Could Wayne Taylor's idea of racing in WEC actually work?

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In an IMSA media call, Wayne Taylor, of the eponymous racing team, raised the possibility of his team racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship next year.

I reported on this for Motorsport Week — read that story for what Taylor said — but I'd like to look further into the idea here.

Three Cadillacs in full-time WEC?

Firstly, there are obviously already two Cadillacs in WEC currently. Run by the JOTA-team, Cadillac upped their factory effort from one car, run by Chip Ganassi Racing last year, to the JOTA-run cars this year.

With JOTA only in their first year of running a two-car factory Hypercar prrogramme, in what is believed to be a multi-year effort, the British team is unlikely to want to scale down to a single-car effort.

And, at the same time, JOTA are also unlikely to want to run a single-car programme in IMSA either. When Only Endurance spoke to JOTA's Sam Hignett and David Clark last year, Hignett called the last time JOTA tried IMSA 'a disaster'.

So, assuming JOTA runs two cars in WEC next year, a hypothetical WTR car would be a third Cadillac.

The WEC sporting regulations, article 3.2.3. state:

In addition to respecting the provisions of Article 3 of Appendix 2 a manufacturer must enter two cars in the Hypercar FIA World Endurance Championship.

Any additional cars must be entered in the Hypercar Team World Cup. The Selection Committee will determine the maximum number of cars per manufacturer that will be accepted.

There is a common assertion that a manufacturer can only enter two cars, but the regulations don't actually state that. But, Cadillac would have to choose which two of the three cars would contribute to the world championship.

Would the hypothetical WTR car be in the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams, along with the Proton Porsche and AF Corse Ferrari entries? Or would a JOTA entry drop down to that? We simply don't know.

How would this affect WTR in IMSA?

Taylor's idea here was to have one car in WEC, and one in IMSA.

WTR's IMSA programme is in a learning year in 2025, its first with the Cadillac V-Series.R after switching from two years of racing the Acura ARX-06. The team has somewhat struggled this year, seventh and 10th in the teams' championship, with a best finish of sixth at Long Beach for the #10 machine of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque.

Taylor believes, though, the team is making progress.

'We're still learning this car, but I think we've made some big steps forward last weekend in Laguna, and there's some more stuff coming,' he told media on the IMSA call.

That said, they still finished a lap down on the winning #6 Porsche at Monterey, something Taylor is evidently confused about.

'When did you ever hear of a race that's two and a half hours long and have every single person lapped except for three cars?', he said.

'So, I don't know how that happens because we had nothing wrong with any execution in the pits. We had an incident where IMSA said the tyre temperature was too low.

'The track conditions changed really quickly at the start of the race and the tyres got cold, and it's nobody's fault that that happened. But even if we'd have not had that problem, we'd have probably still be a lap down and it's extremely hard to race like this under these conditions.

'But I do believe that everybody's working to bring this back to where it's been in the past. It's certainly a challenge for the drivers and the crew to go from one manufacturer and then come into a new manufacturer and try and gauge yourself over only four races. So, I think we are learning slowly, but we've got to get back to the front end of the grid.'

So, even if progress is being made, albeit slowly as Taylor admitted... shoulds the team focus on getting back to the front in IMSA, then look properly at WEC? Maybe, maybe not. But with IMSA as the team's current programme, the focus should probably remain there for now.

Taylor 'excited' about Le Mans opportunity

But a major focus for the past few months, and the next 30 days or so, is WTR's first appearance at the biggest endurance race in the world: Le Mans.

Le Mans is obviously part of WEC but it also exists independently of the world championship, such is its status at the Automobile Club de l'Ouest.

Back when Taylor was a racing driver and not a team owner, he raced in the French endurance classic 13 times. He won it the LMP1 class, in 1998, in a Doyle-Risi Racing-run Ferrari 333 SP, alongside Eric van der Poele and Fermín Velez.

'When they [the ACO] asked me to apply for the Le Mans entry, I was really pleasantly and happily shocked that that they accepted us,' said Taylor.

'And under the brand of Cadillac Racing. For this event, you know, it was difficult to try and choose. You've got four drivers in two cars, and now we're going to one car.

'So, obviously, Ricky and Filipe have been together for a long time, so they were a natural. And Jordan being in the same team and in different car, it really gave us the opportunity to try and do what we did at Daytona.

'Only this is going to be a much taller order. But whenever you get a chance to try and do it, you'll go for it.

'We are going there to try and replicate what we did in Daytona, and it would be just amazing for not only us, but for Cadillac. They're the ones that have invested in this. They've put a lot of engineering support behind it. They've done an enormous job in marketing and PR and being part of it is very humbling. So, we're excited.'

As Taylor says, the #101 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing car will be driven by his sons, Jordan and Ricky Taylor, plus long-time team driver Filipe Albuquerque.

More questions than answers

This whole dual IMSA-WEC idea from Taylor Sr raises more questions than answers really — answers we don't have.

How would the logistics of such a programme work? Who would drive the cars in both IMSA and WEC? Is there even space in the WEC field for it? With Genesis joining next year, potentially taking the Hypercar field up to 20, an extra WTR Cadillac would take it up to 21.

Would this work for the general WEC entry list? Would there be another Hypercar to balance the field back out to 22, with 18 LMGT3 entries, same as in 2025?

We simply don't know. And it might be a while before we find out. Only Endurance reached out to Cadillac, with a spokesperson confirming Taylor had mentioned this to no one before the IMSA-hosted media Zoom call.