The streets in Southern California came alive Saturday afternoon as the Grand Prix of Long Beach showcased 100 minutes of sprint racing action. Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing’s duo of GTPs looked to move from their starting positions as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship began the regular sprint schedule.

Two-time Long Beach winner, Filipe Albuquerque, started Saturday’s race from eighth position in the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R and was ready to challenge forward. In the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R, Louis Delétraz handled his second appearance on the temporary Long Beach circuit from 10th position.

The race saw an early caution that forced the strategy hands of many in the GTP field to come to pit lane for the single driver change and energy and/or fuel replenishment. Both the No. 10 and No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R teams pitted under the first caution and changed drivers in both stops. Now at the helm of the blue chrome No. 10 was Ricky Taylor as Jordan Taylor took over the silver chrome No. 40. With the return to green flag racing, the Taylor brothers each navigated their respective Cadillac V-Series.R GTPs while balancing track position and energy levels.

After the halfway mark, another caution fell that packed up the prototype field once again. Once back to green, Ricky Taylor aimed to continue progressing forward while battling lap traffic as Jordan Taylor in the No. 40 followed in tow. Once clearing traffic, the Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing pair saw the race run caution-free to the finish and while challenging for positions ahead, it was about bringing home a clean result and solid points. Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 tallied a sixth-place result while Jordan Taylor and the No. 40 finished behind in seventh.

“Obviously the beginning of this season was difficult,” said Wayne Taylor, Team Owner. “There were some slight changes made going into this event and we thought this track might be the equalizer. It wasn’t. Clearly our car is still struggling to be competitive and it showed in this race. Honestly, I am actually very happy with the way the team performed and executed. I would never have thought I would have said I was happy with a sixth and seventh place finish, but because we are struggling against the Porsches and BMWs, we just can’t race them. It is impossible. The sad part about this is that this actually hurts drivers a lot. Drivers are then looked at like, ‘Why were you so far off the pace?’. Well, you know what, maybe we should swap drivers and see what happens. You look at all these elements, you watch the whole race, and you wonder if there is something else going on. Well, I watched the team this weekend much closer than ever because I wanted to know for myself and everybody on this team, and I include the guys on our GTD program as well, did a fantastic job. There was nothing I saw that could have been done better. So, in the end, I’m happy.”

Next on the schedule for the Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing team is WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on May 9-11, 2025.

Ricky Taylor, full season co-driver, No. 10 Cadillac WTR V-Series.R: “It was our first sprint race of the year and got through with no damage. I think the team learned a lot again. Unfortunately, I feel like we’re just a half a step behind each time we go on track, and every time we leave the track, we say we wish we had one more session. I think that was the case again this weekend. I think if we had found what we found in qualifying a half a session earlier we would have qualified better and we would have put ourselves in better position for the race. At the end, I think we showed pace at times. Had we been in the mix, we could have salvaged maybe a top five. I think there’s progress and we’re looking forward to Laguna, which is longer race where we can strategize more and do our thing.”

Filipe Albuquerque, full season co-driver, No. 10 Cadillac WTR V-Series.R: “Overall, I would say a hard weekend. We were not strong in qualifying and in the race, we moved up but really it was based on the mistakes of the other guys. P6 is a surviving result for us. Not really happy about the performance. On our side, we just need to learn the car and be more competitive.”

Jordan Taylor, full season co-driver, No. 40 Cadillac WTR V-Series.R: “I think we struggled for pace all week. We shot through practice and qualifying, just didn't have the fastest car, so for the race, we could have taken some risk to strategy, but once that first yellow came out, it kind of took that out of play. We kind of were where we were and the name of the game from then was just not making mistakes and trying to capitalize on other people's mistakes. And I think a couple people made strategy errors. One guy went off, and that's where the positions came that we gained. So not our best weekend, but we go to test in Laguna next week, so hopefully we can learn some things for the rest of the year there."

Louis Delétraz, full season co-driver, No. 40 Cadillac WTR V-Series.R: “Good points today. Not the result we want, but we had a clean race, no mistakes. We kept learning and improving, so that’s a positive. We will take all that to Laguna Seca and go get some silver because it’s time for it. Thank you to the WTR crew for all their hard work."

About Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR)
Wayne Taylor Racing’s global motorsports enterprise boasts two IMSA driver championships (2013 and 2017), and back-to-back IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Championships (2020, 2021) which contributed to nine IMSA manufacturer championships for Acura, Pontiac, Corvette and Cadillac. In its brief 18-year history, WTR has accumulated multiple victories in sportscar racing’s most iconic events: Rolex 24 At Daytona, Twelve Hours of Sebring, Petit Le Mans, Mid-Ohio, Road America and the Six Hours of The Glen. With its back-to-back PRO Class Championship wins (2022, 2023), WTR currently has 14 North America Lamborghini Super Trofeo Championship titles and a Lamborghini World Finals title.