The Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing duo of Cadillac V-Series.R GTPs entered the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring ready to defend their 2024 title, but a challenging day on track halted the pursuit of a back-to-back win.

 

 

Ricky Taylor started the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring after qualifying the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R GTP in eighth to start the iconic endurance event. Early in the full-season driver’s first stint, the Florida native began experiencing issues with the throttle and holding track position became difficult behind the wheel. As the No. 10 determined the solution to the throttle issue, the team pitted the blue chrome machine under a full course caution to repair the throttle issue. While the team was working on the repair, the No. 10 was assessed a 60-second penalty for incident responsibility with a competitor on track. With the repair and the penalty, Taylor and the No. 10 returned on track three laps down to the leader within the initial 90 minutes. From that point, it was about maintaining the best tire strategy and navigating multiple cautions on course, Taylor ended up completing a triple stint in the Florida heat. A quarter of the way through, Taylor came to pit lane and Filipe Albuquerque took over at the wheel.

 

 

Running green flag laps on track, Albuquerque continued to work on making up the lap deficit as best as possible. With about hour-and-a-half behind the wheel, IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup co-driver Will Stevens climbed in the No. 10 for his stint on track. With only one caution period on track during his two hours in the Cadillac V-Series.R, the British driver managed to stay on pace as the field navigated heavy traffic around the 17-turn road course. Just past halfway, Stevens reported a broken right-side headlight from contact. Once Stevens completed his first stint, Ricky Taylor hopped back into the No. 10 during a full-service pit stop and the team changed the front nose bodywork before heading back on track.

 

 

Defending Twelve Hours of Sebring winner, Louis Delétraz started on fourth row of the 13-car GTP field in seventh entering the 12-hour endurance event. Delétraz capitalized on the movements on the start, gaining a position forward into sixth. As the field saw a slew of cautions throughout the opening hours, Delétraz had worked his way forward in the running order, even as high as second on track, before the team decided to bring Jordan Taylor into the No. 40. Once Taylor was on track, there was limited cautions on track leading to lots of green track time. Taylor kept within the lead group of GTPs and ran lap times on par with the leaders. With a solid amount of caution-free running, endurance co-driver and WTR veteran, Brendon Hartley, climbed aboard the No. 40 for his first race inside the silver chrome machine. While working to maintain track position, Hartley locked brakes entering Turn 17 and made minimal contact with the wall causing a full course yellow. Given the damage obtained from contact, the No. 40 team were forced to pit in a closed pit and replace the front nose bodywork. The team was then served a penalty for work in a closed pit, resulting in the team now being three laps off the lead lap. From that point onward, it was about survival and managing the tires while working to get their laps back.

 

 

At the halfway mark and beyond, the field saw an extensive amount of green flag track time before a caution was displayed with just over three hours remaining. On the long caution, it was a busy pit lane and three GTP competitors had trouble on pit lane, reshuffling much of the running order.

 

 

Albuquerque came back in the driver’s seat of the No. 10 and found himself in a position that within the paces of the lead GTP group. Taking over from Delétraz prior to the caution, Taylor returned back to the No. 40 with the goal to continue chipping away at their laps down.

 

 

Following two consecutive cautions, the race then returned to a stretch of nonstop racing action. Albuquerque was set to finish out the day with his second time inside the No. 10 with a triple stint. With the help of the previous cautions, the Portuguese driver ended up back on the lead lap and was within the leaders as the field came to the restart as the sun set at Sebring International Raceway.

 

 

Once nightfall landed across the track, both Albuquerque and Taylor were seeking to unlap themselves against the leader, but with minimal cautions and the clock running out, the challenge to do became harder. Delétraz tackled the final hour for the No. 40 and ended up retiring early due a mechanical issue and finished 11th. Albuquerque took the checkered flag for the No. 10 team to recover a seventh-place finish after 12 grueling and intense hours of racing.

 

 

The Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing GTP teams will now head to the streets of Long Beach on April 10-12, 2025, to begin a stretch of sprint races.

