After spending the previous four years with Corvette Racing battling in GTLM and then GTD Pro, the 32-year-old went back home to race alongside his brother, Ricky, at his father’s team, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti (WTR Andretti).
Earlier this month, Taylor, who will co-drive the #40 Acura ARX-06 with Louis Delétraz for the 2024 season in the team’s expanded second entry, received his first taste of the hybrid GTP in a test at Sebring International Raceway.
“Yeah, it was eye-opening,” Taylor told Motorsport.com.
The integration for Taylor started before Petit Le Mans in October as he shared being “looped into” emails from drivers, engineers and even Honda Performance Development, all part of trying to learn and understand the nuances of the systems for the GTP.
“A week before our Sebring test, we were an Indy for three days at the simulator and checking everything. And then getting down to Sebring, the weather wasn’t great, so we didn’t get a ton of running, but on day one I think I got two runs in the car, and it was a lot going on.
“I think the steering wheel manual is about 30 pages, and once I started driving the car on the whole first day, I didn’t even look at the steering wheel because I was just trying to pay attention to how to drive the car and just drive it on its own without even focusing on the systems and the diff (differential) changes, TC (traction control) changes, all that stuff. It was just overwhelming.”
Taylor was taken aback by how advanced the GTP compared to his previous experience racing the previous top category prototype, DPi, from 2017 to 2019 – the last time he drove for his father’s organization.
“The power is super impressive,” Taylor said. “I mean, coming from the DPi, I don’t know if it’s got a ton more power or less drag or the combination of the two, but the car accelerates like no other car I’ve driven before and accelerates all the way through seventh gear; just pulls every gear like it’s first or second gear in a normal car.
“All the systems are super impressive but understanding that was a lot of it. We only got two runs the first day and then had a night to kind of think on it and go back the second day. It felt way more natural, thankfully, on that second day to kind of get back into driving and making some adjustments on the steering wheel and getting a feel for it.
“But yeah, it was nice getting my first taste back into it and we get to test Daytona (in a few days), so hopefully the learning just keeps progressing.”
Up next for Taylor is a private test at the 3.56-mile road course at Daytona International Speedway Dec. 6-9, which is the only IMSA-sanctioned test prior to the Roar Before the Rolex 24 in January. Jenson Button, the 2009 Formula One champion, and IndyCar star Colton Herta will join Taylor and Delétraz for the Rolex 24.
With a flood of experience at Daytona, where Taylor has earned three victories in the 24-hour endurance classic, including two overall (2017, 2019), the aim is to continue to grow in understanding the car.
“Driving the car is no issue,” Taylor said. “I was able to get comfortable pretty quickly, but then understanding the systems and the steering wheel and just the range of adjustments that the driver has in his hands is a lot. I think knowing what they all do is one thing, but understanding like what you’re feeling in the car and how to then make a change on the steering wheel that’s going to benefit you is another thing. So, it’s a changing thing.
“Even for the current drivers, there’s always changes being made to refine that process. I think it’s nice to have. We will have eight drivers for Daytona, so it’s a lot of different bits of input to help refine that process.
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
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“Understanding all the system stuff is super complicated and technical, and I’ve definitely spent probably more time looking at steering wheel notes and in-car specific notes probably in these past two months than I probably have, honestly, in my entire career combined; just to understand how the brake system works, how all the different adjustments works, all the different TC adjustments.
“There’s just so much going into it that a lot of it’s just controlled by HPD, but a lot of it is also in the driver’s hands to adjust. I’m just trying to get on the same page as all the others who have been in these cars now for a year.”
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