Taylor: Late Yellow “Saved Our Race” in No. 10 WTR Cadillac

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Ricky Taylor said the late-race yellow in Sunday’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway ‘saved the race’ for he and Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing co-driver Filipe Albuquerque, who managed to finish a surprise second after an ‘unlucky to lucky’ race for the team.

While having started the six-hour IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup contest second on the grid, Taylor led for 21 laps after the No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R went off-strategy due being one of only a few GTPs to stay on track during an early full-course caution.

A left-front puncture for Albuquerque, however, in the third hour put the car a lap down and appeared to end their chances of a podium run, until the the team worked their way back up the order in the final hour after again being off-sequence and owing a late-race stop for fuel.

However, an accident for the No. 04 CrowdStrike by APR Oreca 07 Gibson of Toby Sowery with nine minutes to go, which set up a two-minute shootout to the finish, was enough for the No. 10 Cadillac to save enough energy to make it to the finish without making that stop.

“It saved our race,” said Taylor. “I think the most important thing was a win for Cadillac today, and the 40 [car] was guaranteed to make it to the end.

“I think the 31 [car] was doing a very good energy save to make it to the end, and we were last at the restart, [so we thought] we may as well try something.

“They gave me an energy target, but track position was the most important thing, so that was kind of fun to be able to try and move forward.

“Then once we got to P4, it was looking like with the energy we’d saved, the short yellow at the end would be enough to make it, so why not try and go for the win with a full push? It was fun.

“So why not get up there and whether yellow comes out, a Cadillac could win and we could help the 31 [car] because the 60 [car] had such an energy advantage, or we get there and the other doesn’t come out, and we gave ourselves the best shot.”

Taylor said the puncture for Albuquerque, which put the No. 10 car off-sequence again “definitely” altered their plans for a second time in the race.

“The first stop for Filipe changed our day,” he said. “I think track position was so key, and Filipe was just in the mix with everybody and got unlucky with that puncture.

“Then we were just fighting to stay not two laps down because pit lane is so long here, and the lap is quite short, so anything goes wrong and you get stuck a lap down.

“We were fighting not to get stuck a lap down, and actually had to short fill a couple times to beat the leader out to where we just gave ourselves the best shot at getting our lap back.

“It took a lot gambling, and you’re just putting yourself more and more in the hole by short-filling the car each stop after that.

“Then we got lucky.

“So we went from being unlucky for the first half to very lucky in the second half with those well-timed yellows.

“The first one was lucky to get our lap back. Then we were kind of in line with everybody, and then it was just a gamble on what we wanted to go for, and what we went for, we happened to get lucky with as well, with that last yellow.”

Sunday’s runner-up result matched their season-best finish of second in Detroit for Taylor and Albuquerque.

“Hats off to the guys,” Taylor added. “Congrats for Cadillac 1-2, and the car was good this weekend. So it’s encouraging that maybe we’re making some progress with the car.”

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