WTRAndretti, Acura Win in Detroit
Detroit Street CircuitWith a deft move under braking for the tight Turn 3 hairpin, Ricky Taylor claimed the lead of today’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic, then went on to claim victory with starting co-driver Filipe Albuquerque today on the streets of Detroit, Michigan.
· Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque win the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic, Acura’s second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win of 2024
· #10 Acura ARX-06 duo takes command, then leads final third of 100-minute contest
· Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor bring their #40 WTRAndretti Acura home fourth
With a deft move under braking for the tight Turn 3 hairpin, Ricky Taylor claimed the lead of today’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic, then went on to claim victory with starting co-driver Filipe Albuquerque today on the streets of Detroit, Michigan.
Starting fourth, Albuquerque quickly moved the #10 car up to second with a bold pass up the inside on the opening lap. The team’s single pit stop was for fuel and driver change only, with Taylor taking over driving duties. He then stalked race leader Mathieu Jaminet for several laps and, with less than 26 minutes remaining moved to the inside and successfully out-braked his rival.
Once in front, Taylor continued to hold off the GTP field, despite a pair of late-race caution flag restarts, to claim the victory by just over 1.1 seconds at the checkers.
The win is the first of the year for the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti duo, and the second of the year for Acura. Their WTRAndretti teammates, Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor, took their #40 Acura to victory at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March, and finished fourth today.
The third driver in the winning #40 Acura at Sebring, Colton Herta, qualified on the pole for Sunday’s Indy car contest, completing a sweep of today’s activities in Detroit for Honda Racing Corporation USA [HRC US].
The 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next travels to upstate New York for the third endurance round on the schedule, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, June 23 at the historic Waktins Glen International Raceway.
We didn’t know what to expect, this is such a challenging course. HRC has worked so hard with everyone at WTRAndretti, everyone has just worked so incredibly hard. It’s been over a year [since the last win for the #10] and we’re not used to that. Until now, I hadn’t won a race since I’ve been married [last year]! But today, Filipe got an unbelievable start. Track position is so important here, and that start by Filipe [from fourth to second] put us in position to win the race. We used the one set of tires for the whole race, so thanks Michelin, the guys nailed the pit stop, and the driver change was flawless. I’m just so happy and so proud of the team. This is an awesome day.
We didn’t know what to expect, this is such a challenging course. HRC has worked so hard with everyone at WTRAndretti, everyone has just worked so incredibly hard. It’s been over a year [since the last win for the #10] and we’re not used to that. Until now, I hadn’t won a race since I’ve been married [last year]! But today, Filipe got an unbelievable start. Track position is so important here, and that start by Filipe [from fourth to second] put us in position to win the race. We used the one set of tires for the whole race, so thanks Michelin, the guys nailed the pit stop, and the driver change was flawless. I’m just so happy and so proud of the team. This is an awesome day.
It’s been hard for us. There were many races we could’ve won, but didn’t. Today was a big fight from P4 [on the starting grid], but we did an amazing race. Ricky unstoppable this weekend, he had amazing pace all the time, and he just proved that with his amazing stint and overtake [for the lead]. He had to deal with so many cautions, so many restarts, and all these walls, he was perfect. We are the House of Acura, and we came here, to the House of Cadillac, and we won. I couldn’t be more proud of that.
It’s been hard for us. There were many races we could’ve won, but didn’t. Today was a big fight from P4 [on the starting grid], but we did an amazing race. Ricky unstoppable this weekend, he had amazing pace all the time, and he just proved that with his amazing stint and overtake [for the lead]. He had to deal with so many cautions, so many restarts, and all these walls, he was perfect. We are the House of Acura, and we came here, to the House of Cadillac, and we won. I couldn’t be more proud of that.
