Wayne Taylor Racing had its first win in over two years as the championship-leading AXR Cadillac was involved in a late-race crash with serious championship implications. In a hectic and penalty-filled final hour, Ricky Taylor and Felipe Albuquerque pulled off the first win for Wayne Taylor Racing in over two years in the Six-Hour SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America.
The No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R found its way to victory Lane for the first time since Detroit in 2024 under caution Sunday afternoon. It entered the race in dire straits, 10th in the GTP standings. Albuquerque was the pilot in the car for the win in a race that included nine cautions and a huge crash in GTP between the championship-leading Action Express Racing Cadillac and the number seven Porsche Penske.
View Price on AmazonWith just over 10 minutes to go, Jack Aitken in the No. 31 and Kevin Estre in the No. 7 made contact entering the first corner while battling for second. Prior to the caution, the two were battling and obviously upset with each other. Both cars ended up in the wall, ending the No. 31 podium streak and making it all the more possible for the number five JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche to challenge Cadillac for this year's championship.
That incident between Aitken and Estre will be reviewed post-race. This possibility was made even larger when the No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie was handed a time penalty at the end of the race, demoting it from second and promoting the No. five to the second spot on the podium.
The pole-sitting number 93 Acura of Sheldon van der Zande and Nick Yelloly was promoted to fourth, scraping back from misfortune throughout the race. With Valkyrie’s demotion, WTR achieved a double podium with the number 40 of Lewis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor promoted to third.
Romain De Angelis and Ross Gunn will be recorded in fifth following their penalty ahead of Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Penske Porsche Motorsport 963. Both the Acuras and BMWs had issues throughout the race, with both BMWs retiring before the end, leaving Estre in eighth and Aiken in ninth.
In GTD Pro, Pfaff Motorsports’ Andrea Calarelli and Sandy Mitchell brought Lamborghini its first US and first Endurance race win in the brand-new Temerario; this follows the car's first worldwide win last week in DTM. The Inter Europol Competition No. 43 of Todd Dillmann, Garg, and Clark won the LMP2 class. The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 won the GTD class.
Source: roadandtrack.com
