MONTEREY, California (May 11, 2024) —Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s (WTRAndretti) pair of Acura ARX-06 GTP teams tackled qualifying for the MOTUL Course de Monterey at the historic WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. For the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 GTP, it was Ricky Taylor piloting the blue and black machine for the 15-minute qualifying session while Louis Delétraz climbed behind the No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06. Utilizing a split strategy to conquer the competitive GTP class, Taylor came to pit lane after an install lap to open the session and the WTRAndretti crew changed tires while Delétraz ran just over five minutes before pitting. As the checkered flag flew, Taylor qualified the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 in seventh position on the GTP grid with a best time of 1:12.905. Delétraz’s fastest lap time around the 2.238-mile road course of 1:13.084 earned the eighth starting position alongside teammate Taylor.
Sunday’s MOTUL Course de Monterey from WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is set for 3:10 p.m. ET (12:10 p.m. PT) for the traditional 2-hour, 40-minute sprint race. Broadcast coverage will begin at 3 p.m. ET (12 p.m. PT) on NBC.
TOP FIVE GTP STARTING GRID
- No. 01 Cadillac Racing (Cadillac V-Series.R) R. van der Zande, S. Bourdais (111.212 mph)
- No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing (Cadillac V-Series.R) P. Derani, J.Aitken (111.040 mph)
- No. 24 BMW M Team RLL (BMW M Hybrid V8) J. Krohn, P. Eng (110.900 mph)
- No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports (Porsche 963) N. Tandy, M. Jaminet (110.877 mph)
- No. 25 BMW M Team RLL (BMW M Hybrid V8) C. De Phillippi, N. Yelloly (110.816 mph)
- No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 (Acura ARX-06) R. Taylor, F. Albuquerque (110.510 mph)
- No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06 (Acura ARX-06) J. Taylor, L. Delétraz (110.239 mph)
Ricky Taylor, No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06: “We split the strategies in qualifying. We based our strategy on Practice 2 and the track was quite a bit different. I think we have some work to do overnight, but it’s a long race tomorrow. We have two new good sets of tires and 2-hours, 40-minutes to work our way to the front. And a new track surface, so it’s a lot of unknowns. No one has raced here before in IMSA with this track surface, so hopefully we’ll have a bit of a fresh start.”
Louis Delétraz, No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06: “A tough qualifying. I think we were lacking a bit of pace today. The important points are in the race. So, we are going to try to do our best for the race and be fast and score the most points tomorrow. It was definitely hard to bring the tires in and felt like the lap time just wasn’t coming today. It’s just qualifying, we look forward to the race tomorrow.”
ABOUT WTRANDRETTI
Andretti Global and Wayne Taylor Racing announced a new, long-term partnership in 2023 that combines the resources of the two championship-caliber teams to compete in IMSA’s top classes. In 2024, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti (WTRAndretti) has expanded to a two-car GTP program as well as competes in the GTD class. Coming off its 2023 championship winning effort, WTRAndretti continues its Driver Development Program competing in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series with a full stable.
WTRAndretti’s global motorsports enterprise boasts two IMSA driver championships (2013 and 2017), and back-to-back IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Championships (2020, 2021) which contributed to nine IMSA manufacturer championships for Acura, Pontiac, Corvette and Cadillac. In its brief 17-year history, WTRAndretti has accumulated multiple victories in sportscar racing’s most iconic events: Rolex 24 At Daytona, Twelve Hours of Sebring, Petit Le Mans, Mid-Ohio, Road America and the Six Hours of The Glen. With its back-to-back PRO Class Championship wins (2022, 2023), WTR also has ten North America Lamborghini Super Trofeo Championship titles and a Lamborghini World Finals title.
Andretti Global, a Championship-winning motorsports organization, competes in additional racing categories worldwide, including the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, Extreme E, Australian Supercars and the Mexico SuperCopa Championship. Additionally, the racing enterprise commits to driver development through competition in INDY NXT by Firestone and through support of Sebastian and Oliver Wheldon’s racing careers.
WTRAndretti’s long term partnerships include Acura, Honda Racing Corporation US (HRC), Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA, DEX Imaging, Harrison Contracting Company and Gainbridge.
