IMSA: #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura wins in Detroit

Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque won Saturday’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, ending a near two-year winless streak for the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti entry.

With a deft move under braking for the tight Turn 3 hairpin, Ricky Taylor claimed the lead of today’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic, then went on to claim victory with starting co-driver Filipe Albuquerque today on the streets of Detroit, Michigan.

Starting fourth, Albuquerque quickly moved the #10 car up to second with a bold pass up the inside on the opening lap. The team’s single pit stop was for fuel and driver change only, with Taylor taking over driving duties. He then stalked race leader Mathieu Jaminet for several laps and, with less than 26 minutes remaining, moved to the inside and successfully out-braked his rival.

Once in front, Taylor continued to hold off the GTP field, despite a pair of late-race caution flag restarts, to claim the victory by just over 1.1 seconds at the checkers.

The win is the first of the year for the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti duo, and the second of the year for Acura. Their WTRAndretti teammates, Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor, took their #40 Acura to victory at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March, and finished fourth today.

Cadillac scored its fifth podium in as many IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races with third place in the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic.

Sebastien Bourdais, who qualified third in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R, pitted for fuel with 72 minutes left and gave way to Renger van der Zande, who stayed out of trouble in the chaotic closing minutes on the 1.654-mile, nine-turn temporary street circuit to cross the finish line third.

“Congratulations to the Cadillac Racing team and the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R on their podium finish in the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic. It’s great to win on the streets of Detroit – our hometown and where Cadillac was founded more than 120 years ago,” said John Roth, global vice president of Cadillac.

“The podium today demonstrates the deep expertise and capabilities of the team, as well as the power of V-Series, which includes the V-Series.R racecar, and Cadillac’s portfolio of performance vehicles. Every member of the team can be very proud of their efforts, with the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R performing so well from both a technology and durability standpoint.”

Ricky Taylor (#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06) Race winner: “We didn’t know what to expect, this is such a challenging course. HRC has worked so hard with everyone at WTRAndretti, everyone has just worked so incredibly hard. It’s been over a year [since the last win for the #10] and we’re not used to that. Until now, I hadn’t won a race since I’ve been married [last year]! But today, Filipe got an unbelievable start. Track position is so important here, and that start by Filipe [from fourth to second] put us in position to win the race. We used the one set of tires for the whole race, so thanks Michelin, the guys nailed the pit stop, and the driver change was flawless. I’m just so happy and so proud of the team. This is an awesome day.”

Filipe Albuquerque (#10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06) Race winner: “It’s been hard for us. There were many races we could’ve won, but didn’t. Today was a big fight from P4 [on the starting grid], but we did an amazing race. Ricky unstoppable this weekend, he had amazing pace all the time, and he just proved that with his amazing stint and overtake [for the lead]. He had to deal with so many cautions, so many restarts, and all these walls, he was perfect. We are the House of Acura, and we came here, to the House of Cadillac, and we won. I couldn’t be more proud of that.”

Sebastien Bourdais: “I had a pretty short stint. With a short format, you pit so early in the window to try and prevent yourself from getting caught out with yellows. We had a really, really late call and to get the cockpit ready for pitstop was almost impossible. Then, the earlier you pit the quicker you need the pitstop to be. So, it didn’t turn out the way we wanted but we salvaged a starting position at the end, which is not a bad day at all.”

Wayne Taylor, Team Principal, WTRAndretti: “This was a fantastic result for the entire WTRAndretti team, both the No. 10 car and the No. 40 car. The team has worked flawlessly all week. We’ve had a rough time in the last two races, but we seem to have got everything back together. I can’t say enough about all our partners: Konica Minolta, DEX Imaging and our partnership with Acura and HRC as well as Michael Andretti’s group. This has been a long time coming, and I was ecstatic. Obviously, in the championship the No. 40 car is closer to being in the front than the No. 10 car, so we were debating what to do during the race. But the No. 10 car seemed to be in a different league, so we didn’t have to figure out how we would handle things. I’m so ecstatic.”

