Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing opened the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with the series crown jewel, the Rolex 24 At Daytona. In return with Cadillac Racing for the first time since 2020, the duo of No. 10 and No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R GTP teams entered the 24-hour endurance event with the quest for victory once again. As the checkered flag flew, the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R team led the charge for the WTR pair to earn a fifth-place finish, the highest finisher for Cadillac Racing.

 

In the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R GTP it was Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Will Stevens and Brendon Hartley to take on the twice-around-the-clock endurance classic. It was Filipe Albuquerque who handled the opening racing action for the No. 10 team, starting from seventh on the grid. Albuquerque got a feeling for how the No. 10 was handling within those opening hours to manage their track position and tire management. As he handed over the driver’s seat to Will Stevens, the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup co-driver held steady within the range of the GTP leaders and continuing to understand the conditions on track and navigating lap traffic. After a few hours, Ricky Taylor hopped into the No. 10 and knew what needed to be done to ensure the team’s strategy on track was upkept, especially with minimal caution periods. Taylor’s stint remained clean while piloting around other class traffic to give the car solid shape to Brendon Hartley as the night fell upon Daytona. Suddenly with the cooler temperatures in the air and on track, the No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R thrived in those conditions. Hartley was able to gain positions on the GTP competitors running within the top five, even as high as second, as some of the toughest hours approached.

 

In the heat of the night, Albuquerque returned back to the wheel of the No. 10 for his next stint. Within two hours of his drive time, Albuquerque saw two caution periods that packed up the GTP field for restarts. Just over 10 hours in, the Portuguese driver made a move that propelled the blue DEX machine into the lead, their first time at the front of field. Albuquerque led the only the laps for the No. 10 over the course the of the 24 hours with eight total laps. Throughout the overnight, Stevens, Hartley and Taylor, rotated as driver inside the cockpit of the No. 10 and maintained within the lead group of GTP competitors before sunrise.

 

With a little under six hours remaining, the field saw a caution flag displayed and Albuquerque was back in control of the No. 10. While battling to make up ground to get back on the lead lap, Albuquerque was handed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility with another GTP competitor. Shortly after, Stevens climbed back into the No. 10 and was on a mission to unlap their deficit as time was ticking away. Unfortunately, Stevens’ progress forward was halted as the team was served another drive-through penalty that set them back another lap, two laps down to the leader. To finish out the final hours, Albuquerque was tasked with managing their track position to get their laps back and late race caution allowed for one of their laps back with the wave around, but limited attrition and cautions did not allow the No. 10 to fight for a podium position, ultimately finishing fifth on the day.

 

The No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R GTP team composed of Jordan Taylor, Louis Delétraz and Kamui Kobayashi, entered the Rolex 24 At Daytona starting from the eighth position on the 12-car GTP grid. As Delétraz took the green flag, the Swiss driver battled through his opening stint as he dealt and began to settle into the groove of the 24-hour endurance event. Delétraz maintained to stay on the lead lap before bringing the No. 40 to pit lane for service and a driver change to co-driver, Jordan Taylor. With many hours remaining on the clock, Taylor and the No. 40 team started to dial in the setup of the No. 40 and strategically planning their tire strategy for the remainder of the race. Taylor continued in the No. 40 while the field saw its first full course caution of the event, just over two hours into the race. With the limited cautions, tire strategy became a key player as Taylor worked through his two-hour stint. As the sun began to set at Daytona International Speedway, Kamui Kobayashi took over for Taylor in the silver chrome Cadillac V-Series.R. The field saw the second full course caution period and, on the restart, with cooler weather prevailing, the No. 40 and Kobayashi came to life and within minutes, Kobayashi found himself contending for the lead of the race. Kobayashi made a move through lap traffic on the high side of the Daytona International Speedway banking to take the lead. With the No. 40 gliding under the lights, the Rolex 24 co-driver continued to click away laps leading the GTP field. 

