Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing will tackle the 63rd Running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona this weekend at Daytona International Speedway. Preparations for the Rolex 24 come on the heels of the annual Roar Before the Rolex 24 that featured three days of testing. In the team’s history, Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) boosts a total of four victories at the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship crown jewel, taking the honors in 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021, while Team Owner, Wayne Taylor earned two Rolex 24 wins as a driver in 1996 and 1998.

In the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R GTP, WTR veterans Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque are determined to get to add another Rolex 24 victory to their collection this time alongside endurance teammates, Will Stevens and Brendon Hartley. During the Roar, the No. 10 team turned a total of 189 laps and posted a best lap time of 01:36.697 around Daytona International Speedway.

 

For the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R GTP, Jordan Taylor – a three-time Rolex 24 winner – looks to add to his resume another victory at the ‘round the clock classic with full-time teammate, Louis Delétraz, and Rolex 24 co-driver, Kamui Kobayashi. Kobayashi returns to Wayne Taylor Racing after contributing to two of the team’s Rolex 24 victories (2019, 2020). At annual Roar test days, the No. 40 tallied 178 laps throughout six on-track sessions with their quickest time of 01:37.237 around the 3.56-mile, 12-turn road course.

 

“I am very excited to be back at Daytona and especially with Cadillac, where we have won in 2017, 2019 and 2020, as well as to carry the DEX brand on the two cars and the GTD car,” said Team Owner, Wayne Taylor. “With little time prepare in the short off season, the Roar test weekend was really about continuing to learn the cars and systems. Given the 24-hour race these days, all cars are bullet proof, so it is less about reliability and more about having a flawless race. Based on the times at the Roar, it is going to be a very competitive race. If we can be in the top four or five and on the lead lap Sunday morning, we will have a shot.”

 

The 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship officially begins this Thursday, January 23rd,  with two practice sandwiching the qualifying for the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Qualifying to set the grid for GTP will take place at 3:25 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 23rd, with broadcast available on Peacock. The field will see the green flag fly at 1:40 p.m. ET for the 63rd Running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. NBC’s family of networks (NBC, USA Network, Peacock) and IMSA Radio will broadcast flag-to-flag coverage of the event.

 

Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R Driver Quotes

 

Ricky Taylor, Full Season Co-Driver, No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R

“It was nice to get Kamui and Brendon into the team and getting them used to the car. We all, us drivers, are new to the car and program and the team is new to the Cadillac V-Series.R. So, I think we are just learning what makes the car perform and what knobs we can turn for the setup, what performs well and what doesn’t. We tried all our big changes at the Roar, that way for this week we have an idea of scale of how things work and fine tune for the conditions of the weekend. So, it was overall good. It’s going to be a really, hard race, like always it’s unrelenting for the first 23 hours then you get to the final hour is when it gets even more intense. I don’t think you can really pick a winner at this point, but the one thing for certain is three years into these cars (GTP homologation), everyone is even better every year, so it’s only going to keep getting harder.”

 

Filipe Albuquerque, Full Season Co-Driver, No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R

“The Roar felt good. We have a lot to do on the car and we got to drive the car in the wet as well. It’s just been learning about the car and all the settings that we can play within this car; it’s a work in progress. Qualifying will be about putting the car in the window as best as possible. In terms of pace, we will have wait to see and we will give it our best. I think it will be important to gauge the pace and where we are strong or not, adapting throughout the race with settings on the car, find the right window for it and the key point is not having any issues. Then you wait until the last two hours, that’s when the race starts to go.”

 

Will Stevens, IMEC Co-Driver, No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R

“Overall, the Roar was fairly productive for us. The main objective is to get all the drivers through the car and being comfortable, which I think we achieved. Even having the wet session at the end, I think was a nice bonus to having driven the car in the dry and the wet. I think everyone feels comfortable in all conditions. I’d say that is the biggest box to tick. From a performance point of view, we worked through what we needed to try and learn ahead of race week to make sure we understand more of the new car we have and what it wants and needs to be able to be quick. I think we achieved that. There’s obviously a long list of things you wanted to get through that we will cover later this week. I think everyone seems very competitive; the lineup of drivers are super strong, and every manufacturer now is pretty quick, so I think you could be at the front or the back very easily. It’s going to be very close, but I think we all knew that’s the way it was going to be coming into this year and that’s what makes it exciting.”

 

Brendon Hartley, Rolex 24 Co-Driver, No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R

“We had a smooth Roar with little to no issues. The team and my teammates did a great job to give me all the info I needed to get up to speed. I’m feeling comfortable in the car and enjoying being back in Daytona. We have a little bit of lap time to find before the 24. We will all be working hard over the next days to see if we can squeeze some more time out of it and also make sure we are as prepared as possible for everything the next days might throw at us.”

 

Louis Delétraz, Full Season Co-Driver, No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R

“The Roar was great. We learned every lap and a lot of conditions – cold, sun and even rain – so we discovered the Cadillac V-Series.R even more. I think in terms of performance it’s hard to see because everyone is having different run plans. It definitely seems like it is not easy for us, but we are great team and have great people with us. We are getting better every night and day, and we have a few more nights until the race, so I am sure we can work it out and be competitive for the race and actually be fighting for something good. I am feeling good about qualifying this week, it is not the most important part of the weekend, but it is nice to have the feeling of low fuel and new tires, but it won’t matter in the end result of the race. There are still some points available so we will push as hard as we can to get as many as we can. Honestly, it looks like our competitors are a bit faster and have the edge right now, but we are working hard to catch up.”

 

Jordan Taylor, Full Season Co-Driver, No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R

“After the Roar, I feel relatively good. It’s hard to look at the timing sheets. I think everyone is working on their own programs and going through what they need to learn. For us, it was the first time doing proper laps in this car and with two cars ready to go in race prep. We checked off a lot of boxes which was good. We leave the Roar in a good spot. All the drivers are relatively happy with the car and the balance. We have a new engineer on our car, so getting communication down has been a big part of the Roar. Overall, I think we are leaving the Roar excited but know we have a lot more work to do in the few days leading up to the Rolex. The way this race goes, you need a fast car but at the same time, the way IMSA racing goes you need to stay in the hunt, stay on the lead lap until Hour 20 and that’s when you go racing. You need a fast car but 90% of this race is survival and getting to the end to battle for it. We are super excited to be back with Cadillac. I personally spent my entire career with them other than one year, which was last year, so I feel like I am back with family, a lot of familiar faces. It’s a brand new car that I love and love to represent, especially being an American driver, so I am excited to get the week started.”

 

 

Kamui Kobayashi, Rolex 24 Co-Driver, No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R

“I think being back with WTR and joining the team, we have started working properly as a team here at the Roar, doing my seat fit and everything. I think as a team we are starting to progressively improve and try to understand what the car needs. Of course with WTR using the Cadillac for the first time in GTP as well, I think we are still learning it. So far, we need some more work to do on the car this week. I am really happy to be back in the Cadillac with Wayne Taylor Racing again here at Daytona. We have good memories of 2019 and 2020 to win the race and obviously, we have the chance to do it again. I am thankful for this opportunity and I’m looking forward to next week.”

 

 

About Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR)

Wayne Taylor Racing’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 18-year history, WTR 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 currently has 14 North America Lamborghini Super Trofeo Championship titles and a Lamborghini World Finals title.