TAYLOR: Working Like a Swiss Watch

Wow. What a weekend.

Heading into Sebring, we felt very well prepared. We had a great two-day test in mid-February and a solid simulator test leading into the weekend up with the HRC group in Indianapolis.

The weekend was unseasonably warm. Warmer than what we had in testing and much warmer than previous years. This race ends in the darkness with a pretty severe drop in temperature, but this year was looking different.

We rolled off the truck in a pretty decent spot. The main thing was getting all the drivers comfortable in the car and making sure the car was in a good window. The first two sessions went right to plan.

Unfortunately, we had a small issue between Practice 2 and Practice 3 which meant we would miss that entire session.

It was a big hit, as that was going to be our only time to test the car in conditions similar to what we would have come the end of the race. This was our first time really benefiting from having a two-car program with WTRAndretti.

We were able to test some items on the 10 car that could then be carried over to our car come race day.

Qualifying day was a quiet one for me. Louis had duties to qualify and did a great job putting us P3 on the grid. Ricky in the 10 had a great lap that was quick enough for pole, but a small infraction meant they’d be starting from the back.

My only other duty on Friday was an important one. Hosting our second annual Sportscar 4 Lyfe Chicken Wing Eating Contest.

Sebring is one of my favorite events of the year not just for the on-track action, but because of the amazing fans we get.

We knew the race was going to be a lot about survival for the first six to eight hours. It was going to be extremely warm and all of the GTP cars were going to have to double stint a few sets of tires in the heat of the day due to the limited tire allotment.

When the green flag dropped, it was pretty clear it was going to be a wild race.

My first time in the car was early afternoon, in the real heat of the day. I was last in the car which also meant it was our last set of tires that we had to double stint.

We restarted mid-pack and the name of the game at this point of the race is just survival and staying out of trouble. There’s nothing you can really do ‘right.’ There’s much more you can do ‘wrong’ to hurt your race.

We sat in the top-five the whole race. When darkness was coming, it was time to start getting ourselves into position to fight for the win.

This race always seems to come down to a fight in the last hour, so you need a healthy car. Louis was strong all race long and we knew he was going to be our guy to go fight for it at the end.

Our car seemed to be a little stronger than the 01 on the longer run. Every restart, the 01 would build a small gap, but then Louis would slowly drag him back in.

It was coming down to the last 15 minutes and the intensity and stress on the pit box was through the roof.

Louis looked stronger, but it was going to be extremely tough to make a move without some help from traffic.  He had one opening into T7 and made the dive down the inside.

It was beautiful. The pit stand exploded. But we knew we still had a handful of laps left.

It honestly felt like we sat there for another 12 hours watching that last lap.

Louis came across the line to win the Sebring 12 Hour for us. Fireworks going off. Tears in so many people’s eyes.

The first Sebring win for Acura, HRC and DEX Imaging, and the first win in the GTP era for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti. Louis and Colton drove flawlessly all race long. I was a proud teammate that night.

It was such a massive team effort to pull this off. The amount of time and effort put in by everyone back at the shop all off season to turn this into a two-car program has been monumental.

The same goes for everyone back at HRC headquarters. We showed up with two extremely quick Acura ARX-06s.

I felt like we were working like a Swiss watch all race long. So smooth and perfect execution. And it all came down to our Swiss teammate to bring it home.