 

Once his two-hour stint wrapped up, Kobayashi then handed the reins back over to Delétraz for his next time behind the wheel. With green flag pit stops and cycles, Delétraz worked his way back into the lead that Kobayashi had built before another caution fell. The No. 40 crew went to work on pit lane during the yellow flag. As the field saw the restart, Delétraz was capitalizing on the fresh tires and impressive speed in the No. 40 at night, but unfortunately the cold tires from a fresh pit stop led to Delétraz sliding off track in Turn 2. As a result, the No. 40 made contact on track and officially ended the strong run for the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R. Although the result may not have ended on the podium, the No. 40 team and drivers learned a lot about the new Cadillac V-Series. R GTP and were able to tally 49 laps led to open the 2025 IMSA season. 

 

 

 

Wayne Taylor, Team Owner, Wayne Taylor Racing

“Our GTP program was a weekend of ups and downs. Drivers of both the No. 10 and 40 did an outstanding job. When Kamui took the 40 car to the lead, it was so impressive. He never put a wheel wrong. The 10 car was struggling in the beginning with tire issues and balance. With the 40 car having that incident so early on in the race, it was just heartbreaking. But things just happen. Our drivers and crew put their best effort forward and never gave up. Simply put, it just wasn’t our weekend. At all. We will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how we can pick the pace up with what we have and make things happen.”

 

Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Driver Quotes

 

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

“It was a hard week, but I think we came away with a good result. The Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing team maximized the performance, and we go to Sebring with some points and start the season working toward the championship with Cadillac.”

 

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

“What a tough day in the office. A long race. During the night actually the car was pretty decent, pretty nice and competitive, but we missed something. I mean, it’s our first race with Cadillac, learning the car. We seemed to mis the setup for the daytime; it was hard to drive, very hard to drive. We did what we could. I don’t think it’s that bad to finish P5 with what we had, so it’s what it is. So, we’ll learn and move on.”

 

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

“Overall, we came in with expectations to be higher up, but we did the best we could. At points in the race, we seemed strong, especially in the night. I thought we could mix it up with the others and the car came to life in the night. I think we just struggled a bit more in the heat, especially this being the hottest day of the week. Overall, I think it’s been a good first race for Cadillac and me back with Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing. I think we can build on this, and I look forward to Sebring.”

 

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

“I had another great experience with WTR. You have to learn the car at the Roar, all my teammates did a great job getting me up to speed. I loved working with everyone again, I think that’s one of the real strong points, every year I have with WTR - it’s been a great group of people, great atmosphere, team spirit. I mainly drove in the night and the car came alive; at some points we were flying. All the guys behind the scenes did a great job in fine tuning all the settings to get the balance that we wanted because we didn’t start the race with the ideal balance. Unfortunately, in the day, when the sun came out, we didn’t have the pace to challenge the top four. Overall, I think it was a really positive experience. First race for Cadillac with WTR, lots learnt, and I really enjoyed it and I hope I can come back at some point.”

 

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

“Obviously a tough day. The car showed a lot of speed when the sun went down, and the temps dropped. Kamui was a rockstar getting the car to the lead a couple of times, clicking off the laps, as you have to do at Daytona, to get to the end. It looked like a tiny thing with cold tires or maybe a touch by another car that sent Louis off. Thankfully, he is ok – that is the main thing. Unfortunately, we got collected by another car after the spin and it took off our chances to repair the car. Tough one for the team.”

 

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

“Very cold tires and it is actually very tough at night. On the restart, the yellow car of JDC went inside and just going to power and I think I spun. I don’t think anything happened. I don’t think I was touched and then I got collected. It was my mistake, and I am sorry to the team and sorry to my teammates as well. A sad way to end the 24. I’m fine. Luckily, we have a very strong car, Cadillac builds a very safe car. I think I just didn’t have enough heat in the tires and then got hit by an LMP2 car after the spin. I feel very sorry for the team and my teammates. It is a shame that it happened so early in the race.”

 

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

“Unfortunately, Louis had a crash after the restart. The crash was quite big, but Louis was ok, so that is something to be thankful for. Our race was quite good but unfortunately, we could not finish the race. Everyone worked very hard and with such short notice, we made it to Daytona with two Cadillacs. We are of course still missing experience with the Cadillac, but we worked together, and the car got stronger as we progressed through the weekend.”

 

 

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.