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Taylor: “Relief” to Secure Long-Term Andretti Partnership

WTR owner Wayne Taylor gives background to Andretti partnership, long-term outlook…

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

Wayne Taylor has spoken of “relief” for his team to secure a long-term partnership with Andretti Autosport that will see the two organizations collaborate in sports car racing.

Andretti and four-time Rolex 24 at Daytona winner Wayne Taylor Racing recently announced a joining of forces that will field the No. 10 Acura ARX-06 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTP class next year, along with other programs.

WTR, which is based in Brownsburg, Ind., will relocate to Andretti’s in-development Fishers, Ind. facility in 2025. Taylor confirmed to Sportscar365 that Andretti has purchased a share in WTR but declined to reveal the amount.

Following the partnership’s announcement, Taylor spoke of relief to officially link up with an organization of Andretti’s size as WTR prepares to face the increased costs and demands of entering GTP after six years in the DPi formula.

“It took us 17 years to build Wayne Taylor Racing to where it is today,” Taylor told Sportscar365.

“In the very early part of this year, Michael [Andretti] approached me and asked if I would be interested in partnering on an LMDh program. At the time, I hadn’t thought about it at all.

“We carried on talking and spent most of the year discussing how something could work. Once we received the LMDh car, I realized that we were very late with everything.

“Being approached by someone like Andretti… their resources are vast. Michael’s passion to grow his company, and his passion to be in LMDh and WEC is the same as mine.

“At the moment, we are in a holding pattern with HPD [Honda Performance Development] with regards to going to Le Mans. But we can build a long-term relationship [with Andretti] so that when HPD give the go-ahead for us to go to Le Mans, we have all the resources.”

Taylor stressed that WTR will “carry on running the same way” as it did in the past, albeit with additional support from Andretti which runs a multitude of race programs covering IndyCar, Formula E, LMP3, Extreme E and more.

“We are remaining in the same premises that we have for the next two years, with all the same people,” Taylor explained.

“We have hired some new people, and with a lot of input coming in from their side. We will move over into their facility in 2025 when it’s finished.

“To me, it’s such a relief to be able to have an organization as big at that, with as big a name, and both of us sharing the same goals. They have aspirations of doing lots of different things.

“It gives me a relief that there is another big entity that’s a part of this.”

According to Taylor, WTR had the funds to complete the 2023 season without a partnership arrangement but the Andretti deal helps to ensure long-term stability.

In addition to its GTP effort, WTR assists in the running of Racers Edge Motorsports’ Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 and also races in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America.

“They have a very strong B to B (business to business strategy) which is what I’ve used,” Taylor said of Andretti Autosport.

“They have so many different companies that can potentially become partners of our partners. There are just so many things about this partnership that are right.”

When asked about what WTR’s options for the 2023 season would have been if the Andretti deal had not arisen, Taylor replied: “We would carry on the way we are, but it’s a bit of an unknown what the budgets are going to be with these [GTP] cars.

“We really just don’t know what it’s going to cost. So you’ve got to have a source. Going out and finding partnerships is very hard these days.

“Given that, being partners with Andretti who know the sport as well as anybody… they’ve got some really good partners. It’s not like we’re short of budget for next year. We weren’t going to be. But a lot of their technical resources and people are important to us.

“It’s not just about more money, because we’ve got a great deal with HPD and great deals with our title sponsors Konica Minolta and Harrison Contracting.

“But how do you go and compete against all of these other teams that appear to be having budgets that are going up and up?”

Taylor, who asserted that he plans to continue sitting on the WTR timing stand in future IMSA seasons, explained that a key catalyst for the Andretti partnership was the “need to step up” against the wave of incoming GTP competition.

“There’s absolutely no doubt that’s exactly what it was,” he said.

“We got to a point where, when I looked at Porsche investing in Penske, and Cadillac investing in Ganassi, I thought it’s time that we need to step up.

“It was like a match made in heaven. It’s taken a long time to get done, but it’s finally done and announced. We look forward to hopefully having a good future.”

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

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