DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (January 25, 2024) – As a newly expanded two-car GTP effort, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global (WTRAndretti) stable of the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 and No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06 teams are determined to fight to the front for Rolex 24 At Daytona honors. Over the course of the history of WTRAndretti, the team carries four Rolex 24 At Daytona titles (2017, 2019, 2020, 2021) and Team Principal Wayne Taylor boosts two Rolex 24 At Daytona wins as a driver (1996, 1998). As a factory Acura team, WTRAndretti is focused on delivering Acura their fourth-consecutive Rolex 24 victory as a manufacturer at Daytona International Speedway.
For the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 team, it’s the hunt for redemption after back-to-back podiums at the 24-hour endurance classic. Filipe Albuquerque controlled the No. 10 machine in qualifying to land sixth on the grid. Inside the cockpit of the blue and black No. 10 are two-time Rolex 24 At Daytona Champions Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, reigning World Endurance Championship Hypercar Champion, Brendon Hartley, and 2022 Indianapolis 500 Champion, Marcus Ericsson. In the red and black No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06, Louis Delétraz utilized his previous Acura ARX-06 experience and piloted the No. 40 to start fifth for the twice-round-the-clock event. Piloting the new No. 40 for WTRAndretti features three-time Rolex 24 At Daytona winner, Jordan Taylor, World Endurance Championship LMP2 Champion, Louis Delétraz, two-time winner at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Colton Herta, and Formula One World Champion, Jenson Button. With a competitive field and developed second year of the GTP, both WTRAndretti teams will need to keep their noses clean to reach the podium.
On-track action for the 24-hour event will begin on Thursday, January at 10:05 a.m. ET as the WTRAndretti crew and drivers will have four separate practice sessions to fine tune all preparations. The 62nd Running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona will see the green flag fly at 1:40 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 27th while IMSA Radio and NBC’s family of networks (NBC, USA Network, Peacock) will broadcast flag-to-flag coverage of the event.
Wayne Taylor, Team Principal, WTRAndretti: “First of all, we are focused on winning the race. Having said that, we are at a bit of a disadvantage based on the current BOP. You know, everyone has this kind of thing happen to them periodically, so all we have to do is to make sure we execute and do everything else perfectly. That involves remaining on the lead lap until Sunday, save our good tires for the end of the race, and hopefully, at that point, we can start picking up our pace knowing we might have more tires. Getting on the podium would be great. Winning is what we are here for. But I have to be realistic. Based on what I have seen over practice at the Roar, the Cadillacs will be very hard to beat. They are carrying 40 kilos less than us, so I’m not sure exactly how you overcome that. But you know what, we have a great team, great drivers, and great partners in Acura, HRC, Konica Minolta and DEX Imaging. As usual, I am always excited to start the 24-hour.”
No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 GTP Drivers
Ricky Taylor, 2024 Full Season Co-Driver: “The Roar was great to get all of the drivers through. We are putting a lot of work into how each driver feels in the car and treats tires, as we have less tires than in the past, so double stints will be quite key. The race always comes down to a sprint to the finish so staying diligent and patient throughout the 24 hours to be there to fight is our main focus.”
Filipe Albuquerque, 2024 Full Season Co-Driver: “So the Roar went really pretty well. I mean we obviously wanted to have qualified a little bit ahead, but the race is completely different story. We learned a lot about the car. We continue learning about the car. Now we’re going to be focusing more in the into our race situation set up. Really the starting point doesn’t mean where it ends. So, we know that we have a good car. Still, it will be on the topic to have a clean race. Obviously to win you first finish it and because it’s the second year of the GTP car doesn’t mean that every team is away from reliability, so we need to keep avoiding incidents with the other cars, have a reliable car and be fighting for the last hour with a nice intact car. And that’s a long way, that’s a good 23 hours to go then we need to survive a lot of things. So, all in all we need to as a team be happy with the car balance, as the drivers we believe we are doing a good job on that so let’s wait and see how it comes to last preparations for it. You don’t need to be the fastest to win this race, you need to be the most consistent.”
Brendon Hartley, 2024 Endurance Co-Driver: “Filipe, Louis and the whole WTRAndretti team extracted the most out of the car in qualifying, so it does look like we are slightly behind on performance right now. The good news is everyone is working very hard, and we have four more free practice sessions to work on the race car where we will see very different track conditions to the Roar. Acura and WTRAndretti knows well how to win this race and we are currently in full prep mode. Tire management in the hot track temps will be crucial as well as strategy and keeping it clean for 24 hours. Competition is huge this year and presume it will be a flat-out race for 24 hours so all above of what I mentioned will not be straight forward. We feel ready.”
Marcus Ericsson, 2024 Rolex 24 Co-Driver: “We had a really smooth Roar weekend. We got through the program; learned a lot about the tires, the cars, and in the end had a good qualifying. We qualified fifth and sixth, of course we always want more, but the whole WTRAndretti team did a really good job the whole. We are prepared going into the big race this weekend. We have a few more sessions to get the final preparations done. A great team effort so far and really looking forward to go racing on Saturday and Sunday.”
No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06 GTP Drivers
Louis Delétraz, 2024 Full Season Co-Driver: “I’m very excited to get into the Rolex 24 week. The Roar has been positive, we did a lot of work with WTRAndretti, Acura and HRC. The fact that we have two cars now is great. I love working together as a team. We enter the 24-hour very humble; I think that’s how you have to approach it. Taking it step-by-step, it’s a long race. You need to stay out of trouble and move our way forward until the last few hours and be ready for the fight. Obviously, we all want to win and aim for the Rolex. It will not be easy, and we will have to prove it.”
Jordan Taylor, 2024 Full Season Co-Driver: “We’re excited for the race week. We had a good Roar test, went through everything we needed to. Temperatures look a lot different this week, so I think need to use the practice sessions to understand where the car with the different tire options we have. I think that all eight drivers got through the car at the Roar, that was one of the biggest things we needed to get through. Now everyone seems comfortable, and we can use this week to fine tune the car now that we’ve checked off some big items. We’ll practice some driver change, go through the motions of pit stops and make sure everyone is ready to go for 24 hours.”
Colton Herta, 2024 Endurance Co-Driver: “It’s exciting getting into the race weekend with WTRAndretti. I think we learned a lot from the Roar. Louis put us in a really good starting spot with fifth place and something we can work off of. Now, it’s about keeping the car clean, trying to do our best and get through this race and hopefully come out on top.”
Jenson Button, 2024 Rolex 24 Co-Driver: “We learned from the Roar that it’s very competitive, every manufacturer is competitive in their own way and producing relatively similar lap times. Now, after qualifying it’s time to focus on race pace and really focus in on consistency, which I’m looking forward too. I think the WTRAndretti team has grown a lot over the Roar weekend, having a two-car team is no joke and they’ve done a great job preparing us for the race weekend – all eight drivers. 24 hours does feel like a sprint but at the same time, you need to remember that you have to look after the car. It’s very easy to forget that you need to be there to win it at the end when you’re on track because the adrenaline is high, you’re racing hard, but sometimes you need to take a step back. It’s finding that balance. It’s making sure that we’re prepared as a team, that we understand the goals. I can’t wait for my first Rolex 24 At Daytona and what a team to be doing it with!”
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.
