura will carry, nor any additional sponsors for the team. Additional drivers in both cars for the endurance races will be announced at a later date.