The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship finished things off in Detroit this weekend. In the GTP class Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti came out on top in a drama filled race on the streets of Detroit. The weekend was a sprint format race weekend with IMSA limiting the classes to GTP and GTD Pro. The result was a 21 car shootout around the 1.645-mile temporary street course. Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 secured the win for WTRAndretti. The win made it two on the season after the team also won a few months ago back at the 12 Hours of Sebring with the No. 40 car.
Emotions were high and the No. 10 broke a 22 month win drought. Wayne Taylor, Team Principal, WTRAndretti said, “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.”
“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.” Driver Ricky Taylor added, “This is Filipe and I’s fourth year together, and we’ve had a lot of success together. The No. 10 Konica Minolta car was on a roll for our first three years together, and we’ve had a really rough last year and a half.
We were really struggling and hadn’t had a win in a long time, and it seemed nothing could go our way. First of all, everybody at HRC and Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti worked really hard to put us back in the game. Street courses were not our thing. This year we haven’t been fighting for wins outside of Sebring. Everybody really turned our season around and we had performance.”
Rexy Doubles Down with Consecutive Wins
Coming off of a win at the last outing at Laguna. Rexy came out with a vengeance in Detroit. The No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3.R finished ahead of the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Car by almost 3 seconds in the short 74 lap sprint race. It’s clear that a rivalry for the top spot has emerged. ”All of us at AO Racing are thrilled for our second IMSA victory with Rexy,” said AO Team Principal Gunnar Jeannette. “It was one of the most nerve-wracking finishes I’ve ever been a part of, in dealing with the car damage after contact. Our goals for this weekend were to have a clean race and come away with a top-five result, so to leave with our second victory and increased lead in points is fantastic.”
Sebastian Priaulx
What a great day. I kept the car clean on the start for Laurin and he was able to go and execute the result there for us. I’m really proud of the team. Everyone did a great job. It was a bit of luck, but we made our own today. I’m happy to have a car that was able to finish with the damage we had. I’m proud of Laurin and the team.
Laurin Heinrich
I’m really happy to get our second win in a row, back-to-back, in Detroit. It was not an easy race. Seb had a great qualifying and a good opening race stint to put us in that place, and then in the end, a great pit stop and strong out lap kept us going. We got a bit tight in the hairpin. I had nowhere to go and had contact with the Corvette, and from there, I had to nurse the car home with a lot of damage. I had to adapt my driving style a bit because the car didn’t want to go straight. I’m really happy to bring it home.
Next p for the championship is the Sahlens 6 Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International in a few weeks time June 20-23 2024.
Race Results