BRASELTON, Georgia (October 12, 2024) – The Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti (WTRAndretti) Acura ARX-06 GTP teams saw checkered flag fly on the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season with Saturday’s MOTUL Petit Le Mans. With ten hours of action-packed endurance racing, the team closed the chapter on their manufacturer partnership with Acura and Honda Racing Corporation US (HRC). WTRAndretti’s success with Acura and HRC was highlighted by their 2021 Rolex 24 at Daytona win, a Twelve Hours of Sebring victory in 2024 and seven additional impressive wins.
For the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06, Filipe Albuquerque handled the opening stint driving duties after qualifying in fifth position. An influx of cautions throughout the first hour and half of the ten hours, Albuquerque kept his nose clean and navigated in lap traffic to pit and give co-driver Ricky Taylor a solid top five running position. Taylor took control of the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 and with a stretch of green flag running, the blue and black team found themselves in the lead trio of GTPs. At the six-hour to go mark, IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup (IMEC) co-driver, Brendon Hartley, climbed inside the No. 10 for his triple stint into the evening hours. Hartley pulled off an impressive stint staying within the leader as the halfway mark was reached. Hartley then made a masterful pass in Turn 10a to take the lead just shy of four hours remaining. Albuquerque took over for Hartley after his stout stint and continued to lead for nearly all his second on-track stint.
Now with nightfall, it was back to Taylor as the clock was under two hours remaining. Jockeying throughout lapped traffic, Taylor kept his distance to the leader within three seconds and a stellar pit stop by the No. 10 crew propelled the No. 10 back into the lead with a little over an hour remaining. Unfortunately, with under an hour remaining, the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 made contact with a GT car stopped on track in Turn 5 and damage from the contact ended the strong run for the blue and black team, finishing in ninth.
In the No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06, Jordan Taylor tackled the start, from the seventh spot on the grid, for the MOTUL Petit Le Mans. As the first yellow flag flew, the No. 40 team made the decision to stay out while much of the GTP filed pitted – creating an alternate strategy early and cycling to lead. Taylor held steady for a double stint and handed over the No. 40 to his full-season co-driver, Louis Delétraz, for his first laps on race day. Delétraz ran within the front half of the GTP field, holding strong on the team’s alternate strategy. Just before the halfway point, IndyCar Vice Champion for Andretti Global and IMEC co-driver, Colton Herta, hopped into the No. 40 for his first MOTUL Petit Le Mans laps since 2020.
With the second half of the ten hours of racing on the horizon, Herta managed a triple stint and maintained to stay on the lead lap of the GTP field until a cut tire forced the team to pit. From that point, it was focusing on progressing forward once again while balancing traffic. With about two hours to go, Taylor hopped back into the car through the checkered flag. Attrition ahead of the No. 40 team placed the Taylor into the top five, but a penalty from the final caution of the race resulted in a stop-and-hold, sliding the No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06 back to seventh to finish.
Although the season didn’t end as expected, the WTRAndretti team boasted two victories with the Twelve Hours of Sebring and the Streets of Detroit, along with two pole positions and two podiums in the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
Wayne Taylor, Team Principal, WTRAndretti: “This is the first year we’ve come into the final race not being in a position to win the championship and we could just go for the win. But unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. All the drivers in the No. 10 car did an outstanding job. It was very unfortunate what happened. Ricky had just taken the lead with 30 minutes to go, but literally as he took the lead, another car was stopped on the track and he had nowhere to go but straight into the stopped car. The No. 40 car were working their way back but unfortunately had a penalty in the closing hour. All three of them did fantastic in the No. 40 car as well. I think they all led for a certain period of time. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the result we wanted but thank you to everyone on the WTRAndretti and Acura and HRC.”
No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 GTP Drivers
Ricky Taylor: “First of all, I’m super proud of the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 team. For the fourth year straight, they put us in a position to fight for the win. I think we were so much looking forward to ending the relationship with Acura and HRC on a high note. For me, since 2018, and for the team since 2021, we have so many good memories. It was a great partnership to work with, to combine such talented groups. I think this just proves how hard the sport is and how ruthless it can be. I think we can still look back on it and feel lucky we were able to work together for such a long time. And as a team we move on to next year and try this one again in twelve months. Maybe the sixth time’s the charm.”
Filipe Albuquerque: “There aren’t really words to describe this race. Brendon did an amazing job. We were leading. Ricky just took the lead in Turn 5, doing a great job, and there was just a car in front of him, so he crashed. It was impossible to avoid. Our competitors seem to have good luck in this race while we do not. For so many years, we leave here crying because of losing in heartbreaking ways. We were doing everything right and we need to be proud of that. But it’s just tiring and exhausting to come up completely empty, knowing that we did everything right. There is nothing to learn from this. It’s just a matter of going again. I feel sorry as well because it was our last race with Acura and HRC. They did great and the car felt amazing; we were fighting with the championship leaders. This race reflects our last three years in GTP: we do everything correctly, but the results seem to slip through our fingers. I just feel sorry for how we ended the last race with Acura and HRC, but I think it reflects our last three years well.”
Brendon Hartley: “I loved being back with Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti at Petit Le Mans. I had a good feeling this weekend that we had a shot at the win. I think we had a pretty faultless race up until that one-hour-to-go mark. Mechanics, engineers and drivers, I think we were all on it. We were fighting in the first two positions for the whole race. Ricky was just coming back on the Porsche, and we had the tire advantage. I think we had a really good shot at this win, and then Ricky was just completely unlucky. There was nothing he could do there; there was a car stopped in the middle of the road and he couldn’t see it. It’s kind of heart breaking. I’m still really desperate for the first win with WTRAndretti. I feel like we’ve come close so many times. This year in Sebring, second at Daytona last year and then Petit Le Mans a couple years ago. It just wasn’t meant to be. Today felt like what could’ve been. But big thanks to everyone. I really enjoyed it. I loved working with Ricky and Filipe again, the crew and the No. 40 drivers. It’s such a good atmosphere. Just disappointed we couldn’t end up with a win.”
No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06 GTP Drivers
Louis Delétraz: “I think it was a crazy race. We’ve been fighting for six hours to stay on the lead lap after the first caution, where we were surprised to have no final wave-by and ended up over a minute behind the leaders. We came back; Colton and Jordan did a fantastic job. But a (tire) puncture put us right back to fighting for that lap. We almost made it, but in the end we did not. We tried everything to get our lap back. Today was either winning or seventh, and it was seventh. A huge thank you to HRC and Acura for the season. We all wish it could have been better, but I enjoyed meeting and working with all the talented people. I’m sure there will be a lot of success in the future.”
Jordan Taylor: “I think we had some promise today. Early on, we led a lot of laps, and the No. 10 car led a lot of laps. They just had a super unlucky event to take them out of the race, and we just had an unlucky puncture that took us out of contention. Kind of the name of our year. There was some hope here and there, but no results. Sebring was a great one to think back on, but I think we’re all looking forward to 2025.”
Colton Herta: “I always enjoy coming to this race and racing these endurance races. It’s something different from my main IndyCar schedule, and it’s fun to do with HRC and the Acura ARX-06. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed my time with the WTRAndretti team. You know, I hope I can come back in the future and win this great race.”
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.
