Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque delivered the first Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac win in chaotic IMSA Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America.
The No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R survived the sheer mayhem that enveloped the six-hour race including nine full-course cautions to claim victory, ending an agonising two-year winless streak for the team and marked their first GTP class triumph since becoming a factory partner with Cadillac.
The pole sitting No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Nick Yelloly led the field to green, but the race barely had time to breathe before drama intervened.
Just twelve minutes in, the No. 16 Myers Riley Motorsports Ford Mustang of Sheena Monk crashed heavily at at Turn 11 after contact with the TDS Racing LMP2 machine of Tobi Lutke, bringing out the first of nine full-course cautions that would collectively consume more than two hours of racing behind the safety car.
The race restarted 16 minutes later only for Jon Field’s No. 37 Intersport Racing ORECA to crash at the Carousel, bringing out the second full-course caution.
Marco Wittmann driving the No. 25 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 made the bold call to remain on track as several cars pitted for tyres and driver changes, vaulting to the lead ahead of the No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 of Felipe Nasr, who capitalised on a lightning-fast fuel-only stop.
Sheldon van der Linde in the sister No. 24 BMW sporting the Spider-Man livery slotted into third, followed by Louis Deletraz in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, while the No. 93 MSR Acura dropped to fifth after Renger van der Zande took over from Yelloly.
Wittmann eked out a 5.7s lead in the second hour as Deletraz got past Van der Linde and Nasr to take second. However, Deletraz was handed a drive through penalty for blocking at Turn 5, promoting Van der Linde to second.
Wittmann later pitted and relinquished the lead to the sister No. 24 BMW of Van der Linde who went on to build a 20-second advantage over the No. 25 with Philipp Eng at the wheel.
The third full-course caution came with 3h42m remaining for an incident involving the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari.
The No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 of Julien Andlauer took the lead after a fuel-only stop, while the No. 24 BMW dropped to second after a lengthy driver swap to Dries Vanthoor, with the sister No. 6 Penske Porsche of Kévin Estre slotting into third.
However, Andlauer’s command was cut short by the fourth full-course caution involving the No.1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 which crashed at Turn 12.
Tijmen van der Helm made a short-stop for the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 and snatched the race lead, ahead of Jordan Taylor in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R and Vanthoor’s No. 24 BMW.
Taylor made a move past Van der Helm for the lead with 2h41m remaining, before the No. 5 Porsche was hit with a drive-through penalty, promoting Ricky Taylor in the sister No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac to second.
With two hours left, the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Jack Aitken and the No. 7 Porsche of Felipe Nasr made contact into Turn 6, sending Nasr into the gravel and bringing out the fifth full-course caution.
Dries Vanthoor surged into the lead after not pitting, followed by Aitken and Filipe Albuquerque now in the No. 10 Cadillac V-Series.R.
Just after Aitken and Nasr were cleared of any wrong doing, the No. 65 Ford Mustang GT3 Evo of Frédéric Vervisch crashed into the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R of Alexander Sims, triggering the sixth full-course caution.
Vanthoor pitted, leaving Aitken and Albuquerque in a close battle for the lead with just over an hour to go. The No. 10 WTR Cadillac ultimately got ahead of Aitken, while Estre followed closely in third before the last two full-course cautions.
One involved a crash for the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Tom Sargent, while the other came with just ten minutes remaining when Tom Blomqvist’s No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura crashed at Turn 13.
Then on the final restart, Estre and Aitken made violent contact at the entry to Turn 1, sending the championship-leading No. 31 Cadillac hard into the barriers and simultaneously eliminating the No. 6 Penske Porsche from the fight.
The crash elevated the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie of Romain De Angelis to second, but their moment of grace was short-lived after they were handed a post-race drive-through penalty for an earlier incident with the No. 93 Acura, demoting them to fifth.
The No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 of Laurin Heinrich, Kaylen Frederick and Tijmen van der Helm was promoted to second overall after surviving three drive-through penalties and a mechanical black flag for a door being ajar.
The No. 40 of Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz completed a double podium for Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.
Full Race Results: 2026 IMSA Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America
