Метка: Wayne Taylor Racing

Kobayashi to return to WTR for Daytona Cadillac attack

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Kamui Kobayashi will return to Wayne Taylor Racing next year when he bids for a third victory in three starts at the Daytona 24 Hours IMSA SportsCar Championship season-opener.

The two-time World Endurance Championship title winner with Toyota was named in the #40 WTR with Andretti Cadillac V-Series.R for Daytona in January when the team announced an unchanged full-season driver line-up after its switch from Acura.

The regulars in the #40 car will be Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz, who came together when WTR expanded to two cars this year, while Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque will continue a partnership that dates back to 2021 in the #10.

The drivers who will join the two regular pairings are all veterans of previous WTR campaigns.

Kobayashi drove WTR Cadillac Daytona Prototype international machinery before the team’s four-season stint with Acura at Daytona in 2019 and 2020, winning the race both times, with Fernando Alonso among his team-mates in the first year.

The 38-year-old, who is also team principal of the Toyota Gazoo Racing WEC squad, was unable to drive for WTR on its switch to another Japanese brand and moved to the Action Express Racing Caddy DPi-V.R run in conjunction with Hendrick Motorsports under the Ally Cadillac Racing banner in 2021 and 2022.

The line-up in the #40 V-Series.R will be completed by Cadillac regular Alex Lynn, who will race the car at the Daytona, Sebring and Petit Le Mans enduros that make up part of the five-event IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup segment of the series.

Current Cadillac driver Lynn will join WTR for enduro events

Current Cadillac driver Lynn will join WTR for enduro events

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

The Briton, who looks certain to continue with Cadillac in the WEC on its switch of teams from Ganassi to Jota next year, has a 100% winning record with WTR, like Kobayashi.

Lynn contested the 2017 Sebring 12 Hours with the team, winning the race aboard a Caddy DPi shared with the Taylor brothers, who are the sons of team founder Wayne.

Ricky Taylor, who is returning to Cadillac after seven seasons with Acura that began at Penske in 2018, and Albuquerque will be joined by Will Stevens for Daytona, Sebring and Petit Le Mans.

The Briton was part of the WTR Acura line-up in 2022 at Daytona and Sebring and is expected to move over to Cadillac with Jota next year after racing one of its customer Porsche 963 LMDhs in the WEC since last season.

Brendon Hartley, also a Toyota driver in the WEC, completes the line-up in the #10 car with a one-off at Daytona.

The New Zealander has raced for WTR since 2022 when he joined the team for the end-of-season Petit Le Mans 10-hour race at Road Atlanta and this year contested three of the five IMSA enduros in one of its Acura ARX-06s.

Kobayashi described his return to WTR as a “homecoming”, adding: “I have such an amazing and fun memory of racing with his team and also with Cadillac Racing.

“I am really appreciative not only to WTR and Cadillac to give me another opportunity to race for them but also Morizo-san [Morizo is the racing alias of Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda] and TGR for allowing me to compete in this historic event in the United States.”

WTR boss Taylor said that Kobayashi’s abilities “speak for themselves”.



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Wayne Taylor Racing announces Cadillac return for 2025 IMSA season

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Wayne Taylor Racing will return to the Cadillac fold after a four-year absence to run a pair of entries in the IMSA SportsCar Championship next year.

Cadillac finally went public with what had become an open secret on Thursday when it also confirmed that reigning IMSA champion team Action Express Racing will continue to run a solo V-Series.R in the GTP class in 2025.

WTR, which last year partnered with Andretti Global, is moving over from Acura after leaving Cadillac at the end of the 2020 season.

It is replacing Chip Ganassi Racing, which announced back in March that it would not be continuing with Cadillac in either IMSA or the World Endurance Championship next season.

The announcement means that the General Motors brand is expanding its IMSA assault to three cars for the new season, after slimming down to two at the start of the GTP era last year.

GM president Mark Reuss said: “Cadillac Racing is thrilled to run an expanded three-car factory programme in the 2025 IMSA championship.

“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.”

WTR boss Wayne Taylor, who has links with GM dating back more than 30 years, said: “I am so glad to return to the Cadillac family.

#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, #01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais

#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, #01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

«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 programme we have put together could not be more thrilling.”

No drivers have been announced as yet by either team.

The confirmation of Cadillac’s IMSA plans for 2025 follows the announcement of the Jota team as the marque’s factory partner in the World Endurance Championship for next year.

Taylor began his relationship with GM when he raced the Chevrolet-engine Intrepid GTP car in IMSA in 1991 and then went onto win the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours driving a Riley & Scott MkIII powered by an Oldsmobile V8 in 1996 with the Doyle Racing team he put together.

He was subsequently one of the partners in the 3GR organisation that developed and ran the Cadillac Northstar LMPs that raced at the Le Mans 24 Hours as well as in the American Le Mans Series in 2001 and ’02.

WTR won the Grand American Road Racing Series title with a Dallara-Chevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype in 2014 and went on to win Daytona in 2017, ’19 and ’20 with the Cadillac DPi-V.R.

Taylor’s use of the term “global programme” is almost certainly a reference to his ambition to take WTR to Le Mans for the first time.

He added in his statement that “we have exciting things coming”.

Action Express has bolstered the Caddy WEC assault at Le Mans in each of the first two seasons of the V-Series.R.



