Ricky Taylor: WTR’s First Cadillac GTP Win a “Big Relief”

Ricky Taylor admitted that securing Wayne Taylor Racing’s first GTP win with Cadillac in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is a “big relief” for him and the team.

Taylor and co-driver Filipe Albuquerque took the team’s long-awaited first triumph in the No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R in Sunday’s Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America.

It brought an end to a lengthy win drought for the team in IMSA’s top class. WTR’s last GTP victory came 792 days ago with the Acura ARX-06 at the Detroit Grand Prix in 2024.

The duo had a flawless run in the chaotic, caution-filled race, scoring a win as one of the only GTP cars not to incur a penalty across the six-hours of competition.

The sister No. 40 entry finished the race in third after an incident in the final restart shuffled up the finishing order.

“It’s more than a win. We’ve won more races, but this feels way more special than others,” said Albuquerque.

“[It] feels almost like a championship because of how much we overcame, being together as a team and working hard, and then when you come from the bottom to the top and convince yourself and prove yourself to everybody that can still do it.

“That’s a great, great feeling, especially just before the holidays.”

This win marked the 54th IMSA victory for WTR, making it the sixth-most successful team in series history.

Taylor also reached a personal milestone with his latest triumph, taking his 33rd victory and slotting into the position of the second-most successful active driver in the series behind his brother Jordan, who drives the No. 40 WTR entry.

“Since changing manufacturers, we haven’t performed at the level that I think the expectations were,” said Taylor.

“The results weren’t coming, and the confidence was dropping, and everybody starts doubting themselves, but I think the important thing is that the team never blamed each other.

“We just kept working harder and harder and harder, and the results weren’t coming.

“I feel like the way the race went as well, it wasn’t a lucky one. The team did everything right. We were sort of in the race for the second half of the race, and fighting for the win.

“I think it’s awesome that Filipe was in the car at the end. Just the relationship we’ve for since 2021, we work so well together on and off the track and I think to share it with him and, obviously, the team is tight knit, and it’s more than a family team. Everybody on the team feels like family at this point.

“I think, just for everybody, it’s a huge relief, and nice testament to the work that everybody’s doing.”

Albuquerque added: “We were flawless, no penalties. I think when we look at the standings [there were] so many DNFs, and and I think it’s easy to see so many DNFs, and obviously you win.

“But I think we were controlling the race and the pace, and it was elbows out when we see, as well, the Porsche fighting hard with nothing to lose. That was hectic.”

Speaking to IMSA Radio post-race, team principal Wayne Taylor said: “Not only did we win, we also came third.

“And given what’s been going on over the last year or so with the non-results, I was starting to wonder if I knew what I was doing anymore.”

“In this business you’ve just gotta keep working, and you’ve just gotta keep digging until this happens. [Winning] took a lot longer than I was expecting, but we’re there now, we understand the car.

“Our partners at Cadillac must’ve been wondering ‘what are we doing here with these guys?’ So this is really for everybody at Cadillac and at DEX Imaging. I’m ecstatic.”