Albuquerque: Detroit P2 a Boost for WTR Heading to Le Mans

Filipe Albuquerque says that Wayne Taylor Racing’s second-place finish in last weekend’s Detroit round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship comes as an important boost for the team ahead of its 24 Hours of Le Mans debut.

Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor picked up their first podium finish of the season for the No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R in last Saturday’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, which marked the first WeatherTech Championship event in 2025 not won by Porsche.

Although the Portuguese driver acknowledged the manual Balance of Performance adjustment made by IMSA in the run-up to the Detroit race, he said that it was important for team morale within WTR to get a strong result on the board in its home series as it gears up for a long-awaited debut at Le Mans.

Albuquerque told Sportscar365: “We’ve been evolving the car, and every time we go in the car, we understand it better. It’s about fine-tuning the settings, which can completely change the balance with the settings you have available.

“That took way longer than we expected, I’m not gonna hide that. But Porsche didn’t change anything in the past three years. That goes against us and it’s an advantage [for them], but we have put ourselves in our position.

“I must say also the Balance of Performance was adjusted in the right way. It’s not like we killed everybody, because we didn’t. We were just in the game.

“It was a relief, and the result could not have come at a better time, also for the mechanics, because it’s a tall ask for them.

“They worked so hard before Detroit to prepare the car for Le Mans, then they flew straight here from Detroit, and after Le Mans they will fly straight to Watkins Glen.

“This kind of result boosts everybody and shows that all the hard work is paying off.”

Albuquerque, who will share the WTR Cadillac with Taylor brothers Ricky and Jordan next weekend, will be making his first top-class outing at Le Mans since the 2015 race, when he made the second of two outings for the factory Audi LMP1 team.

Since then, he has been a consistent presence at La Sarthe in the LMP2 class, but his status as a factory Acura driver from 2021-24 precluded him from racing in Hypercar.

“I’ve been waiting since the last time I did it [in LMP1] in 2015, so it took way too long!” he said. “And I signed up for the only manufacturer [in IMSA] that is not doing Le Mans, so I knew when I signed with Cadillac that the dream was coming.

“When I signed for Wayne in 2020, it was on the table to do Le Mans in 2023. That was the promise. So when the opportunity came, for me there was no hesitation.”

On what goals he has in mind for WTR’s maiden outing at Le Mans, he said: “Within [Cadillac], the goal is to win, and when I compared to my teammates [at JOTA and Action Express Racing] I think I can be as fast as them or even faster, honestly speaking.

“We are under the same umbrella, sharing data, sharing setups, but we know also that for so many manufacturers the clear aim is to win. 

“We will be focused on our own work, on fine-tuning the balance to our liking, and to learn, and to do a good job.

“I don’t know what a good job looks like [in terms of results], but beating my teammates would be a good job. But we are focused on ourselves.”