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Acura fastest from BMW in first practice

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Acura’s Filipe Albuquerque topped the opening practice session for this weekend’s IMSA SportsCar Championship round at Road America.

Albuquerque beat BMW’s Connor De Phillippi and Sebastien Bourdais (Cadillac Racing) in preparation for Sunday’s 2h40m race around the four-mile track that’s the self-proclaimed ‘America’s National Park of Speed’ and features a 47-car entry.

The premier class GTP hybrids were back after taking a break at Mosport last month.

Dane Cameron set the benchmark at 1m53.538s in the points-leading No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 he shares with Felipe Nasr, 0.015s ahead of the sister No. 6 car of Mathieu Jaminet.

Times tumbled after 10 minutes, as Louis Deletraz (No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06), Bourdais (Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R) and Albuquerque (No.10 WTR Acura) all took turns in P1. Albuquerque’s 1m52.555s was then eclipsed by Deletraz’s 1m52.451s.

BMW joined the chat after 20 minutes, with De Phillippi lapping in 1m51.500s, to take top spot in the No. 25 M Hybrid V8, eight tenths clear of Jesse Krohn in the sister No. 24 car. Both BMW and Acura have tested recently at Road America, while in Balance of Performance news, the BMW has gained 1 kW of power and the Acura ARX-06 is 5kg heavier.

Deletraz split the BMWs with a 1m51.902s, but this was still four tenths shy of De Phillippi, while Ricky Taylor took fourth in the No. 10 Acura with 1m52.104s.

Bourdais suffered an off at Turn 5 and continued, which was mirrored by Jack Aitken later in the session in the No. 31 Action Express Caddy. It didn’t seem to hamper Bourdais, who later jumped up to second place, 0.166s off De Phillippi.

The session was red flagged with 35m remaining for debris to be recovered from Turn 14.

The factory Porsches had fallen back to the bottom of the top 10 until Nasr went third fastest inside the final 10 minutes in the No. 7.

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But with less than four minutes left on the clock, Albuquerque rocketed to P1 with 1m51.089s, four tenths clear of the opposition. He just beat a second red flag as Danny Formal put his WTR with Andretti Lamborghini Huracan in the gravel at the final corner.

United Autosports quickest in LMP2

Paul di Resta set a storming pace at 1m53.486s in the opening moments of the session in the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca that proved unbeatable across the 90-minute session.

Tom Dillmann was over half a second off that pace with 1m53.093s for Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen, ahead of Ben Hanley in third United’s No. 2 car from Mikkel Jensen’s TDS car.

Mosport pole-winner PJ Hyett (AO Racing) clashed with Seth Lucas’s No. 20 MDK by High Class Racing entry at Turn 1, which resulted in Hyett being penalized with a drive-through penalty.

McLaren fastest in GTD Pro

In GTD, Laurin Heinrich set the early pace in the points-leading AO Porsche 911 at 2m05.687s but was toppled minutes later by Antonio Garcia (No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R) and Mike Rockenfeller (No. 64 Multimatic Ford Mustang).

But towards the end of the session it was Inception Racing’s Frederik Schandorff who vaulted its McLaren 720S to the head of the times, leading all the Pro class cars as well as his fellow pro-ams.

Garcia led the Pro class from Rockenfeller and Nicky Catsburg in the sister No. 4 Corvette.

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Meyer Shank Racing returns to IMSA with new Acura GTP deal

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Honda Racing Corporation USA has confirmed that former series champions Meyer Shank Racing will return to its Acura program for the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

It comes a year after the team lost its deal to run a factory-supported Acura ARX-06 when it was discovered that it had manipulated tire data during the 2023 Daytona 24 Hours – a race that it won. Later that season, it also triumphed legally in events at Mosport and Road Atlanta’s Petit Le Mans.

HRC revealed that part of its multi-year commitment to the project includes it taking on a ‘larger operational role’. Its own staff will race engineer one of its two GTP entries, while MSR will field the second Acura ARX-06.

“Running our own GTP car is the next, exciting step for our associates at HRC US,” said David Salters, HRC USA’s president. “We race to develop our people and technology and we are thrilled to be partnering with MSR to race our ARX-06 against some of the world’s best sportscar teams.

“This is why the next logical step for us is race engineer our own car.”

#60 Meyer Shank Racing W/Curb-Agajanian, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Colin Braun, Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves #10: Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Louis Deletraz

#60 Meyer Shank Racing W/Curb-Agajanian, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Colin Braun, Tom Blomqvist, Helio Castroneves #10: Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Louis Deletraz

Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images

Mike Shank, who co-owns the team with former business executive Jim Meyer, said he was “grateful” to rejoin the Acura fold. MSR also fields two Honda-powered cars in the IndyCar Series.

“First, on behalf of everyone at Meyer Shank Racing, I want to express our gratitude to David Salters and everyone at HRC and Acura for giving us this opportunity,” said Shank.

“We are supremely grateful to have earned this new opportunity and everyone on the team is looking forward to day one in our new relationship with Acura, and the new role we’ll be playing in HRC US’s IMSA program.”

MSR will prepare and maintain both Acuras from its facilities located in Etna, Ohio. It has previously campaigned several successful Acura race cars including NSX GT3, ARX-05 DPi and ARX-06 GTP machines, racking up race wins and championships in IMSA before the split at the end of the 2023 season.

