Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque has described the first half of the 2026 IMSA SportsCar Championship as “brutal” for himself and team-mate Ricky Taylor.
The duo has endured a trying season so far in the #10 Cadillac V-Series.R, failing to finish higher than 10th across the opening four rounds. It was only in last month’s Detroit street race that they were able to end their podium drought with a third-place finish, continuing a run of strong form for the #10 crew at the Michigan venue.
A combination of factors prevented Albuquerque and Taylor from fighting at the front this year. A gearbox issue forced them out of the season-opening Daytona 24 Hours, while an incident with a GT3 car dealt terminal suspension damage to their Cadillac at Laguna Seca.
Further, the Portuguese-American pair provisionally finished on the podium in the Sebring 12 Hours, behind the dominant Porsches, but were stripped of the result post-race due to a technical infraction.
Albuquerque didn’t hold back when asked to sum up his campaign so far in the GTP class, but stressed that the team is gradually bridging the gap to the leaders.
“For the #10 car, it's been brutal, I think that's the word for how the season is going,” he told Motorsport at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
“We've seen, though, since the beginning, an increase of performance and of pure lap time; we are way more there.
“Last year, we had a bigger gap, especially to our team-mates in the #31 [Action Express Cadillac].
“I think we were competitive in Daytona. Unfortunately, we had an issue, which forced us to retire. In Sebring, we were the best of the rest compared to the Porsches, so it was a podium. Unfortunately, with a technical infringement which was not so much performance, [we lost that podium] but it is what it is.
“Now we got a podium. So, we had two races that we were not happy about, which were Long Beach and Laguna Seca.
“We are narrowing down the performance [gap]. We did podium in Laguna [with #31] and in Detroit.”
Albuquerque highlighted WTR’s strong one-lap pace in 2026, with the #40 Cadillac shared by Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor qualifying inside the top-three in four of the five rounds and the #10 car also starting a strong third at Sebring.
“If you see as well, Wayne Taylor Racing has been qualifying in the top three all the weekends, so it's doing well, but we have never managed to put both cars up there. So, we are just narrowing down that thing that we still are not capable of. But I think it can change anytime.
“Doing more races [like Le Mans] helps the drivers, helps the team. Being here with Jota, with a different philosophy, helps the team to learn the complexity of these cars. Nowadays, you need to think that it's not anymore about ride heights, wings and torsion bars.
“We have a thing about these cars, which is settings. Settings can completely change the car, and it completely makes the performance of the car.”
Albuquerque and Taylor haven’t won an IMSA race outright since the 2024 Detroit weekend with Acura, while WTR itself hasn’t registered a victory since it reunited with Cadillac at the beginning of 2025.
In the championship standings, the #10 crew sits 13th in the GTP class, just behind the sister car of Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor.
Albuquerque said he was now focusing on individual results for the remainder of 2026, with any realistic chance of securing a maiden IMSA title now gone.
“We are nowhere in the championship this year. So, to be honest, we go for single events; great results, like podiums, and obviously try to get a win,” the 41-year-old said.
“Last year, we were so close to getting a win straight away in the fourth race, which was Detroit. We didn't manage to get it. So, we had three podiums last year, one this year, so we want more podiums.
“For me, personally, I want to be in charge of the race. So, I have the pace, I go forward, not looking at the mirrors. And if a win comes, great.
“Strategy-wise, IMSA can give a win to you, or America [can]. In IndyCar, sometimes, crazy strategies give you wins.
“But above all, I want to have the ultimate performance to win a race outright, just like, ‘this was the car to beat’. That's what I really want.”
