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 Action Express Racing, it will mark a full-season three-car assault on the title.
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.