Taylors Look Ahead To Le Mans, But Detroit Comes First
Jordan, Wayne & Ricky Taylor
By Dennis Krause
In two weeks, Wayne Taylor Racing will be competing in the biggest sports car race of them all - the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
But first, it’s a matter of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic on the downtown streets of the Motor City on Saturday.
Detroit has been a happy hunting ground for the Taylor family. Ricky Taylor and co-driver Filipe Albuquerque teamed up to win the race last year driving an Acura ARX-06. This year, the pair returns to Detroit behind the wheel of the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class.
“It's nice always to come to Detroit. It's such an iconic event, especially when you come here with a GM product, and to be racing in a Cadillac is always, firstly a little bit of pressure, but secondly, a big opportunity to win on home soil. It's a big weekend for GM and for the team. So, we're really excited.
“The track is challenging. We had a great race last year, but so many things can happen here in just 100 minutes. But we'll try to repeat the success we had last year and send ourselves for a good lead up to Le Mans.”
(Photo by Perry Nelson/LAT Images, courtesy of IMSA)
Brother Jordan Taylor, who’ll be sharing the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R with Louis Delatraz, is a five-time winner at Detroit and will be making his 180th IMSA start this weekend.
“It's great to be going back there with Cadillac. It's obviously one of the biggest races of the year for us. Cadillac kind of prioritizes this race and Daytona as the two big ones on the IMSA schedule, and then obviously Le Mans. We know the pressure's always on when we go to Detroit. All the big bosses are there, all the eyes are on us, and it's a super intense race -- only 100 minutes and the track is very unique. Lots of action.
“So, hopefully we can roll off the truck in a strong position and have a good car. And hopefully contend for a win kind of on our home ground there.”
Wayne Taylor Racing spent four seasons with Acura, from 2021 to 2024, before switching back to Cadillac after an offer was made by General Motors last fall. While the team hasn’t seen the results many people expected, Jordan Taylor saw progress in the most recent race at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca.
(Photo by Michael C. Levitt/LAT Images, courtesy of IMSA)
“I think we knew it was going to be kind of a tough start of the year, no matter what. These cars are very complicated with all the different systems and every car is different, obviously. Every manufacturer builds a car to the homologation, into the ruleset, but there's so many different ways of doing it.
“From a driver's perspective, you've got to kind of learn that from an engineering side. You have to learn how to set up the car around that. We're learning, I think we were a little bit behind the Action Express car the first couple of races, and then (at Laguna Seca) seemed a little bit stronger. I think from a team side, we're executing quite well, considering how new we are to the car. And yet, heading to Le Mans, I think we all know it's going to be a tough learning experience.
“Obviously, it's the team's first time there, so not just learning things on the track it's all the logistics of getting there, getting the people there, understanding the rulesets, and obviously making a fast car. There's a lot of a lot of hours going into it from the engineering side and from the team side. We've been working hard at it, and it is good that we do have Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA and Action Express to kind of support us a little bit as well from the engineering side and experience side. JOTA has been there many times in LMP2 and last year in Hypercar and Action has been there twice now with the Cadillac, so there's a lot of good data that we can dig through and understand.
“Once we do get there, it'll be like having a four-car team, basically, which will all be sharing information. We're excited to go as drivers. We're excited to be competing for an overall win and representing Cadillac and it's a huge stage. It's a ton of competition, but I think everyone's working toward battling for a podium.”
According to team owner Wayne Taylor, it’s a very tall order for his team to be doing what it is doing only four races into its program with Cadillac.
“It's not as simple as one would think like back in the Daytona Prototype international days. The fact is that Detroit is two weeks before, it's made it quite challenging to figure out how to get a car to Le Mans, how to race two cars at Detroit, and then come back and three days later have two cars at Watkins Glen.
“As far as the future is concerned, I would love to have an entry on both sides of the pond, but I think JOTA are very well equipped over there. They've got a lot of experience. But I've had this thought over the last couple of days that maybe next year we'll present Cadillac and GM and all our partners, ‘What about if we do one car in WEC (World Endurance Championship) next year and one car in America?’ I know that might not make my drivers happy, but at the end of the day we drive on our passion, which is racing and to win.
“We've had four races this year, which I can tell you have been absolutely terrible. And given the fact that I got the offer to come back to GM last year in October and working with everybody, especially working with Eric Warren to put the program together, I was more excited about this year than I've been about any years. I'm not getting any younger, but the way it's gone so far has been out of our hands and just been extremely difficult to accept because we are not used to not being up front. However, we have to be positive and move forward, and I think we might see some changes and I think we might get our competitive edge back when we get to Detroit.”
(Photo by Perry Nelson/LAT Images, courtesy of IMSA)
Le Mans is not part of the IMSA schedule, but Ricky Taylor feels any momentum the team might take from a good finish in Detroit would be huge.
“It definitely sets the tone. I've never gone to Le Mans with the same team that we raced with in Detroit or that we race with at home. I think the momentum normally sticks with the team as much as anything. I can take my own confidence from Detroit and it doesn't seem to provide very much.
“But I think when the team is gelling and everybody's working well together, this is such a team sport that I think the difference in the driver's momentum and confidence on track makes quite a small difference. I think the differences really come when the communication is on point, the trust is on point with the engineers and the drivers and the mechanics, and everybody's gelling as a team. Individually, it doesn't quite move the needle.”
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.