Wayne Taylor

Last updated

Wayne Taylor
NationalitySouth African
Born (1956-07-15) 15 July 1956 (age 67)
Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Related to Jordan Taylor (son)
Ricky Taylor (son)
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years1987–1993, 1996–1998, 2000–2002
Best finish4th (1987)
Class wins1 (1998)

Wayne Taylor (born 15 July 1956) is a South African sports car racing driver and team owner. He won the 1996 and 2005 24 Hours of Daytona, and the 2005 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype drivers' championship. He drove for SunTrust Racing with Max Angelelli. He co-drove in the 2006 International Race of Champions in the United States with Angelelli. Taylor now owns and manages his own team competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Contents

Racing career

He won the 1986 South African National Drivers Championship. In 1987 he finished fourth in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He moved to the FIA World Sportscar Championship. He competed in the C2 class in 1988, and moved to the C1 class in 1989. He also competed in the IMSA Camel GT series from 1989 through 1993. From 1991 through 1993, he was one of the lead drivers for the Intrepid RM-1 GTP program.

He won the IMSA WSC class in 1994, with second-place finishes in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Taylor won the 1996 24 hours of Daytona and 1996 12 hours of Sebring with Scott Sharp and Jim Pace (racing driver) in a Riley & Scott Mk III Oldsmobile.

He was once more IMSA WSC champion in 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998. In 1998 he won the Petit Le Mans and the prototype class in the 24 Hours of Daytona.

He competed in the American Le Mans Series in 1999. From 2000 to 2002, he was a central part of the Cadillac Le Mans effort. It was handled by his long-time technical partner in 2000 Bob Riley before the chassis program was moved in England and an updated car was built for 2001, followed by a completely new car, the LMP-02, in 2002. Unfortunately, it was not successful against Audi's R8 and even privately entered LMPs, so GM discontinued the program at the end of the year. Taylor tried to secure funding to run a privateer effort with the car, but instead eventually continued with Cadillac in the Speed World Challenge CTS-V effort.

With Max Angelelli, he was co-champion in the Daytona Prototype category of the 2005 Grand American Road Racing Association Rolex Sports Car Series, and the pair also took the overall win in the 24 Hours of Daytona.

In 2006, Wayne and his Grand-Am teammate, Max Angelelli made IROC Series history becoming the first tandem of drivers to compete in one car during an IROC season. They each raced two races and points were combined for their tally as they are in the sportscar series.

In mid-2006, Taylor announced a split with car builder Bob Riley and formed Wayne Taylor Racing for the 2007 season with continued backing from SunTrust, and Angelelli as co-driver. The team is based in Indianapolis. Early in 2007, Taylor stepped away from full-time driving and used a host of fill in drivers before naming Michael Valiante to team up with Angelelli full-time in 2008. Taylor continues to drive in the long distance events. The team continued to field Riley Chassis in 2007 before switching to the new Dallara chassis after the 2008 24 Hours of Daytona. In May 2008, the team's transporter caught fire and destroyed it, the new Dallara and all of their equipment. The team fielded their old Riley with borrowed equipment until a new Dallara could be built and shipped to the US. On 23 August, the team scored their first win of the year and the first for Dallara in Grand-Am at Infineon Raceway California.

Taylor's team won its second Grand-Am championship in 2013 with Angelelli co-driving with his son Jordan Taylor. Wayne's older son Ricky Taylor is also a Grand-Am regular and was Angelelli's regular teammate until Jordan replaced him in 2013.

Motorsports career results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

YearTeamCo-DriversCarClassLapsPos.Class
Pos.
1987 Flag of Germany.svg Porsche Kremer Racing Flag of South Africa (1928-1982).svg George Fouché
Flag of Austria.svg Franz Konrad
Porsche 962CC13274th4th
1988 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Cosmik GP Motorsport Flag of Greece.svg Costas Los
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Evan Clements
Spice SE87C-Ford C2145DNFDNF
1989 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Spice Engineering Flag of Denmark.svg Thorkild Thyrring
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Tim Harvey
Spice SE89C-Ford C1150DNFDNF
1990 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Team Schuppan
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Omron Racing
Flag of the United States.svg Hurley Haywood
Flag of Sweden.svg Rickard Rydell
Porsche 962CC133212th12th
1991 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Team Salamin Primagaz
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Team Schuppan
Flag of the United States.svg Hurley Haywood
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg James Weaver
Porsche 962CC2316NCNC
1992 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg British Racing Motors Flag of Finland.svg Harri Toivonen
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Richard Jones
BRM P351 C120DNFDNF
1993 Flag of Germany.svg Porsche Kremer Racing Flag of Germany.svg Jürgen Lässig
Flag of Italy.svg Giovanni Lavaggi
Porsche 962CK6C232812th7th
1996 Flag of the United States.svg Riley & Scott Cars Inc. Flag of the United States.svg Scott Sharp
Flag of the United States.svg Jim Pace
Riley & Scott Mk III-Oldsmobile WSC157DNFDNF
1997 Flag of Japan.svg Nissan Motorsport
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg TWR
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle
Flag of Germany.svg Jörg Müller
Nissan R390 GT1 GT1139DNFDNF
1998 Flag of the United States.svg Doyle-Risi Racing Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Eric van de Poele
Flag of Spain.svg Fermín Velez
Ferrari 333 SP LMP13328th1st
2000 Flag of the United States.svg Team Cadillac Flag of Italy.svg Max Angelelli
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Eric van de Poele
Cadillac Northstar LMP LMP90028722nd12th
2001 Flag of France.svg DAMS Flag of Italy.svg Max Angelelli
Flag of France.svg Christophe Tinseau
Cadillac Northstar LMP01 LMP90027015th5th
2002 Flag of the United States.svg Team Cadillac Flag of Italy.svg Max Angelelli
Flag of France.svg Christophe Tinseau
Cadillac Northstar LMP02 LMP9003459th8th

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

YearTeamClassMakeEngine1234567891011RankPoints
2014 Wayne Taylor Racing P Dallara Corvette DP Chevrolet 5.5L V8 DAY
2
SIR LBH LS DET S6H MSP IMS ELK COA PET 42nd33

International Race of Champions

(key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)

International Race of Champions results
SeasonMake1234Pos.PointsRef
2006 Pontiac DAY
6
TEX DAY ATL
11
9th130 [1]

1 Ride shared with Max Angelelli

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References

  1. "Wayne Taylor – 2006 IROC Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
Sporting positions
Preceded by South African National Drivers Championship
1986
Succeeded by
None
Preceded by IMSA GT champion
1994
Succeeded by
Preceded by Grand-Am Daytona Prototype Champion
2005
with Max Angelelli
Succeeded by