Michael Andretti, Chairman, Andretti Global: “I’m really excited to be here. I’ve been here now for the two wins this year. It’s exciting to be part of the No. 10 win and the No. 40 win. Hopefully this is a good sign for the rest of the year, get some more wins and get the championship.”

AO Racing Goes Back-to-Back in GTD Pro Fight

Laurin Heinrich and Seb Priaulx came out on top in the production-based ranks, benefitting from contact between the two class-leading GTD Pro cars.

Heinrich took the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R to a 2.885-second win over Ben Barnicoat’s damaged No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, which got into the then-leading No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Nicky Catsburg.

AO Racing, with “Rexy” the No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R – featuring the T-Rex-inspired dinosaur livery – emerged from seeming hibernation to snatch an unlikely resurrection act after Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports appeared poised to dominate against the backdrop of General Motors’ corporate headquarters.

From a 1-2 start on the grid, the race quickly went awry for the pair of Corvette Z06 GT3.R cars.

First, Friday pole-winner Antonio Garcia’s race evaporated before it ever got going with reported alternator problems bringing the No. 3 car to pit lane just after the start. But where the race truly became a painful root canal for Corvette came after a restart from the second full-course caution just past halfway through the 100-minute race.

Tommy Milner was last of the GTD PRO runners to pit after leading the entirety of his stint and handing over the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R to co-driver Nicky Catsburg, who appeared to have the advantage on both tire and fuel strategy.

After the restart, however, there was contact between Catsburg and Ben Barnicoat, who’d taken over the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, at Turn 3. Barnicoat was on the inside of Catsburg attempting to take the lead.

In the aftermath, Laurin Heinrich, who’d taken over the No. 77 AO Porsche from Seb Priaulx, hit Catsburg on the rebound with nowhere to go and damaged his front splitter.

A subsequent traffic jam at Turn 1 following a separate incident between two Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) cars caused a third full-course caution and left the damaged Heinrich and Barnicoat cars limping but still running 1-2 ahead of Alex Riberas in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, Marvin Kirchhoefer in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo and Albert Costa Balboa in the No. 35 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.

IMSA officials reviewed the Catsburg-Barnicoat contact with no action taken, leaving Barnicoat’s damaged car to go after Heinrich for the remainder of the race while Catsburg sat in the pits out of contention while the No. 4 Corvette was being repaired.

Two more full-course cautions interrupted the flow and there was one more bit of podium drama inside the final five minutes. Riberas and Kirchhoefer made contact into Turn 3, but the incident was put under review by IMSA race officials again with no further action.

Heinrich, battered but not beaten, emerged ahead of the similarly ailing Barnicoat by 2.885 seconds at the finish. Riberas finished third to ensure he and co-driver Ross Gunn scored their first podium of the season in the No. 23 Aston Martin.

It was the second career and second straight WeatherTech Championship win for Heinrich, Priaulx and AO Racing. Unofficially, the pairing extended its GTD PRO championship lead to 84 points over Barnicoat and co-driver Jack Hawksworth.

“It was super difficult and I had to adapt my driving style,” said Heinrich, who added that the Porsche’s vibration was “horrendous” and forced him to adjust his driving.

“I had to enter really slow in the corner. Every restart it got more difficult. I couldn’t have done it without (Priaulx). That’s the key to win in IMSA.”

Priaulx added, “Our job was keep the car nice and clean for Laurin and leave it for him to fight. I couldn’t have done it without the team. Double win! Really happy for the whole team.”

Hawksworth, who saw the Catsburg-Barnicoat contact from pit lane, described his view of the incident.

“It’s a hard one to say. The (No.) 4 came over in the braking zone, and you can’t do that,” he said. “From a little bit back, the (No.) 4 came across. You can’t move in the braking zone.”