DETROIT — Ricky Taylor made a daring pass for the lead in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 then drove to victory Saturday in the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, the first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race on the downtown street course in the Motor City.
Taylor, who took over for co-driver Filipe Albuquerque with just over an hour left in the 100-minute race on the nine-turn, 1.645-mile temporary circuit, dove inside of race leader Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 heading into Turn Three with 26 minutes remaining, completing the clean pass at the hairpin exit.
Following a pair of restarts from late full-course cautions, Taylor held on to win by 1.132 seconds over Jaminet. It was the first win for Taylor, Albuquerque and the No. 10 Acura since August 2022, when they triumphed at Road America, ending a 14-race winless streak. Taylor notched his 31st career win in IMSA’s top-tier series, Albuquerque his 14th and WTRAndretti its 51st.
The No. 10 Acura is the fifth different Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) winner in as many races this season.
“It means so much,” reflected Taylor, a two-time champion in IMSA prototypes who earned his 32nd career victory Saturday. “With how important track position is here, we didn’t think we had a chance really. But Filipe had an amazing start. We ran one set of Michelin tires for the entire race. The one pit stop, the guys nailed it. The driver change was flawless. I’m just so happy and proud for the team. Just super excited.”
Jaminet and co-driver Nick Tandy nearly won their second straight race this season but still finished second despite Tandy being assessed a pit-lane drive-through penalty for incident responsibility just 25 minutes into the race. Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande finished third overall and in GTP in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.
Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr placed fourth in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963. Unofficially, they lead the GTP standings by 70 points ahead of Bourdais, van der Zande and the No. 01 Cadillac.
The GTD PRO class saw a back-to-back winner, with Seb Priaulx and Laurin Heinrich guiding the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R to a 2.885-second victory over the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 shared by Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat. Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas wound up third in GTD PRO in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.
“It was super difficult and I had to adapt my driving style,” said Heinrich, who added that the Porsche’s vibration was “horrendous” and forced him to adjust his driving.
“I had to enter really slow in the corner. Every restart it got more difficult. I couldn’t have done it without (Priaulx). That’s the key to win in IMSA.”
Priaulx added, “Our job was keep the car nice and clean for Laurin and leave it for him to fight. I couldn’t have done it without the team. Double win! Really happy for the whole team.”
With the win, Priaulx, Heinrich and the No. 77 Porsche unofficially extended their class lead to 84 points over Hawksworth, Barnicoat and the No. 14 Lexus.
After racing at nearby Belle Isle Park from 2007-2022, the WeatherTech Championship made its debut this weekend on the tight downtown circuit. The sprint race was interrupted five times by full-course cautions.