Race winners #40: Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta

Race winners #40: Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Salters thanked the outgoing Acura GTP team Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, which now seems certain to land the factory-supported Cadillac program in 2025. Together with Acura, WTR has won two races this season, the Sebring 12 Hours and Detroit street sprint.

“I would like to sincerely thank Wayne Taylor, the WTR with Andretti team and its talented drivers,” said Salters. “We have shared some brilliant and successful times together; and we look forward to finishing 2024 with more top-level racing.”

Wayne Taylor responded with a statement: “We have had a successful run with HRC and Acura these past four years. When it came to renewal, we listened and took their future plans into serious consideration, but in the end, felt we needed to go in a different direction moving forward.

“With three key races left in the season, our plan is to continue to focus on winning more podiums and races for Acura and to end the year strong We are looking forward to announcing our plans for 2025 in the very near future.”

Focus will now turn to the driver lineups for each program, with Tom Blomqvist likely to spearhead MSR’s return following being dropped from its IndyCar lineup after this year’s Indianapolis 500.

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Acura beats Cadillac for GTP pole by 0.038s

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Acura’s Louis Deletraz will start the sixth round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, The Six Hours of The Glen, from pole position.

Deletraz will start from pole in the top GTP class, ahead of the Cadillacs of Renger van der Zande and Jack Aitken after the quickfire 15-minute qualifying sessions.

PJ Hyett scored the LMP2 pole for AO Racing, as Ferrari’s Daniel Serra topped the GTD Pro field, with Parker Thompson winning the pro-am class pole for Lexus.

IMSA brings a 56-car field to Watkins Glen’s 3.4-mile road course, which hosted the United States Grand Prix for 20 years, located amid the rolling hills near the Finger Lakes in upstate New York.

Felipe Nasr – who crashed out of Le Mans last weekend – set the early GTP pace in the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 with a lap of 1m33.265s despite a huge moment at the penultimate corner, then worked down to 1m32.753s with a less frantic tour.

Van der Zande’s Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-Series.R briefly took P1, before Deletraz pipped him by 0.038s in his #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 with 1m32.209s.

“It was an amazing feeling to push on low fuel,” said Deletraz. “The car was fast today, very fast. I felt good, so I could really push straightaway, get the grip, put it on pole, which is nice.

“We know what is important is Sunday; yhe points are tomorrow. The weather looks like it’ll play some games with us tomorrow.”

Jack Aitken took third, three tenths off the pace, in the #31 Action Express-run Cadillac. Phil Hanson will start the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 from fourth after an impressive session, outpacing the factory car of Mathieu Jaminet.

Nasr will start sixth, ahead of Ricky Taylor (#10 Acura), Philipp Eng’s #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 – which had set the pace in practice this morning – Andrea Caldarelli in the sole Lamborghini SC63 and Gianmaria Bruni’s Proton-run Porsche.

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#99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2-Gibson: PJ Hyett, Paul-Loup Chatin, Matt Brabham

#99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2-Gibson: PJ Hyett, Paul-Loup Chatin, Matt Brabham

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

Hyett bosses LMP2 in ‘Spike’

In LMP2, PJ Hyett set a cracking pace from the start of the session in AO Racing’s purple dragon-liveried Oreca, working down to 1m35.925s, 0.682s clear of Daniel Goldburg’s #22 United Autosports version. “It was a special lap that I’ll remember for a long time,” said Hyett.

Steven Thomas (TDS Racing) was third, ahead of Nick Boulle in the Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen entry and, after his struggles at the Le Mans 24 Hours last weekend, Ben Keating in the #2 United car.

Ferrari and Lexus take GTD poles

The mixed GTD session started with Jack Hawksworth setting the early pace at 1m44.535s in Vasser Sullivan’s Pro class Lexus RC F. Ross Gunn took over in the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage, beating Hawksworth by 0.148s for a new GT track record of 1m44.387s.

Serra wrested P1 away in his Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 with a 1m44.227s, outpacing Gunn by 0.184s. “Honestly, was a pretty good lap,” said the Brazilian. “The high-speed corners here are good for the 296.”

Alexander Sims vaulted to second in Corvette Racing’s #3 Z06 GT3.R on 1m44.317s, with the sister #4 car of Nicky Catsburg taking fifth, behind Gunn and Hawksworth. Sims ended his session on three wheels, as he lost his left-rear tire on his final lap.

#12 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Frankie Montecalvo, Parker Thompson, Aaron Telitz

#12 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Frankie Montecalvo, Parker Thompson, Aaron Telitz

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

Thompson led the way in the pro-am class in Vasser Sullivan’s #14 Lexus, a time good enough for sixth overall in the GT divisions.

Stormy weather is forecast to arrive during Sunday’s six-hour race, which starts at 11am local time.



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Taylor vows Acura can ‘gain back the points we lost’ in IMSA title chase

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Ricky Taylor believes Acura remains in the IMSA SportsCar Championship title hunt after he and team-mate Filipe Albuquerque ended their win drought last time out on the streets of Detroit.

As a result of their victory, Taylor and Albuquerque’s Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 has risen to sixth in points, 239 off the leading Porsche of Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr – which has been top of the pile since winning the season-opening Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.

They head into this weekend’s six-hour race at Watkins Glen keen to maintain momentum, and Taylor reckons his epic late-race pass on Porsche’s Mathieu Jaminet to grab victory in Detroit can be a turning point.

