Andretti targets Le Mans and WEC with new WTR partnership
Michael Andretti says he wants to take his new sportscar partnership with Wayne Taylor Racing to the Le Mans 24 Hours in future.
WTR and Andretti Autosport have revealed a plan to expand its Acura attack in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship to two cars next year, and then turn its attention to Europe – targeting the biggest sportscar race of all, the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Taylor's team currently fields a single GTP Acura ARX-06 entry in IMSA competition, with Acura's other car run by Meyer Shank Racing.
Honda's luxury brand Acura has shown little interest in a program outside the US, so any such undertaking would likely see the Oreca-based LMDh car rebadged as a Honda and would need a campaign in the FIA World Endurance Championship as part of the Le Mans entry requirement.
When ask if he wanted to race at Le Mans, Andretti replied: "100 percent – that is a definite goal for us.
"With our new partners that we have with Andretti Global, our goal is to be in every major racing event in the world, and obviously Le Mans is one of the big ones. So, down the road, we definitely want to be there.
"This has been a perfect time to be involved [in sportscar racing], and you can't do any better than a team like Wayne Taylor Racing. It's one of those marriages made in heaven and we look forward to maintaining and then growing – it's going to be one of the mainstays of the series that we're in."
Taylor added: "From my perspective, [Le Mans] is the one major sportscar race that we haven't won overall, so there's no doubt that's a major focus for all of us here. That's where we want to be."
#10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 Acura ARX-06: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Louis Deletraz, Brendon Hartley
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
Andretti aims to enter the Formula 1 ranks with GM brand Cadillac in the coming years, most likely with a re-badged Honda engine, and revealed that he also plans to run a full WEC program with WTR, in parallel to its IMSA campaign.
"Yes, that's no secret either," he said. "We're going to have a satellite facility over in Europe, we already have one we're setting up but it's going to be bigger, and one of the objectives is to have a WEC team running out of there in the next few years."
Taylor said having the Andretti name on board with his team will allow it to take on the might of IMSA team rivals like Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing.
"[Andretti] brings everything: a huge name, a huge facility, great partners, success," said Taylor. "They are as passionate and focused about sportscar racing as we are.
"We are just going to elevate. It's not only good for Michael and I, it's good for all of our partners – HPD, all of our sponsors, everybody – because we're just going to raise the game very quickly."
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