 

  

 

Wayne Taylor, Team Owner, Wayne Taylor Racing: ““That is probably the most disappointing Sebring 12 Hour I have been to. It is sad because we have such great support from Cadillac and DEX. The team worked so hard, and the drivers did such a good job. As we weren’t that competitive in Qualifying, we decided to build a race car for the race. And now that the race is over, even though we didn’t get the result we wanted, we were running the same times as the top cars. Right in the very beginning, the No. 10 car had a problem with the throttle not opening fully, so we had to come in and fix it, dropping down two laps. Then, once out, the No. 10 car got a drive-through penalty of 60 seconds for something we didn’t do, and which put us down another lap. Three laps! Two were of our doing, the other one was because of the race director. We looked at the footage, he never touched the car. Ricky said he never touched the car. And the Race Director’s response was that he made a ‘bad call’. Well, then what is the protocol on making a ‘bad call’? That one lap cost us the chance to race for the win in the end. It is inexcusable. I am not going to put this kind of effort in, representing these brands, to have somebody make these kinds of moves. As for the 40 car, it was a tough day battling a challenging car. In the end, we ended up going down four laps. For a long time in the race, we were 12th and 13th. But we started making our way back up, and at the same time running the same times as the leaders. So overall, in the end, we had a car that we could race and unfortunately, the Race Director didn’t allow us to race. No matter what, I love Sebring. It is a very special track and a very special event to me. We look forward to returning next year with a much stronger result.”

 

 

Ricky Taylor, full season co-driver, No. 10 Cadillac WTR V-Series.R: “Another tough day. It started off really badly and we were hopeful that it was a long day and that we would get back in it. The yellows just didn’t come our way. I think know if we had the winning car, we had a car maybe for the podium, the Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing team did a great job and never gave up. We will go to Long Beach and hopefully get some success there.”

 

 

Filipe Albuquerque, full season co-driver, No. 10 Cadillac WTR V-Series.R: “A very frustrating day for the WTR team as a group. We lost three laps early on in the race, two were on us, but one was on a penalty from IMSA. But we couldn’t come back from one lap down. We recovered two laps, but not three and it was very frustrating. At times, we had glimpses of very good performance and being as fast as the leaders, but in the end, the Porsches were in a different league than us. We were never able to push for a position because we were always a lap down. It was just frustrating for everybody. We just need a goodnight’s sleep, and we will regroup and go again for Long Beach.”

 

 

Will Stevens, IMEC co-driver, No. 10 Cadillac WTR V-Series.R: “I think overall it was a disappointing result for us. We came here wanting more but obviously we got off to a difficult start. We ended up three laps down pretty early on in the race and from we needed the yellows to help us get back to the lead lap. But not enough came soon enough for us to do that. I think it turned into damage limitation and on days on that, you have to try to bring home as many points as you can. Today, I think P7 is the most you can do. There were parts of the race where we looked strong. We just need to take the positives from the week, learn from them and keep improving for the future.”

 

 

Jordan Taylor, full season co-driver, No. 40 Cadillac WTR V-Series.R: “Definitely not our day. I think considering where we started the weekend, we made good improvements to the car: handling-wise, balance-wise, setup-wise. We learned a lot. Then through the race we kind of improved pace wise. A couple little things didn't go our way, but I think considering this is our second race with this car, we're still learning. I think we've learned some good things for the rest of this season.”

 

 

Louis Delétraz, full season co-driver, No. 40 Cadillac WTR V-Series.R: “A difficult race, obviously not the race we wanted. We had to retire the car early at the end due to an issue that will have to be investigated. A little bit disappointed bit I think we had a rough first day then improved the car a lot for the race, but still not enough to fight for the win. But we were there for good points and running at the front then had a couple of issues in a row which put us at the back and ultimately retiring. So, not much positive but we definitely learned a lot and will be back stronger in Long Beach.”

 

 

Brendon Hartley, IMEC co-driver, No. 40 Cadillac WTR V-Series.R: “It was a bit of a rough day on both sides of the garage. We were battling and everyone was doing their best. I had a little mistake, I had been struggling a little bit with brakes, locked up and went straight into Turn 17 which lost us a lap. And then we just couldn’t get it back. Not many yellows, which was a problem for both cars to get us back to the lead lap. I think we battled hard, but ultimately, we left here with no result. Disappointed and I feel bad for making an error but I enjoyed my weekend with Wayne Taylor Racing and hope to be back at some point.”

 

 

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.