#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque

#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque

Photo by: Brett Farmer / Motorsport Images

“It was a rough start to the year, and it was nice to turn it around at Detroit,” said Taylor. “Historically, our team has been a strong starter, and kinda holds on to the finish, so there’s no reason why we can’t make up what we’ve lost until Detroit. If we’ve lost that much, hopefully we can gain it back.

“There are still a lot of cars at the top of the charts, and unique to this season those cars are quite close. But there are still quite a few races to go – with a lot of [stormy] weather expected this weekend, so a lot can still happen.

“I think like in 2020 [when he won the title in a Penske-run Acura DPi with Helio Castroneves], going out and winning a lot of races is all we can do.”

Ricky Taylor & Helio Castroneves won 2020 DPi title in Penske-run Acura

Ricky Taylor & Helio Castroneves won 2020 DPi title in Penske-run Acura

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

Taylor revealed that post-race investigation by his team showed that its Detroit victory shouldn’t have happened: “The ironic thing was that on our analysis of Detroit, we were actually the slowest car – so the slowest car ended up winning the race!

“I think that showed just how wild it was, and how much chaos that race produced.”

Taylor boasts 25 wins spanning 10 years in IMSA’s top class but the losing streak since Road America in 2022 has been one of his longest win droughts of his career.

“There’s a lot we can gain,” he added. “Coming out of a drought of not winning, I think we were kinda trying to force it a little bit, after not winning for so long. I think that adds to the pressure and compounds it. Then you start to think nothing can go right.

“Now we’ve got that win, the pressure is kinda off now – and we can let things come to us more naturally now. We can do what we do, and hopefully our results will speak for themselves.

“The team has been really strong, especially with our two cars working really well together, there’s been a lot of opportunities for good results that just didn’t materialize for us.

“If the opportunity is there, I think we can make a little charge here. We definitely still have our sights set on the championship, even though it’s a big points spread. We’re coming off a high, and hopefully we can carry that momentum.”

#10: Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Louis Deletraz

#10: Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Louis Deletraz

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

One curveball ahead of the Six Hours of The Glen is a weather forecast that promises a heady mix of heatwave and thunderstorms at one of America’s greatest road courses. A 56-car entry for the four-class endurance event will pack Watkins Glen’s 3.4-mile layout, making it a huge challenge to conquer.

“The funny thing about the rain we’re expecting is that three of our four drivers haven’t driven the car in the rain yet,” admitted Taylor. “So Louis [Deletraz, who shares the sister No. 40 car with Ricky’s brother Jordan Taylor] is the only one who’s driven this car in the wet. He qualified on pole for Petit last year, in the damp, and it didn’t look bad.

“The guys coming back from Le Mans are ready to go with plenty of fresh rain experience! Looks like rain almost every single session this weekend, so all of us want to drive as much as possible to get a feel for it – I’ll certainly be putting my hand up.”

#10: Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Louis Deletraz

#10: Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06, Acura ARX-06, GTP: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Louis Deletraz

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

Watkins Glen is a track that the team has targeted improved performance and has tested recently at a circuit that’s had some significant changes in terms of fresh curbs being added at the Bus Stop since last year’s event here.

“The first section is OK for us, but the big curb [at the left-hand elements] is off limits for us,” he explained. “There’s a bit of a sweet spot behind the ‘hot dog’ where if you can get your front wheel in the right spot, it’s kinda smooth, but the chances of missing that, it’s quite a big consequence for us.

“I’ll be interesting to see how the different cars handle it, and we’re definitely going to work on our car to see if we can get it to be more compliant over those. But I don’t think all of [the curb] is going to be useable.”

Taylor is hoping that the track will play to the ORECA-chassised Acura’s strength of coping with the low ride-height required here, which Porsche fell foul of last year when its winning car was disqualified for excessive plank wear – handing victory to BMW.

“One standout of the Acura is that it’s really efficient, you can run it really low, and Watkins Glen is such a smooth track,” he said. “It’s also one of the higher-energy tracks that we go to, so we’re using the hard tire, which will be hard to warm-up as usual. It’s going to be in the 90[F]s when it’s dry, so I think that caters to us a little bit.

“Even though Acura has won two races this year, the motivation is really high that we still need to improve. Watkins isn’t historically a good track for us, we had some reliability issues last year, but we were really quick.”

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Acura beats Porsche with stunning pass in wild street fight

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On the series’ debut on the tight and twisty 1.654-mile, nine-turn temporary street circuit in downtown Detroit, Taylor beat Porsche’s Mathieu Jaminet after pulling off a great overtaking move inside the final 25 minutes in GTP.

AO Racing’s Seb Priaulx and Laurin Heinrich won the GTD Pro class in their Porsche 911.

After the pair of factory-backed Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s swept the front row in qualifying, poleman Nick Tandy’s #6 car led Dane Cameron’s #7 entry to the green flag.

Albuquerque’s #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 braked late and went around the outside of a cautious Cameron at the opening turn to grab second, as Sebastien Bourdais (#01 Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-Series.R) went down his inside to claim third.

The full-course yellow caution flew at the end of the opening lap as Harry Tincknell’s GTD class Ford Mustang ground to a halt before even making the first corner.

At the restart, Tandy led Albuquerque, Bourdais, Cameron and the two BMW M Hybrid V8s of Philipp Eng and Nick Yelloly. But Eng was soon given a drive-through penalty, losing his hard-earned fifth place for changing lanes before the start.

