Louis Deletraz has seen a lot of progress in the second year of a unified effort with Cadillac and Wayne Taylor Racing.
Wayne Taylor Racing made the switch from Acura to Cadillac in a two-car venture ahead of the 2025 season. With the usual teething issues of a new program, there was a mixed bag of results but also flashes of pace the two Cadillac V Series.R entries earned a combined four podiums, including three runner-up results.
“Last year, the switch of manufacturer, going from Acura to Cadillac, a lot of new people, a lot of new things to learn, and a new car for everyone,” said Deletraz, 28.
“So that took time to get together. We were pretty much behind every other team who knew the cars already. So, in such a competitive field, it's hard to catch up.”
The early signs of progress were promising after Deletraz qualified second in the #40 Cadillac V-Series.R for this year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona. However, he, along with full-time co-driver Jordan Taylor and endurance hotshoe Colton Herta, were unable to convert a finish better than sixth. Meanwhile, the #10 entry driven by fulltimers Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, and endurance co-driver Will Stevens, were forced to retire with a mechanical failure with just two hours remaining.
The next indicator of Cadillac’s WTR effort will be this weekend’s Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Although it’s still early days, the 28-year-old from Geneva, Switzerland, sees large improvements as they try to move the program forward and gain on the likes of Porsche Penske Motorsport and others in IMSA’s top GTP category.
“You can already see starting this year, Daytona, with people, and it's just so much easier to work together,” Deletraz said. “You know, where to focus, where you need performance from. Straight from that, we were more competitive in Daytona.
“Unfortunately, on the #40 side we had an issue during the night. We lost pace at the end of the race, so we couldn't fight for it. But I'm very confident this year should be a lot better.
“It feels like it; you're speaking with engineers, with people at Cadillac, you just feel the ease and performance comes straight away from that. So now what we need to unlock, we need to keep working on those areas. Obviously, everyone, all the manufacturers keep improving. “We cannot just rest on what we know. We will push the limit of everything. I think we're learning about this new package. All the evos Cadillac brought, which are for us positive, bringing consistency. And again, when we go to a track like Sebring with all the bumps, it should be positive for us.”
