Wayne Taylor says that his team is very committed to Acura’s newly announced LMDh programme, saying that it provides him with a chance to fight for overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Acura became the third driver to publicly commit to the LMDh ruleset, which is set for debut in 2023, which would allow teams to compete in both the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Taylor won the race in the LMP1 class with Risi Competizione in a Ferrari 333SP in 1998, but was never able to capture an overall win in his thirteen starts as a driver between 1987 and 2002.
Wayne Taylor Racing joined the Acura stable for the 2021 season, and took its first win at Daytona last month.
Speaking exclusively to MotorsportWeek.com, Taylor commented that he wanted to be part of Acura’s LMDh plans from the start, as it would provide him a chance to fight for overall victory at Le Mans from 2023.
“It was very much part of our negotiation when we started this new partnership, and LMDh was very important to us because I want to go to Le Mans and have a chance to win overall,” Taylor said.
“I have won the prototype class as a driver before in a Ferrari, but overall is what I still want to do.”
The LMDh category was first announced as a joint effort by IMSA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest in January of 2020, with the official finalized ruleset announced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in September.
Audi subsequently became the first manufacturer to confirm its commitment to the category in November, followed by Porsche in December. Acura put the number of committed manufacturers to three, with the number expected to rise further in coming months.
“They’ve committed, and so we are very committed to doing that,” Taylor said of Acura’s LMDh plans. “We’re obviously being very involved in all the testing and the developing of the car and so we are very much looking forward to that.
“We know there are at least two other car manufacturers in Europe that are getting ready to commit to this, so the future of sportscar racing is looking pretty damn good right now.”