Tandy pulled away, despite battling with a malfunctioning radio, leaving Albuquerque, Bourdais and Cameron to scrap over second. Pipo Derani, who crashed in qualifying, exited the #31 Action Express-run Cadillac after 10 minutes to hand over to Jack Aitken in a bold strategy play.

After 25 minutes, and having predicted issues in GTD traffic ahead of the race, Tandy outbraked himself at Turn 3 and punted factory Ferrari racer Daniel Serra’s Conquest Racing 296 into a spin. The collision led to a drive-through penalty for the race leader.

“I just missed when they were checking up, I apologize to them,” said Tandy, who explained he was fiddling with his radio leads as he couldn’t hear his pits clearly.

That left Albuquerque leading Bourdais and Cameron, although Bourdais dived for the pits after 30 minutes to hand over to Renger van der Zande. The call was made late, however, and Bourdais hadn’t loosened his belts, which led to a slow driver change.

Albuquerque pitted to hand over to Ricky Taylor a lap later, and he rejoined with an extended advantage. Cameron went a lap longer before stopping to hand off to Felipe Nasr, who rejoined ahead of Taylor.

Yelloly ran longer in the lead and pitted after 37 minutes. He handed over to Connor De Phillippi, who promptly stuffed the car into the Turn 3 tire stack on his out lap.

That cycled the penalized Tandy back to the lead, and he rattled off a sequence of fastest laps. He dived into the pits, to hand over to Jaminet, just before the second caution period, as De Phillippi crashed his BMW again, smashing its left-rear corner against the Turn 2 wall.

Jaminet rejoined in the lead, ahead of stable-mate Nasr, Ricky Taylor, van der Zande and Jesse Krohn in the surviving #24 BMW. But Nasr had to pit under yellow to switch a punctured tire, dropping him from second to eighth.

The race restarted with 47 minutes remaining, with Nasr immediately gaining three spots by driving the outside of Richard Westbrook’s JDC-Miller Porsche 963, Gianmaria Bruni’s Proton-run variant and Krohn’s BMW at Turn 3, and he then sliced past Louis Deletraz’s #40 Acura (shared with Jordan Taylor) further around the lap.

But the race was quickly neutralized once again, when Westbrook was pushed into a spin by Aitken and blocked the track.

The race went green again just past the hour mark, with Jaminet scampering away from Taylor, van der Zande and Nasr. Taylor stayed within a second of the leader, as van der Zande and Nasr fell away.

Taylor grabbed the lead at Turn 3 with 25 minutes to go, making a bold lunge down the inside of the hairpin, after Jaminet had been slightly hampered while lapping a GTD Mustang.

The yellow flew again with 20 minutes to go to deal with a debris that was accruing on the main straight. It went green again with 15m to go, with Jaminet keen to avenge Taylor, while Nasr attacked van der Zande.

Bruni made a move on Krohn to snatch sixth, with Aitken following suit. But as Bruni attacked Deletraz, he got swiped by Aitken and slammed into the wall approaching Turn 4. That led to a fifth caution, as Bruni’s car was stranded.

Taylor survived the final restart with seven minutes remaining to record the #10 Acura’s first win since Road America in 2022.

#77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R: Laurin Heinrich, Sebastian Priaulx

#77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R: Laurin Heinrich, Sebastian Priaulx

Photo by: Josh Tons / Motorsport Images

Disaster for Corvette, Porsche beats battered Lexus in GTD Pro

In GTD Pro, under the shadows of General Motors’ giant Renaissance Center towers that dominate the skyline here, the pressure was on Chevrolet’s Corvette squad to perform.

After scoring a 1-2 in qualifying, Antonio Garcia’s #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R led Tommy Milner’s #4 to the green, ahead of Jack Hawksworth (#14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F) and Seb Priaulx in AO Racing’s #77 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

But it all went wrong almost immediately for Garcia, who pitted at the end of the opening lap with an alternator issue.

New leader Milner handed over to Nicky Catsburg after 40 minutes, changing just one tire during the stop. Ben Barnicoat took over from Hawksworth in the Lexus, with Laurin Heinrich in for Priaulx in the ‘Rexy’ Porsche.

Straight after a mid-race restart, leaders Barnicoat and Catsburg clashed at Turn 3, the Lexus punting the Corvette into a spin after hitting the inside wall.

That promoted Heinrich (who had tagged the spun Corvette and suffered splitter damage) to the lead, but he had to come to a halt to avoid the spun Westbrook, and was almost collected by Barnicoat – who continued in second despite pieces falling off it.

Barnicoat successfully battling bent steering and a loose hood to chase Heinrich to the finish, while the Pfaff McLaren 720S of Marvin Kirchhofer was set to take third when he was punted off by Alex Riberas (Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage) at Turn 3 in the closing stages.

