Albuquerque: Cadillac Return a “Big Switch” for WTR

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Wayne Taylor Racing’s return to Cadillac machinery in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has come as a “big switch” according to Filipe Albuquerque, who equally admitted the V-Series.R shares DNA with the previous-generation DPi-V.R that the team and the majority of its drivers have experience with.

While the Indianapolis-based team returns to the GTP class with an unchanged full season driver lineup, WTR has a fresh pair of Cadillac LMDh cars following a four-year stint with Acuca.

“Sometimes when you switch something, it’s like the drivers, the team or whatever. It’s never everything stays the same,” said Albuquerque. “The team, the drivers, the engineers, and you just swap the car.

“It’s almost like sell your old car and buy a new brand-new car. It’s a big switch for us because it’s a lot of people nowadays working directly on a car.

“We are excited, motivated, but as well [overwhelmed] with the amount of things that we have to do. And, obviously, with the limited testing that is allowed, we have to use really well the Roar to check all the points.

“But, again, looking back when we were back in fighting against Cadillac, I think we were always looking at Cadillac as the ones that were the most consistent through all the tracks through all the season.

“So, they were always fighting for the championship, so very consistent in the last two years and hell of a performance in qualifying. So, it’s looking nice.”

When asked by Sportscar365 if any of his previous Cadillac DPi experience, which spanned from 2017-20, including two full season campaigns with Action Express Racing, has helped the transition, Albuquerque admitted the internal combustion powertrain and general feel of the two Dallara-chassied cars are similar.

“The feeling is actually like how the Cadillac puts the power down and how the response of the throttle is to the wheel,” he explained.

“It resembles the 2017 DPi car when I first drove. I think that’s the biggest difference as well for this car and how we all had to adapt a little bit, but actually in a good way, how the power down is. And that’s nice. [It’s] very easy as well to deal with some of the functions.

“Obviously, I don’t want to get into details here, but it resembles a lot to the DPi.”

For Louis Deletraz, who returns to the sister No. 40 WTR entry alongside Jordan Taylor for the season, it marks his Cadillac debut.

“Overall, driving-wise, I would say you can very much use your feelings,” he said. “It’s not so complicated. It just gives you good feedback and it brakes when you brake. It has very good traction.

“Obviously, we’re just had two days with the car. We tried to learn and change a lot of things on the cars, trying to understand and be as ready as possible for Daytona.

“But I think what is also very interesting is the fact that a lot of the drivers in the lineup have driven different GTPs and it’s very cool to exchange and talk together about it and see different feelings because you can see different mentalities and where you can actually improve.

“It seems like it’s very easy to set up. It’s easy to adapt in a number of conditions.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John