| Whelen and Wayne Taylor Racing Deliver an Important 1-2 Result September 30, 2025By David PhillipsIMSA Wire Service |
| DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Heading to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway a fortnight ago, the three Cadillac V-Series.R Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) cars were still looking for their first win of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, putting together a smattering of podium appearances from the 50 hours and 40 minutes of racing so far this season. The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac finished second at the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic in Detroit and third in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, with the sister No. 40 WTR Cadillac finishing second at The Glen. As for the Action Express Racing team, the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen’s most recent top-three finish came at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in May of 2024. The team’s last victory was at the 2023 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, en route to the team and driver championships while contributing mightily to Cadillac’s manufacturers crown in the inaugural season of the revived GTP category. That’s not to say that Cadillac hasn’t run up front this year. The Whelen Cadillac led in the latter stages at Sebring and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, only to drop back in the runs to the checkered flag. Similarly, the No. 10 WTR Cadillac led in Detroit before being muscled aside by the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 with less than five minutes to go. And a win slipped from their grasp when Whelen’s Earl Bamber hit the pits for a splash of energy while leading on the white-flag lap at Watkins Glen. It’s an understatement to say that Cadillac was itching for a win in 2025; Action Express all the more so. Suffice to say they all delivered the goods in this month’s TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as Bamber, Jack Aitken and Frederik Vesti piloted the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac to the brand’s 32nd victory since entering prototype competition in 2017. What’s more, the win marked Action Express’ 100th podium in IMSA competition. And for good measure, Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque steered the No. 10 WTR entry to a fighting second place on a day the Cadillacs combined to lead 236 of 243 laps on the IMS road course. Further underlining Cadillac’s Brickyard dominance is the fact that the three V-Series.Rs started the race 1-2-3 after the No. 60 Meyer Shank Acura was moved to the rear of the GTP field when a post-qualifying inspection revealed the provisional pole winner failed to comply with the bodywork tolerance rules. |
| “I’m super proud of everybody at Cadillac and Whelen,” said Vesti, who scored his first IMSA win. “It’s been a hard year for us so far but to step on the top spot of the podium is massive for us. It’s been a strong, amazing weekend from the Whelen Cadillac. The team worked together, and this result proves that it was a team effort. I led every single lap I was out there and pulled gaps multiple times. I’m proud and happy of the whole team. We’re ready for more.” Despite leading a whopping 210 laps, the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac was not assured of victory until the checkered flag waved, thanks to a valiant drive by WTR’s Ricky Taylor. After an up-and-down race that included an unscheduled pit stop for a punctured tire, the No. 10 Cadillac squad threw a Hail Mary in the closing stages of the race, eschewing a late splash ’n go that would have insured it had plenty of go-juice for the run to the finish. Far from dooming Taylor to a tedious energy-management stint, the gamble unleashed him to charge from the back of the GTP field secure in the knowledge his efforts might well go for naught if the race went green to the finish. Fortuitously, a full course caution in the final 10 minutes insured the No. 10 Cadillac had the energy to complete the race. And though Aitken and the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac proved uncatchable when the green flag waved for the final time, Taylor’s earlier pass of the No. 60 Acura had all but ensured a Cadillac one-two. |
| Thus, it was a fully “energized” Taylor who took his place alongside Albuquerque on the podium. “Some days, things don’t fall your way and some days they do,” he said. “It has been a really rough year for us. Today the team did everything right. Filipe drove an amazing stint. Unlucky with the puncture, but I think we took the risks we needed to take with fuel saving and overtaking to get a Cadillac win.” Although things didn’t work out quite as well for the No. 40 WTR Cadillac. Despite mid-race contact with another competitor, Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz were in the hunt for a top-three finish after the final round of pit stops. In contrast to their WTR compatriots, the No. 40 Cadillac opted to conserve energy in the race’s final stint, knowing it was their best chance at a podium or perhaps even a victory. But the late caution put paid to their plan, and relegated Taylor and Deletraz to eighth place at the checkered flag. “Very unlucky day on the No. 40,” opined Deletraz. “I think we had a strong race, but we gambled on the race staying green. We were one of the only cars that could have made it to the end. We gambled and it didn’t work. We had the best (plan) to make it on the podium but it just didn’t go our way. “Very happy for the 31 and 10 and the double podium for Cadillac,” he continued. “Today we split strategies and in either situation we would have had a car up front. I think that is the point of this program: working together.” “With just over an hour to go and being a lap and a half down, we knew with fuel Louis might win the race,” Wayne Taylor said. “However, if we got a caution Ricky could end up second. Ricky went to it and helped the Whelen guys with (the lead Acura).” Indeed, having two teams and three cars working together – or at least in complementary fashion – was the key to victory at Indianapolis and may well prove to be a road map for future success. “Between the Cadillacs we had three different strategies and I think that is what we need to do as a brand going forward,” said Ricky Taylor. “Couldn’t be happier. It was fun to be in the car at the end. Thanks to the team, Cadillac and DEX. Hopefully we can get our first win at Petit Le Mans.” |
