WTRAndretti Still “Adjusting” to Two-Car Acura GTP Effort

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti is still “adjusting” to running a two-car Acura team in the GTP class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship according to Ricky and Jordan Taylor, who expect further gains to come as the season moves into the sprint races.

The Indianapolis-based organization is fielding the No. 40 Acura ARX-06 for Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz for the first time this year, which is currently tied for the championship lead with the No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 duo of Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron heading into this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, meanwhile, sit eighth in the standings after a challenging start to their campaign in the returning No. 10 Acura.

“The team is obviously performing very well, leading the championship with the 40 car,” said Ricky Taylor. “I think there’s been some adjusting to running two cars, which is not an easy thing from every aspect.

“Especially from our point of view, the communication has been something to get used to, just how the process goes and how we communicate with all of the engineers and with the other car and how we work together.

“With a podium in Daytona and a win in Sebring, you can’t say it’s been anything but positive. Obviously the 10 car, we’ve had our share of issues.”

Taylor said he believes the gains of a two-car team will start to show this weekend at Long Beach.

“I think the first two races are where a single car effort hurts you the least,” he said.

“There’s so much track time [at Daytona and Sebring]. You’ve got plenty of time to get up to speed. The cars are so refined at those two race tracks. We have too much testing.

“Where we come to Long Beach, and having two cars is an ultimate premium.

“We’re normally on track right towards the beginning of the weekend, before anybody’s run. Our track time is even less than it looks like on paper.

“There’s hardly any relevant running, so having two cars, being able to trust the other car to run something different and learn as much as possible, I think accelerates our learning a lot compared to past years.

“Although last year we had a great car, it gives us some bravery to try something new that we might not have done.”

Ricky’s younger brother, Jordan, who returns to WTRAndretti for the first time since 2019, noted some of the shared elements between the two cars in the opening races at Daytona International Speedway and Sebring International Raceway.

“At Daytona, two our guys went down at one point,” Jordan Taylor said. “Half of the 10 car team did our pit stops at one point.

“Then at Sebring, Chris Bennett, who was our lead, did whatever big [engine-related] change there was on the 10 car, and fixed their car during that long yellow stop.

“I think there’s a big push on our team on the internal side is that a race win for the 40 is a race win for the 10 and vice-versa.

“At the podium at Sebring, if you looked at some of the pictures, there was plenty of blue-colored firesuits there as well in support.

“I think it’s a big initiative for the team, a one-team, one-dream kind of thing.”

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