With just under 30 minutes remaining, Ricky Taylor made a bold move in the No. 10 Acura ARX-06 to take first from Mathieu Jaminet’s No. 6 Porsche 963 and led the final 20 laps to win the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic for Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti.
It was the first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory for Taylor and WTRAndretti co-driver Filipe Albuquerque since August 2022 at Road America (a 14-race drought).
“It means so much,” Taylor told NBC Sports’ Marty Snider. “Filipe had an amazing start. We didn’t know what to expect. Such a challenging course. All the guys worked so hard. We’ve been really struggling for pace. We’re not used to be struggling for a podium. So for me and Filipe and the 10 car, it means so much. We haven’t won a race in over a year. I haven’t won a race since I’ve been married. It just seemed like nothing could go right.
“Today he did an unbelievable start. With how important track position is here, we didn’t think we had a chance really.”
The team became the fifth Grand Touring Prototype entry to win in as many races this season.
Taylor earned his 31st victory in IMSA’s premier prototype category by 1.132 seconds after two late restarts.
Said Albuquerque, who took his first lead on Lap 22. “Let’s hope that we break the spell now.”
Jaminet finished second with co-driver Nick Tandy, who served a drive-through penalty for a pit lane incident in the 25th minute. The No. 01 Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande finished third.
In the GTD Pro category, Seb Priaulx and Laurin Heinrich won their second consecutive this season with the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, winning by 2.885 seconds over the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat.
IMSA DETROIT SPORTS CAR CLASSIC RESULTS
Race results
Results by class
Fastest laps by driver
Fastest laps by driver after race (over the weekend)
Fastest laps by driver and class after race
Fastest lap sequence
Leader sequence
Lap chart
Race analysis by lap
Stint analysis
Best sector times
Race distance and average speed
Flag analysis
Time cards
Pit stop time cards
Weather report
NEXT RACE
After a break for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will return June 23 with all four categories at Watkins Glen International (11 a.m. ET, USA and Peacock).
Click here for the 2024 IMSA on NBC Sports broadcast schedule.