Cadillac WTR seeks IMSA momentum from Le Mans prep

With Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing mired in an ongoing IMSA slump, some fans are wondering if the team’s preparation for next month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans has become a distraction that’s been pulling precious time and energy away from getting the team back on form.

Not according to WTR driver Filipe Albuquerque, who believes that the extra race and the preparation for it will be the solution to help the team finally break out of its nearly two-year winless drought.

“It’s not a distraction, I don’t think,” says Albuquerque, who’s getting to run his 13th Le Mans 24 Hours, and second with Cadillac WTR alongside the Taylor brothers, Ricky and Jordan.

Last year, WTR made the high-profile switch from Acura back to Cadillac, but struggled to adapt to the V-Series.R in its first season. Even in year two, Albuquerque admits that the team still needs as much data as it can to improve with the newest evolution of the V-Series.R.

“You gather more information about this, and especially for Wayne Taylor Racing, we need more races with the cars,” he continues. “I think we should not undervalue a team switching to a new manufacturer when all the other teams are with the same manufacturer from year one. For us, it’s learning to deal with Cadillac people, learning about the car, the drivers adapting to the systems. I think more races is better, and I think this year, we are more prepared and everything is just flowing more.”

“It’s just one more race onto the calendar. To be honest, nine races is not enough. In my opinion, it’s a bit short, so 10, it’s better, I think. Especially this year, 2026, I think doing Le Mans makes us better. There’s a test day, we have time to do stuff on the car, and learning about the tires there in Le Mans, we will drive with both (tire) compounds as well.

“There’s all these things, and playing as well with (Cadillac Hertz Team) JOTA together on the same weekend, it’s important. It’s a learning process. So I take it as a positive.”

Cadillac WTR’s Le Mans debut (pictured above) ended after just half of the advertised 24 hours due to an engine failure. This year, Wayne Taylor Racing is back as the only at-large invitational entry from IMSA in the Hypercar class, chosen over Action Express Racing (Cadillac Whelen).

It's been a struggle for WTR Cadillac in IMSA this season. Perry Nelson/Lumen via Getty Images

In IMSA, neither of WTR’s two Cadillac V-Series.Rs have finished higher than sixth this season, and the blue No. 10 of Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor has finished 11th and last in GTP in three out of the first four races, with a 10th-place finish at Long Beach.

But Detroit has been good to the No. 10 crew since the race moved to the new Renaissance Center street circuit. Taylor and Albuquerque took WTR’s most recent GTP win here two years ago for Acura, and came close to winning last year for Cadillac, only to be denied by the No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly.

“Everything is open. We want to catch a break, to be honest,” adds Albuquerque. “Hopefully Detroit, like in 2024, what we did was a good break point. Let’s hope that it is again.

“We are working to bring back Wayne Taylor Racing to the top, for sure. We’ve been having some setbacks. Some of it is luck, but I think it’s just that the rhythm sometimes is missing. And once we crack this rhythm of things not working, I think we can improve a lot and just get comfortably there.”