Yahoo Autos Return to the family team “a great place to be” for Jordan Taylor
Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport didn’t have to look far to find drivers for its two-car Acura ARX-06 program in the IMSA weatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP class next season. Bringing Louis Deletraz, the endurance addition in the No. 10 Acura this season with Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, up to full-season driver was an easy choice to make. The other driver had to be brought back into the WTRAndretti fold, and although Jordan Taylor had envisioned himself being a Corvette driver for the rest of his career, it didn’t take a lot of convincing.
“I think being back with the family is a great place to be,” says Jordan. “I always said that some of my best years and most enjoyable years were winning with the family team and with Ricky, so I’m excited to kind of get started with Louis and create some more of those memories to bring back to the family side.”
Jordan raced for his father’s team from 2013 through ’19. For four of those seasons, brother Ricky was his co-driver in, first, the Dallara Corvette Daytona Prototype, and then the Cadillac DPi-V.R. During that time they scored two championships together, in 2013 and ’17, before their careers diverged. For 2018, Ricky went to Acura Team Penske, returning to WTR when the Penske partnership ended and WTR switched from Cadillac to Acura. Jordan went to Corvette Racing in 2020, where he won consecutive championships. Ricky also won a championship for Acura Team Penske, but neither has won a championship competing head to head with each other.
For 2024, that could change. While they will be teammates within WTRAndretti and Acura, they may very well be championship rivals since they will be in different cars.
“When [Ricky] moved to Penske in 2018, we were head to head against each other and we had some good battles. I think Long Beach was one, and maybe a couple of others throughout throughout the year,” Jordan says.
“I think before established ourselves as drivers back in 2013, we were against each other in Daytona prototypes, and for sure the the rivalry was different. We raced each other much different than we would today. We’re still trying to prove ourselves, but I think at this point in our careers, we’re both more established, more professional and can kind of just race each other as another car. I’m sure, especially being in the same team, it can be treated a little bit differently as well. So I’m looking forward to it. We both know each other’s strengths and weaknesses pretty well, so I’m sure those will be fun challenges to deal with throughout the year.”
Jordan didn’t really expect to return to his father’s team, but as things have changed in both the GT categories and in the top-level prototypes, the idea became more attractive. But there wasn’t really a spot for him until Andretti Autosport came on board and Acura designated the team to run its two cars in GTP. And that Andretti partnership will make it much easier for WTR to scale up to two cars, which has long been a desire for Wayne Taylor.
“It’s been something my dad’s talked about for probably a decade, trying to go to two cars,” Jordan says. “So there have been plans in place and people on a shortlist that they probably wanted to hire for a long time. So this opportunity is well timed and well planned out, obviously, I think when the Andretti side came on board, the plan was to go to two cars, so while [the driver lineup] was announced a week ago, these plans have been in motion for a long time.
“I think there are a lot of great people on board already that can help structure a great team and have a lot of connections. And I think the Andretti relationship just broadens that even more with experience in Formula E, the rally stuff, IndyCar and now dabbling in all sorts of different things. So the availability of personnel kind of broadens a lot and can kind of help all the different programs on all the different sides.”
While Jordan is looking forward to being back with WTRAndretti, first there’s unfinished business on both sides. WTRAndretti is currently leading the GTP points with Ricky and Filipe, although the No. 10 squad is still hunting for their first victory of the season with two races to go. Jordan and Antonio Garcia are chasing the Vasser Sullivan Lexus duo of Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth, trying to close the gap in GTD PRO with three races left, the first of which is at VIRginia International Raceway this weekend for a GT-only contest.