Cla   Nº   Driver   Entrant / Car   Laps   Time   Delay/Retirement 
1 10  Ricky Taylor
F.Albuquerque		 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti
Acura		 75 1:40’02.133  
2 6  Nick Tandy
Mathieu Jaminet		 Porsche Penske Motorsport
Porsche		 75 1:40’03.265 1.132
3 01  R.van der Zande
S.Bourdais		 Cadillac Racing
Cadillac		 75 1:40’06.331 4.198
4 7  Dane Cameron
Felipe Nasr		 Porsche Penske Motorsport
Porsche		 75 1:40’07.275 5.142
5 40  Jordan Taylor
Louis Delétraz		 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti
Acura		 75 1:40’12.253 10.120
6 31  Pipo Derani
Jack Aitken		 Whelen Cadillac Racing
Cadillac		 75 1:40’12.492 10.359
7 24  Jesse Krohn
Philipp Eng		 BMW M Team RLL
BMW		 75 1:40’12.926 10.793
8 85  T.van der Helm
R.Westbrook		 JDC-Miller Motorsports
Porsche		 74 1:40’16.425 1 lap /14.292
9 77  Laurin Heinrich
Seb Priaulx		 AO Racing
Porsche		 74 1:40’28.354 1 lap /26.221
10 14  Jack Hawksworth
Ben Barnicoat		 Vasser Sullivan
Lexus		 74 1:40’31.239 1 lap /29.106
11 23  Ross Gunn
Alex Riberas		 Heart of Racing Team
Aston Martin		 74 1:40’33.223 1 lap /31.090
12 15  Parker Thompson
F.Montecalvo		 Vasser Sullivan
Lexus		 74 1:40’33.819 1 lap /31.686
13 1  Bryan Sellers
Madison Snow		 Paul Miller Racing
BMW		 74 1:40’44.260 1 lap /42.127
14 65  Joey Hand
Dirk Müller		 Ford Multimatic Motorsports
Ford		 73 1:40’47.978 2 laps /45.845
15 35  Daniel Serra
Albert Costa		 Conquest Racing
Ferrari		 72 1:38’11.000 Not running
16 9  M.Kirchhöfer
Oliver Jarvis		 Pfaff Motorsports
McLaren		 71 1:36’57.349 Not running
17 4  Tommy Milner
Nicky Catsburg		 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports
Chevrolet		 69 1:40’48.643 6 laps /46.510
18 5  Gianmaria Bruni
Bent Viscaal		 Proton Competition
Porsche		 65 1:27’07.954 Not running
19 3  Antonio García
Alexander Sims		 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports
Chevrolet		 59 1:40’47.282 16 laps /45.149
20 64  Harry Tincknell
M.Rockenfeller		 Ford Multimatic Motorsports
Ford		 51 1:40’49.244 24 laps /47.111
21 25  C.De Phillippi
Nick Yelloly		 BMW M Team RLL
BMW		 33 39’49.265 Not running



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Ricky Taylor looking for redemption at Long Beach

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


A year ago, a disastrous pit stop for issues during a swap with co-driver Filipe Albuquerque left Taylor forced to put on a furious charge in the No. 10 Acura ARX-07 for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti.

Taylor overcame a gap of 8s with eight minutes left and stormed back through to second and, with three minutes remaining, caught the Penske Porsche 963 of race leader Mathieu Jaminet, who was on older tires. With two laps to go, Taylor dove to the inside of Jaminet entering Turn 1 but underestimated the lack of grip off the racing line as momentum carried him into the tire barrier and left the latter to coast to the win.

Although a year has passed since then, the loss – that he takes ownership of – is still fresh in his mind.

“I’m really excited to be going back because I remember my first feeling after the race last year was, ‘Gosh, I wish I could try this again’,” Taylor said.

“You don’t get a second chance in motorsport. Going back this year, I’ve been thinking about that moment for a year now and finally get a chance to go erase it from my memory hopefully, this year.”

If put if put in a similar position in Saturday’s 100-minute IMSA SportsCar Championship race, would Taylor repeat the move?

“It’s so situational,” he said.

“It didn’t seem like an overly aggressive move at the time. We were in a position in the championship where there was so much up in the air, it was so early, there wasn’t really much to gain or lose. Looking back on it, it cost us the championship, but there were a lot of other moments that also cost us the championship. …

“I wouldn’t make the same move obviously because it didn’t work. I might have waited a lap or two longer knowing what I know now; he was quite off the pace, and I might have had another chance at the time. You think you don’t have another shot, so I don’t blame myself for going for it. Last year, we really wanted to win the race. The second place wasn’t something we were interested in.”

Taylor and Albuquerque are eighth in the championship standings after two rounds, which could provide a more aggressive approach on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary street circuit.

“This year, we come into it, we need to get some points and we need a result,” Taylor said.

“We’re going to be aggressive. Hopefully, that situation doesn’t happen again. Hopefully, we can get the pole and control the race from the lead. But even with one pit stop, a lot can happen.”

One factor that is likely to make a bigger impact is having a softer tire compound versus last year, when Jaminet vault to the lead and win despite never changing tires during the race.

Taylor believes the softer rubber will allow for higher tire degradation, which could make for more defensive driving.

“There’s going to be a lot more deg,” he said.

“Out laps are going to be really strong. I’m not a strategist, but obviously the drivers are always throwing around ideas of ‘Oh, we should undercut them’, but everybody’s going to try undercut. There’s going to be a lot of people defending and then who goes long?

“There’s definitely going to be people trying different stuff and I don’t think it’s a full two stints, so there’s quite a bit of room to play. I think for one stop it’s going to be pretty exciting what people do.”

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Deletraz bests Bourdais to claim victory for Acura

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Deletraz, driving the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s No. 40 Acura ARX-06, applied the pressure with less than six minutes to go on Cadillac Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais, who had a firm hold of the lead for much of the final hour. The two tangled with on-track shoves, but it was Deletraz that prevailed with a Turn 10 move around the 17-turn, 3.74-mile circuit to win the 72nd edition of IMSA’s endurance classic.

