Wayne Taylor Racing partners with Andretti Autosport in IMSA
Andretti Autosport and Wayne Taylor Racing have announced a new, long-term partnership to compete in the IMSA SportsCar Championship's GTP and GTD classes.
The team - branded as Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport - will begin its partnership with two entries in the 2023 Roar Before the 24 at Daytona, with the #10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 LMDh car in the GTP class and the #93 Harrison Contracting Company Acura NSX Evo22 in the GTD class.
The newly formed team will also compete in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series.
The announcement revealed that during the 2023 IMSA season, “day-to-day operations and leadership remain as they have currently operated with the long-term goal of moving the programmes into Andretti Global’s recently announced 575,000sq.ft headquarters in Fishers, Indiana, due to be operational in 2025.
Wayne Taylor's global motorsports enterprise boasts two IMSA driver championships (2013, 2017) and back-to-back IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Championships (2021, 2020), which have contributed to nine IMSA manufacturer championships as well as multiple Daytona 24 Hours, Twelve Hours of Sebring, Petit Le Mans victories.
Andretti Autosport will continue to operate in IMSA’s LMP3 category with Jarrett Andretti.
Team CEO Michael Andrettti said: “This is an exciting time for us.
"We’re proud to be returning to the IMSA paddock in this way and the opportunity to be part of the launch of the GTP programme alongside Wayne Taylor Racing and our friends at Honda Performance Development.
Andretti Autosport already has a presence in the LMP3 class with a Ligier it ran for Jarett Andretti and Gabby Chaves in 2022
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
“Re-entering IMSA full time, and at this level, has been a goal of mine. I wanted it to be the right opportunity and at the right time – and we’ve found that.
"I’m looking forward to working closer with the team at WTR and meeting all the team’s strong supporters. I want to personally thank Wayne [Taylor] and Travis [Houge] for already being such great partners as we plan for a successful future.”
Taylor described it as “an honour” to be partnering with Andretti, stating: “I was approached by Michael a year ago and, as we all know, timing is everything, especially as our GTP and GTD programmes continue to grow with Acura/HPD.
“Having worked with Michael on this for nearly a year, I’m very excited to see it come together.
“While our 2023 programme won’t look much different, there is a lot that Andretti Autosport can offer to us as we continue to build and expand.
“I’m looking forward to working closer with Michael, J-F [Thormann], Rob [Edwards] and the entire Andretti team.”
Porsche: No fear of Le Mans Hypercar ‘tech war’ impacting 963 chances
BMW: Porsche gained no advantage in IMSA hybrid development tests
Bathurst 12 Hour: Van Gisbergen Mercedes leads after first quarter
Shane van Gisbergen’s Triple Eight Mercedes headed Matt Campbell’s Manthey Porsche after three hours of racing at Mount Panorama in the Bathurst 12 Hour.
Tanak scores first Puma win in preparation for WRC Rally Sweden
Ott Tanak claimed his first victory driving an M-Sport Ford Puma after winning the Otepaa Winter Rally in preparation for next week’s World Rally Championship round in Sweden.
Ranking the worst Formula 1 cars to win a grand prix
Cars that rarely looked like contenders for victory have occasionally slipped through the net to become winners of world championship Formula 1 races. But which was the worst of the bunch?
Schumacher radio criticism highlighted F1 privacy change for Russell
George Russell says that the way an off-the-cuff radio remark criticising Mick Schumacher last year became a big deal shows how he is more under the spotlight in Formula 1.
How MSR took Acura to the first win of sportscar racing's new era
After much anticipation, the new dawn for sportscar racing got underway with a result that mirrored last year's IMSA SportsCar Championship's season-opener run to the previous DPi rules. Here's how Acura once again took top honours in the Daytona 24 Hours with a 1-2 led by Meyer Shank Racing, as the new GTP class for LMDh hybrid prototypes made its bow
The big question concerning IMSA's new LMDh cars on their debut
The new LMDh era finally begins in earnest this weekend with the IMSA SportsCar Championship curtain-raiser at Daytona. The prospect of multiple marques going all guns blazing for victory over 24 hours is a salivating one for fans of sportscar racing, but what are the chances of the new hybrid machines (known as GTP cars Stateside) proving reliable enough to win on debut?
Inside BMW's long-awaited prototype racing return
Much like German OEM rival Porsche, BMW's absence from sportscar racing’s top flight will be ended this weekend when a pair of M Hybrid V8 prototypes make their debut in the Daytona 24 Hours. A programme focused on the IMSA SportsCar Championship for now will expand to the World Endurance Championship and Le Mans next year, in a sign of both its ambition and pragmatism
How Porsche and Penske are gearing up for sportscar racing's bold new era
Porsche and Penske have teamed up to tackle the world's biggest sportscar races in 2023 with the new 963 LMDh car. Autosport was on hand at the recent Daytona test to hear from key players in the partnership as it prepares for dual campaigns across the IMSA SportsCar Championship and World Endurance Championship
The plug in and play stand-ins who got their timing just right
Nyck de Vries’s Italian GP exploits weren’t the first post-eleventh-hour call-up in motorsport history, and won’t be the last either. Here are some offbeat tales from the past
The long road to convergence for sportscar racing's new golden age
The organisers of the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship worked together to devise the popular new LMDh rule set. But to turn it from an idea into reality, some serious compromises were involved - both from the prospective LMDh entrants and those with existing Le Mans Hypercar projects...
How Porsche's Le Mans legend changed the game
The 956 set the bar at the dawn of Group C 40 years ago, and that mark only rose higher through the 1980s, both in the world championship and in the US. It and its successor, the longer-wheelbase 962, were voted as Autosport's greatest sportscar in 2020 - here's why
Why BMW shouldn't be overlooked on its return to prototypes
OPINION: While the focus has been on the exciting prospect of Ferrari vs Porsche at the Le Mans 24 Hours next year, BMW’s factory return to endurance racing should not be ignored. It won't be at the French classic next year as it focuses efforts on the IMSA SportsCar Championship, but could be a dark horse in 2024 when it returns to La Sarthe with the crack WRT squad
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.