Acura Scores Pole, Leads, But Finishes Fourth at Watkins Glen
Watkins Glen InternationalIt was a strong day with a difficult end for the Acura contingent at Watkins Glen, as what looked like a potential double podium finish for the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti pair of Acura ARX-06s wound up fourth and 10th at the end of the six-hour race.
Louis Delétraz and Jordan Taylor in the #40 Acura ARX-06 come home just shy of the podium in Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Watkins Glen
Sister #10 Acura ARX-06 of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor suffer mechanical failure in closing stages after leading 15 laps.
Rain causes cautions, red flag over course of the six-hour event
WATKINS GLEN, NY (June 23, 2024) – It was a strong day with a difficult end for the Acura contingent at Watkins Glen, as what looked like a potential double podium finish for the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti pair of Acura ARX-06s wound up fourth and 10th at the end of the six-hour race.
Louis Delétraz led the field to green after scoring pole in the #40 Acura machine, before handing over to teammate Jordan Taylor for the middle stages of the race. Taylor would contend with on-and-off rainstorms during his time in the car, often having to push through on the ‘wrong’ tire for the conditions in order to make the team’s race strategy work.
Delétraz would take back over for the finish, restarting first after a 42-minute long red flag due to weather. Unfortunately, Delétraz would fall to fourth in the final stint of the race, where the #40 would ultimately finish.
The sister #10 Acura ARX-06 also showed strong pace during the day, with co-drivers Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque combining to lead 15 laps over the six-hour event. The duo were looking strong to make it a double-Acura podium finish before the race resumed following the red-flag period, even battling for the lead with the #6 Porsche with two hours to go. However, a mechanical part failure – potentially due to contact in that battle – caused the wheel to detach before racing action resumed. The #10 would be classified in 10th place.
The premier GTP prototypes return to action with the full IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship field August 2-4 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
First of all, I want to thank all of WTRAndretti and HRC because we’ve had, I think, a strong weekend overall. Obviously, the result is disappointing because we just really struggled on restarts. I lost three spots on lap one of the start and three spots again on the final restart. I could hardly do better. But we still had a good race. We had pole position, great strategy and great pit stops. So, we know where to look to find that last bit of performance, and I think everyone is very motivated to find a solution and get on top of that, because I think if we fix this issue, we would have been very hard to beat this weekend.
First of all, I want to thank all of WTRAndretti and HRC because we’ve had, I think, a strong weekend overall. Obviously, the result is disappointing because we just really struggled on restarts. I lost three spots on lap one of the start and three spots again on the final restart. I could hardly do better. But we still had a good race. We had pole position, great strategy and great pit stops. So, we know where to look to find that last bit of performance, and I think everyone is very motivated to find a solution and get on top of that, because I think if we fix this issue, we would have been very hard to beat this weekend.
I don’t know what to say. What a frustrating race. After a great race from Ricky and ups and downs in the rain, we got a penalty from IMSA, which dropped us to last. We made the right call on the slick tires which enabled me to go to second and eventually to first. Unfortunately had some contact with another car early on and after that the car was a bit funny, but it was still going. When we had that failure, most likely due to the earlier contact, we couldn’t finish the race with just 20 or so minutes to go. Looking ahead, we have nothing to lose in the final races, so let’s try to win.
I don’t know what to say. What a frustrating race. After a great race from Ricky and ups and downs in the rain, we got a penalty from IMSA, which dropped us to last. We made the right call on the slick tires which enabled me to go to second and eventually to first. Unfortunately had some contact with another car early on and after that the car was a bit funny, but it was still going. When we had that failure, most likely due to the earlier contact, we couldn’t finish the race with just 20 or so minutes to go. Looking ahead, we have nothing to lose in the final races, so let’s try to win.