The Final Four Hours

Maxime Martin’s No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 led the field to the restart, which commenced just five minutes at the conclusion of the eighth hour. Despite the tight push into Turn 1, he was able to hold off Matheiu Jaminet (Porsche Penske Motorsports) and Ricky Taylor (Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti).

It didn’t take long – 20 minutes, to be exact – for Taylor’s No. 10 Acura ARX-06 to work around the No. 6 Porsche 963 of Jaminet.

Taylor then began to close on the lead and got within 0.4s of Martin, who began cutting through traffic and ended up making contact with Matteo Cressoni in Iron Lynx’s No. 60 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 in Turn 15. Cressoni was able to continue on, while Martin saw his lead shrink even more.

As Taylor continued to gain ground, traces of smoke could be seen occasionally trailing his Acura. Regardless of that, though, Taylor’s pace continued, and he caught Martin out in traffic and put on a move to take the lead with 23 minutes remaining in the ninth hour.

A run of pit stops by the leaders soon after saw Taylor hand off to Brendon Hartley, who maintained the top spot, which was now occupied by Renger van der Zande in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R.

Martin handed off to Nick Yelloly, who came out third.

The action was halted for a ninth time after the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 of Fred Makowiecki, running fourth in GTP and overall, dove under Katherine Legge’s No. 66 Acura NSX GT3 entering Turn 17. The two made contact, which sent Legge into a wild spin briefly before making hard contact into the tire barrier. Makowiecki was able to continue on, while Legge climbed out under her own power.

#66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3: Sheena Monk, Katherine Legge, Tatjana Calderon

#66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3: Sheena Monk, Katherine Legge, Tatjana Calderon

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

The caution happened right at the conclusion of the ninth hour.

Some of the field took another opportunity for service in the pits, with most of the attention focused on the No. 10 Acura of Hartley as the crew investigated for the source of the occasional omitting smoke.

By opting not to pit, Makowiecki inherited the lead, with Gianmaria Bruni running second in the No. 5 Porsche 963 for Proton Competition. Matt Campbell, piloting the Porsche Penske Motorsports’ No. 7 GTP machine, rose to third.

Cadillac Racing’s van der Zande sat fourth, ahead of Yelloly. Hartley ended up falling to ninth, behind Romain Grosjean, who was listed a lap down in Iron Lynx’s Lamborghini SC63.

The race resumed 13 minutes after the conclusion of the ninth hour, with Makowiecki getting a clean start and accelerating away from Campbell, who managed to climb to second.

Moments later, Makowiecki lost the lead after his right-rear tire exploded and he was forced to nurse back to the pits. This propelled his team-mate, Campbell, to the lead and the Cadillac of van der Zande to third.

Through all of the drama of GTP, there was still a tight fight in LMP2 as Nico Pino (United Autosports USA) held a narrow lead of two tenths of a second over Hunter McElrea (TDS Racing). Paul Di Resta (United Autosports USA) quietly assumed third at 1.7s back.

Ben Barnicoat returned for another stint behind the wheel of Vasser Sullivan’s No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 and served up a GTD Pro lead of 4.4s over Chistopher Mies in the Ford Mustang GT3.

#14 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat, Kyle Kirkwood, #12 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Frankie Montecalvo, Parker Thompson, Aaron Telitz, #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Franck Perera, Jordan Pepper, Mirko Bortolotti, #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3: Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen

#14 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat, Kyle Kirkwood, #12 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Frankie Montecalvo, Parker Thompson, Aaron Telitz, #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Franck Perera, Jordan Pepper, Mirko Bortolotti, #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3: Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images

Meanwhile, Indy Dontje, driving the No. 57 Mercedes AMG GT for Winward Racing, sported a 9s advantage over Parker Thompson in Vasser Sullivan’s GTD entry.

With 20 minutes left in Hour 10, Campbell continued to hold a lead of four tenths of a second over van der Zande. Yelloly held third at 1s back, while Colton Herta, driving the No. 40 Acura ARX-06 for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, in fourth a 2.5s behind.

Only five minutes later Herta managed to close on the back of Yelloly to challenge for third, which he cycled up to seconds later after Campbell elected to dive to the pits. Although van der Zande was handed the lead with Campbell pitting, it would only be momentarily as he pitted the next lap and gave the lead to Yelloly. The stop for van der Zande saw him hand off to Sebastien Bourdais.

During this stretch, Herta was able to manage the traffic and push to the lead by Yelloly and pull a 2s gap with only eight minutes remaining in the hour.

At this point, Pino dove to pit road and gave up the class lead in LMP2, vaulting McElrea to the top spot.

With two hours to go, Herta stretched his lead to over 6s on Yelloly, who was only 3s ahead of BMW team-mate Augusto Farfus in third.

Herta gave up his stranglehold on the lead dove to the pits just five minutes into Hour 11, swapping places with co-driver Jordan Taylor. With Yelloly pitting two laps prior – and making way for Connor De Phillippi to take over, Bruni took the lead briefly before eventually giving way to Bourdais.

