Podium Finish for Acura in Rolex 24 at Daytona
Daytona International SpeedwayThe quest for a fourth consecutive Acura victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona came up just short this weekend, as Wayne Taylor Racing with Andrettti finished third in the 2024 season-opening, 24-hour IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship endurance contest.
· Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti #40 Acura ARX-06 finishes third in a tough Rolex 24 at Daytona
· #10 WTRAndretti Acura fights back from multiple issues to finish ninth as the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship opens in Florida
· Electrical problems blunt Gradient Racing’s challenge for GTD honors in the Acura NSX GT3 Evo22
DAYTONA BEACH, FL. (January 28, 2024) – The quest for a fourth consecutive Acura victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona came up just short this weekend, as Wayne Taylor Racing with Andrettti finished third in the 2024 season-opening, 24-hour IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship endurance contest.
Louis Deletraz started fifth aboard the #40 DEX Imaging ARX-06, with the sister #10 Konica Minolta Acura of Filipe Albuquerque slotting in right alongside in sixth. Despite a few minor issues through the night, the Acura piloted by Deletraz, Jordan Taylor, Colton Herta and Jenson Button remained in the fight for a podium position through the night. One of five cars on the lead lap in the closing hours, Deletraz brought the #40 home third.
Trouble for the second, #10 WTR Andrettti Acura, began in the ninth hour as the third-place #10 ARX-06 with Albuquerque at the controls rolled to a stop on course with an electrical issue.
The problem was soon isolated to a failure in the wiring harness, but repairs took approximately 90 minutes to complete, taking the #10 ARX-06 of Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Brendon Hartley and Marcus Ericsson out of contention for the victory. An additional long stop for brake repairs in the 11th hour dropped the #10 further down the field, resulting in a 9th place finish in GTP.
The 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship now moves to central Florida for the 72nd annual Mobil-1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Saturday, March 16 in Sebring, Fla.
I think we should be very happy with the result as a team. These last 10 days have not been easy. Acura, HRC and the whole WTRAndrettti organization have been working amazingly. We made the most of the situation. The #31 and the #7 cars were obviously quicker than us, but we never gave up. We lost a few laps, but we always came back and gave them a fight to the last minute. It was great. I am very grateful for everyone’s hard work and it is a great start to the championship with strong [championship] points today. We’re looking toward [winning] the season-long championship and hopefully scoring a few victories along the way for the #40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06 team.
Congratulations to my teammates in the #40 car, it’s great to get a podium [result] at such a tough race. Of course, we always want to win, but a podium finish is a great success for the whole WTRAndretti team. I think for us in the #10 car, we had a really good race going, the car was feeling really good, and the Acura power was excellent. It felt like we were making progress, but then unfortunately we had the [electrical] issue that put us out of contention [for the victory]. The team did a tremendous job getting the car back on track and I got the chance to do quite a lot of laps, which was a ton of fun. I really appreciate the opportunity to come here and race with WTRAndretti and Acura. It’s been a blast, and I hope to do it again.
