IMSA: Wayne Taylor Racing Has Added Challenge In Defending Rolex 24 AT DAYTONA Title

DAYTONABEACH, Fla.(Jan.4,2020)–Wayne Taylor, long time owner of the sportscar team that bears his name, is trying to plot a successful defence of the 2019 Rolex 24 At DAYTONA championship. When the famed endurance classic is run for the 58th time at Daytona International Speedway on Jan. 25-26, Taylor will have more than the usual puzzles to solve.

Taylor – also a Rolex 24 champion as a driver in his younger days – is now fielding a team without both of his hot- shoe sons, Jordan and Ricky Taylor, in the driver lineup. Jordan has departed Wayne Taylor Racing for the legendary GT organization Corvette Racing. His exit was prefaced last year when Ricky joined Roger Penske’s IMSA outfit.

“We got rid of our weak link, with Jordan,” Wayne Taylor joked at the outset of a press conference Saturday, the second day of “The Roar Before the Rolex 24” test sessions. “Now I’ll be racing against my two sons which will be great. So I’ll have to get the guys to figure a way to take them out [of the race.]”

Wayne Taylor Racing, which also won the Rolex 24 in 2017, will field the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi with a driver lineup consisting of returnees Renger van der Zande and Kamui Kobayashi joined by two former Chip Ganassi Racing drivers, Ryan Briscoe and 2008 Indianapolis 500 champion Scott Dixon.

“The driver lineup,” Wayne Taylor said, “is as good as or better than last year.”

The three-day Roar allows teams in four IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship classes–Daytona Prototype international (DPi), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD) – to prepare for the Rolex 24, which opens the WeatherTech Championship season. Teams in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge production-based series are also prepping for the season-opening BMW Endurance Challenge on Jan. 24 at DIS.

In addition, the Roar features qualifying sessions to determine pit road and garage stalls for the Rolex 24. On Saturday, LMP2 and GTD teams qualified; Sunday, DPi and GTLM will qualify.

Press release from Daytona International Speedway