After 4 years aside, Wayne Taylor Racing reunited with Cadillac. Wayne Taylor, the workforce director, mentioned he was “rejuvenated”.
After ending second within the Rolex 24 at Daytona 3 times in a four-year partnership with Chevrolet from 2013 to 2016, the swap to Cadillac in 2017. introduced three wins in 4 races. The workforce gained once more in 2021. with Acura, and Wayne Taylor additionally gained as a driver in 1996 and 2005.
“I’ve had a few years of involvement with Cadillac, each as a workforce proprietor and as a driver,” Taylor mentioned in an interview this month. “However these 4 years had been particular.”
In 2021 the workforce left Cadillac and signed with Honda and its Acura model. The rationale, Taylor mentioned, is that he felt that “Cadillac on the time actually wasn’t that dedicated.
“Once I wished to make a dedication,” he continued, “I did not really feel that actual need on their half to companion in a program.
“Acura had simply labored three years with Roger Penske and so they hadn’t gained a Daytona both [12 Hours of] Sebring. After they first approached me, they mentioned, ‘Look, you’ve got gained 5 of those 24 and we want that.’
Wayne Taylor Racing and Acura gained Daytona of their first yr collectively and had been second in 2022 and 2023. Their greatest end at Sebring was fourth.
Taylor mentioned the final two years with Acura within the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship had been “fairly depressing and I used to be like, ‘Man, I do not know, I do not assume I wish to hold doing this anymore.’
After leaving Cadillac in 2021, he felt the bridges had been burned, however an opportunity assembly with Mark Royce, president of Basic Motors, whom Taylor thought of a pal, sparked a reunion.
“After we talked once more, I simply mentioned, ‘Hey Mark, any likelihood I can come again?’ He mentioned, ‘Positive, when are you able to?’ I mentioned, “Effectively, my contract is up on the finish of ’24.” He mentioned, “So, ’25?'” I mentioned, “Yeah, ’25.’ Then I assumed, “He’ll fly again and neglect about it.”
A cellphone name quickly after paved the best way. Taylor mentioned working with GM is now “only a complete completely different entity.”
“Mark could be very dedicated to racing, very dedicated to the Cadillac model, as we will see with the opposite issues which are occurring with the Formulation 1 engine program,” he mentioned. “However as massive a deal as F1 is, he is an actual sports activities automotive fan.
“They’re so conscious, from a worldwide perspective, of what motor racing truly does, whether or not it is Formulation 1 or sports activities automobiles, and that basically excites me. I am unable to consider I nonetheless get enthusiastic about these items. I really feel like I am 25 as a result of it is nice to work with these individuals. It rejuvenated me.”
For GM, the sensation of pleasure is mutual. In tandem with Wayne Taylor Racing, Cadillac will subject two of its V-Sequence.Rs within the GTP class. A 3rd is operated by Cadillac Whelen Engineering.
“It is thrilling for us, and never simply due to the lengthy historical past and the connection,” Eric Warren, government director of GM World Motorsports Competitors, mentioned in an interview this month. “The vital half is the success we had with Wayne, particularly within the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
“We wish to proceed to increase and make investments; it is a key a part of it. We thought so from the start. We seemed on the complete program and to have one other alternative with Wayne, given the historical past with Wayne, was a pure determination.”
Warren mentioned the scenario at GM Motorsports modified in 2019 as he started constructing the engineering group, which included his preliminary appointment as director of Motorsports Competitors NASCAR Applications earlier than assuming his present function in 2023.
“We began constructing, recruiting and taking the strategy that GM all the time had that racing DNA, and we had been going to compete,” he mentioned. “We have structured ourselves to be on the monitor, constructing instruments and expertise for the race groups and being on it, being with them, which sounds straightforward to say however exhausting to do.”
“There’s extra strain in representing the model than attempting to recreate one thing,” he mentioned. “In case you look again, you’ll lose. The motivation is from a technical standpoint, pure competitors and constructing that tradition of successful.”
Warren, GM and Cadillac know the ache of defeat at Daytona. Final yr, with Whelen Engineering, Cadillac misplaced the race lead within the closing hour throughout a warning interval pit cease.
“Each race morning I am anxious and nervous, whatever the collection,” Warren mentioned. “I really feel like if we do not win, we will fail and it takes a very long time to learn to take care of that.”
4 drivers will sit behind the wheel of the 2 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillacs. Taylor’s sons, Ricky and Jordan, can be in numerous automobiles. Ricky can be joined within the quantity 10 by Filipe Albuquerque, Will Stevens and Brendon Hartley; Jordan in #40 by Louis Deletraz, Alex Lin and Kamui Kobayashi.
Kobayashi is bidding for a 3rd win in three Daytona begins with Wayne Taylor Racing, having triumphed in 2019 and 2020. As workforce principal of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe’s World Endurance Championship, he ended his affiliation with Wayne Taylor Racing after partnering with Honda Acura in 2021.
Kobayashi, winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and two-time WEC champion, mentioned Akio Toyoda, the chairman of Toyota, had given his blessing. “I talked to my boss and he let me take this chance,” he mentioned in an interview this month.
“I’m very grateful to be again with WTR. I’ve all the time had a great relationship with Wayne. He all the time had a terrific spirit to win races. If there is a 1 % likelihood, he’ll use it.
With the partnership again, Kobayashi mentioned he was assured of grabbing his third Daytona victory. “The driving force line-up is absolutely robust,” he mentioned. “And, in fact, with Cadillac, it is a aggressive automotive.”
Stevens, who drove for Wayne Taylor Racing in 2022, ending second at Daytona, mentioned he has “unfinished enterprise” with the workforce.
“I all the time felt and believed that sooner or later we’d be collectively once more,” he mentioned in an interview this month. “It is the right time for that to occur, with Cadillac approaching board.
“The historical past they’ve collectively as a partnership has all the time been very profitable and we’ve all of the substances to make it occur once more.” Hopefully we will begin that at Daytona.”
From a driver’s perspective, with the ability to win a race is all that counts. Ricky Taylor mentioned GM offered monetary assist, engineering sources and personnel that made this chance “tremendous thrilling.”
“I simply see the momentum and the way excited everyone seems to be about this system,” he mentioned in an interview this month. “As a lot as I did not assume I wanted to be motivated to attempt to win extra races, it is much more motivating to see everybody else placing their all into it.
“My dad has been at GM for thus a few years and he retains saying he is by no means seen this degree of pleasure or curiosity from a producer.”
Wayne Taylor mentioned he felt “very constructive” about his probabilities of successful for a seventh time at Daytona.
“The reason being that I’ve watched the Cadillacs, and it doesn’t matter what monitor they’ve gone to, they’ve all the time been aggressive,” he mentioned. “However we face powerful competitors. You possibly can by no means write off Penske, and BMW is quick. It will likely be a terrific race for the followers.”
