Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque has described the primary half of the 2026 IMSA SportsCar Championship as “brutal” for himself and team-mate Ricky Taylor.
The duo has endured a attempting season to this point within the #10 Cadillac V-Sequence.R, failing to complete increased than tenth throughout the opening 4 rounds. It was solely in final month’s Detroit road race that they had been capable of finish their podium drought with a third-place end, persevering with a run of robust type for the #10 crew on the Michigan venue.
A mixture of things prevented Albuquerque and Taylor from preventing on the entrance this 12 months. A gearbox problem pressured them out of the season-opening Daytona 24 Hours, whereas an incident with a GT3 automotive dealt terminal suspension injury to their Cadillac at Laguna Seca.
Additional, the Portuguese-American pair provisionally completed on the rostrum within the Sebring 12 Hours, behind the dominant Porsches, however had been stripped of the end result post-race as a result of a technical infraction.
Albuquerque didn’t maintain again when requested to sum up his marketing campaign to this point within the GTP class, however harassed that the workforce is progressively bridging the hole to the leaders.
“For the #10 automotive, it has been brutal, I believe that is the phrase for a way the season goes,” he informed Motorsport on the Le Mans 24 Hours.
“We have seen, although, because the starting, a rise of efficiency and of pure lap time; we’re far more there.
“Final 12 months, we had an even bigger hole, particularly to our team-mates within the #31 [Action Express Cadillac].
“I believe we had been aggressive in Daytona. Sadly, we had a difficulty, which pressured us to retire. In Sebring, we had been the very best of the remainder in comparison with the Porsches, so it was a podium. Sadly, with a technical infringement which was not a lot efficiency, [we lost that podium] however it’s what it’s.
“Now we bought a podium. So, we had two races that we weren’t completely satisfied about, which had been Lengthy Seaside and Laguna Seca.
“We’re narrowing down the efficiency [gap]. We did podium in Laguna [with #31] and in Detroit.”
Albuquerque highlighted WTR’s robust one-lap tempo in 2026, with the #40 Cadillac shared by Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor qualifying contained in the top-three in 4 of the 5 rounds and the #10 automotive additionally beginning a powerful third at Sebring.
“When you see as nicely, Wayne Taylor Racing has been qualifying within the high three all of the weekends, so it is doing nicely, however we’ve by no means managed to place each vehicles up there. So, we’re simply narrowing down that factor that we nonetheless aren’t able to. However I believe it might change anytime.
“Doing extra races [like Le Mans] helps the drivers, helps the workforce. Being right here with Jota, with a distinct philosophy, helps the workforce to be taught the complexity of those vehicles. These days, you have to suppose that it isn’t anymore about trip heights, wings and torsion bars.
“We’ve a factor about these vehicles, which is settings. Settings can utterly change the automotive, and it utterly makes the efficiency of the automotive.”
#10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Sequence.R: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Will Stevens
Picture by: IMSA
Albuquerque and Taylor haven’t received an IMSA race outright because the 2024 Detroit weekend with Acura, whereas WTR itself hasn’t registered a victory because it reunited with Cadillac in the beginning of 2025.
Within the championship standings, the #10 crew sits thirteenth within the GTP class, simply behind the sister automotive of Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor.
Albuquerque mentioned he was now specializing in particular person outcomes for the rest of 2026, with any life like likelihood of securing a maiden IMSA title now gone.
“We’re nowhere within the championship this 12 months. So, to be sincere, we go for single occasions; nice outcomes, like podiums, and clearly attempt to get a win,” the 41-year-old mentioned.
“Final 12 months, we had been so near getting a win right away within the fourth race, which was Detroit. We did not handle to get it. So, we had three podiums final 12 months, one this 12 months, so we would like extra podiums.
“For me, personally, I need to be in control of the race. So, I’ve the tempo, I am going ahead, not trying on the mirrors. And if a win comes, nice.
“Technique-wise, IMSA may give a win to you, or America [can]. In IndyCar, typically, loopy methods provide you with wins.
“However above all, I need to have the last word efficiency to win a race outright, identical to, ‘this was the automotive to beat’. That is what I really need.”
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