Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport didn’t have to look far to find drivers for its two-car Acura ARX-06 program in the IMSA weatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP class next season. Bringing Louis Deletraz, the endurance addition in the No. 10 Acura this season with Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, up to full-season driver was an easy choice to make. The other driver had to be brought back into the WTRAndretti fold, and although Jordan Taylor had envisioned himself being a Corvette driver for the rest of his career, it didn’t take a lot of convincing.
“I think being back with the family is a great place to be,” says Jordan. “I always said that some of my best years and most enjoyable years were winning with the family team and with Ricky, so I’m excited to kind of get started with Louis and create some more of those memories to bring back to the family side.”
Jordan raced for his father’s team from 2013 through ’19. For four of those seasons, brother Ricky w as his co-driver in, first, the Dallara Corvette Day tona Prototype, and then the Cadillac DPi-V.R. During that time they scored two championships together, in 2013 and ’17, before their careers diverged. For 2018, Ricky went to Acura Team Penske, returning to WTR when the Penske partnership ended and WTR switched from Cadillac to Acura. Jordan went to Corvette Racing in 2020, where he won consecutive championships. Ricky also won a championship for Acura Team Penske, but neither has won a championship competing head to head with each other.
For 2024, that could change. While they will be teammates within WTRAndretti and Acura, they may very well be championship rivals since they will be in different cars.
“When moved to Penske in 2018, we were head to head against each other and we had some good battles. I think Long Beach was one, and maybe a couple of others throughout throughout the year,” Jordan says.
“I think before established ourselves as drivers back in 2013, we were against each other in Daytona prototypes, and for sure the the rivalry was different. We raced each other much different than we would today. We’re still trying to prove ourselves, but I think at this point in our careers, we’re both more established, more professional and can kind of just race each other as another car. I’m sure, especially being in the same team, it can be treated a little bit differently as well. So I’m looking forward to it. We both know each other’s strengths and weaknesses pretty well, so I’m sure those will be fun challenges to deal with throughout the year.”