Taylor: Formula 1 Driver to Join WTR Andretti for Rolex 24

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Wayne Taylor revealed that an active Formula 1 driver is set to join Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport for January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona as part of its increased two-car Acura ARX-06 lineup.

The four-time Rolex 24-winning squad, which has previously fielded the likes of Brendon Hartley and Fernando Alonso, is set to welcome another top-level driver to the team for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener.

While Taylor refused to go into details, he did say it will not be Alonso, who won the 2019 event with the team.

“We’ve announced the four [full season drivers],” Taylor told Sportscar365. “We’ll announce another two [for the Endurance Cup], then we’ll announce the final driver after the last Grand Prix.”

Ex-F1 driver and current Toyota FIA World Endurance Championship star Hartley, who drove with the team at this year’s Rolex 24, has been linked to one of the Endurance Cup seats although Taylor declined to confirm the ongoing rumors.

He said the Indianapolis-based team has been “pretty aggressive” in its buildup into a two-car squad for the first time in the WTR’s history.

Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz will join Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque as fulls season drivers in the two-car effort.

“We’ve actually been inundated with people wanting to come over,” he said. “We’re probably eight-tenths of the way there filling everything already.

“We have one more engineer to fill and probably three more mechanics. But we’re comfortable with where we are.

“We can draw on people that we have in our other series [too]. We’re pretty confident.

“Sometimes you get what you wish for and then you think, ‘Holy [cow], now I’ve got to… perform.

“I think we’ve got a good group of management that can run this two-car program and I think we have a great driver lineup.

“As long as we put all those ingredients together, and we’ve got a good partnership with HPD.”

Taylor confirmed the second car will carry the No. 40, featuring a new to-be-announced primary sponsor, with Konica Minolta returning the No. 10 that will continue to be spearheaded by Ricky Taylor and Albuquerque.

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