WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 GTP Teams’ Starting Positions Set for Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

(LONG BEACH, California) April 19, 2024 – The duo of Wayne Taylor Racing and Andretti (WTRAndretti) Acura ARX-06 GTPs took the 11-turn road course to set the grid for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. In a competitive 10-car GTP field, Jordan Taylor completed his first qualifying session for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship behind the wheel of the No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06. Taylor covered 1.968 miles in a time of 01:11.745 to land sixth on the grid. Filipe Albuquerque took control of the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 for the 15-minute qualifying session. For Albuquerque, his best time of 01:11.940 put the blue and black machine into eighth place for tomorrow’s race.

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is set to begin at 4:35 pm ET (1:35 pm PT) tomorrow with a 100-minute battle on Shoreline Drive. Broadcasts from the streets of Long Beach will be hosted on USA Network by Peacock from green to checkered flag.

FIFTH BEST GTP GRID STARTING

1. No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing (Cadillac V-Series.R) P. Derani, J. Aitken (99.243 mph)
2. No. 25 BMW M Team RLL (BMW M Hybrid V8) C. De Phillippi, N. Yelloly (99.231 mph)
3. No. 01 Cadillac Racing (Cadillac V-Series.R) R. van der Zande, S. Bourdais (99.211 mph)
4. Nope. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports (Porsche 963) N. Tandy, M. Jaminet (98.909 mph)
5. No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports (Porsche 963) D. Cameron, F. Nasr (99.755 mph)
6. No. 40 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 (Acura ARX-06) J. Taylor, L. Delétraz, C. Herta (98.749 mph)
7. No. 10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 (Acura ARX-06) R. Taylor, F. Albuquerque, B. Hartley (98.482 mph)

Filipe Albuquerque, No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06: “For qualifying we went with a different strategy than the 40 car, we used two sets of tires. We need to investigate because maybe it wasn’t the best, the front tires were still going in, but we’re always learning. I don’t think we had the pace to challenge pole position, unfortunately. So tomorrow is race time. It hasn’t always been the fastest, last year was a good example of that. So, let’s stay clean and have a good race. Even if it is a short race, many things can happen. And the walls still won’t move.”

Jordan Taylor, No. 40 DEX Imaging Acura ARX-06: “So, running in practice was limited with the tire allocation we had, so most of our lead runs were more for race preparation than I would say for qualifying. We saw some people taking an extra set of tires in practice and maybe that was an advantage in qualifying, but our goal was to play long races and get a good package for the race. I think we have a really good race car, so hopefully this will pay off in the long run in tomorrow’s race.”

ABOUT WTRANDRETTI
Andretti Global and Wayne Taylor Racing announced a new long-term partnership in 2023 that combines the resources of the two championship teams to compete. IMSA upper classes. In 2024, Wayne Taylor and Andretti Racing (WTRandretti) has expanded to a two-car GTP program as well as competing in the GTD class. Coming out of its bid to win the 2023 championship, WTRandretti continues its Driving Development Program in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America with a full series.

WTRAndretti’s global motorsports business boasts the IMSA drivers’ championship (2013 and 2017), and the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup (2020, 2021) which contributed to nine IMSA manufacturers’ championships for Acura, Pontiac, Corvette and Cadillac. In its short 17-year history, WTRAndretti has accumulated many victories in the most important events of motor racing: Rolex 24 At Daytona, Twelve Hours of Sebring, Petit Le Mans, Mid-Ohio, Road America and Six Hours of The Glen . . With its consecutive Pro Class Championship wins (2022, 2023), WTR also has ten North American Lamborghini Super Trofeo titles and a Lamborghini World Finals title.

Andretti Global, a Championship-winning motorsports organization, competes in additional racing categories around the world, including NTT. INDICAR SERIES, ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, Extreme E, Australian Supercars and Mexican SuperCopa. Additionally, the racing company is committed to driver development through competition in INDY NXT with Firestone and through support of the racing careers of Sebastian and Oliver Wheldon.

WTRAndretti’s long-standing partnerships include Acura, Honda Racing Corporation USA (HRC), Konica Minolta Business Solutions USA, DEX Imaging, Harrison Contracting Company and Gainbridge.