#40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta

#40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

While the top spot was a revolving door due to pit strategy sequences, LMP2’s fight was heating up once again as McElrea managed to catch Pino as they hit traffic. Even though the pair went side-by-side and split an GTD car in the sequence, it was McElrea coming out with the lead. From there, Toby Sowery (Crowdstrike Racing by APR) closed heavily on Pino and was able to secure the runner-up position moments later. Despite the stout pace in the stint, Sowery was held in check by 2s by McElrea.

GTD Pro saw Barnicoat trade his seat with co-driver Jack Hawksworth, who maintained a lead by 1.5s out of the pits. However, AO Racing’s Laurens Heinrich closed to within four tenths of a second before caution came out for the 10th time for debris in Turn 16.

The halt in action also wiped away a stout lead of over 8s by Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis – in for Dontje – in GTD.

Back to GTP, Bourdais pitted from the lead moments before the caution, which elevated Jordan Taylor up the leaderboard.

A cycle of pit stops happened once again and Louis Deletraz swapped with Jordan Taylor as the closer of the final run to the finish. De Phillippi and Philipp Eng, in the No. 24 BMW, followed Deletraz off pit lane.

This exchange allowed Bourdais to vault into the lead, with Felipe Nasr behind in the No. 7 Penske Porsche 963, followed by Deletraz, De Phillippi and Eng.

The caution also shook up the standings in LMP2 as DragonSpeed’s Mikkel Jakobsen catapulted to the top spot, ahead of TDS Racing’s Mikkel Jensen – in for McElrea – and Colin Braun, who took over for Sowery.

Despite leading going into the pits, Hawksworth came out second in GTD Pro behind Daniel Juncadella in the No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. And Winward Racing was also tossed off the top spot in GTD with Ellis restarting second to Andy Lally in the No. 44 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo for Magnus Racing.

Bourdais vs. Deletraz

The green flag returned with 58 minutes left in the running as Bourdais led the field into Turn 1. The 45-year-old Frenchman got a strong launch, pulling 3s on Nasr and 3.5s on Deletraz over the following two laps.

During this, Hawksworth managed to get around Juncadella to retake the lead in GTD Pro, with Elllis also reclaiming the GTD lead.

The yellow flag returned after multiple cars were stopped on course in Turn 9, which proved to be a brief hiatus until the race resumed.

Although Bourdais once again kept the lead, the LMP2 order changed with Braun surging forward with Conor Zilsch in the No. 18 for Era Motorsport.

Then yellow flag came out once more for debris in Turns 15-16, setting up only 35 minutes left in the running.

During this caution, Filipe Albuquerque, running the No. 10 Acura ARX-06 for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, opted to pit for fresh tires and charge in an all-out effort to go full rich to the end. He returned to the running order eighth.

Daniel Serra, in the No. 62 Ferrari 296 GT3 for Risi Competizione, was able to swing to the lead in GTD Pro, with Hawksworth in tow and Juncadella in third. Meanwhile, Ellis was still out front in GTD as the clock under caution continued to tick down to 25 minutes left.

The race restarted with 23 minutes to go as Bourdais took the green, but it was Deletraz under attack by Nasr. Despite the effort, Nasr failed to push by and the fight allowed a chance to Bourdais to stretch a lead of nearly 2s.

The battle for the lead in GTD Pro began to get physical as Hawkworth made a move on Serra, but was then hit slightly by his rival. Then, the two went side-by-side and began to lean on each other, which resulted in Serra falling from the contention and dropping to third. Juncadella moved up to second behind Hawksworth.

Braun’s fight for the win went away after colliding with the Riley of Felipe Fraga, which prompted Zillisch out front by four tenths of a second as Braun dropped to 10th in class.

Meanwhile, the battle in GTP began to tighten as Deletraz closed to within 0.6s of Bourdais with 15 minutes remaining. At this time, Nasr fell to 4s behind in third.

#01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon

#01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

Ellis’s lead in GTD became unsafe as Antonio Fuoco’s No. 47 Ferrari 296 GT3 clawed to within six tenths of a second with 13 minutes remaining.

Back at GTP, Deletraz continued to stalk Bourdais and remained within 0.4s of the leader and appeared to be stronger under braking.

Bourdais came under heavy attack approaching traffic from Deletraz as they went side-by-side through traffic and into Turn 10 with eight minutes to go.

The other battles in LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD remained the same, but it was the GTP battle that continued to tighten up as Deletraz and Bourdais came together and continued to make contact over the next several turns. The two exchanged contact multiple times as Deletraz pulled off a double move and completed the pass in Turn 10 with less than five minutes to go.

Bourdais attempted to fight back but the chance was stalled as he came up on traffic in the form of Hawkworth, which allowed Deletraz to pull a gap of 0.7s.

As Deletraz continued to push through traffic, it was now Bourdais clawing back in the fight to pull within 0.5s on the penultimate lap.

The Victors

Deletraz took the white flag with 1.2s up on Bourdais, Nasr remains a distant third at over 7s behind.

And the thriller belonged to Acura, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, and Deletraz as he took the checkered flag over Bourdais. Nasr took the final step on the podium, ahead of De Phillippi in fourth.

Zilisch maintained his composure and outlasted Jensen and Paul Di Resta (United Autosports USA) to claim the LMP2 class win.

The GTD Pro class went to Hawksworth, who bested Serra Iron Lynx’s Mirko Bortolotti. Ellis collected the GTD win over Fuoco and Wright Motorsports’Elliott Skeer.

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