No. 10 Cadillac DPi Wins IMSA Debut at Daytona

Jeff Gordon, Wayne Taylor Racing Make History at 2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona

General Motors is no stranger to racing success. They’ve conquered the world’s most grueling endurance races at Daytona and Le Mans. Furthermore, last weekend marked the latest notch in its cap as Wayne Taylor Racing took home the win at this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. The 55th running of the historic endurance race lived up to the hype and then some.

Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, both driving DPis, traded places for the lead over the course of several hours. With only seven minutes remaining, contact around turn one sent Albuquerque spinning. Despite this and the lack of a penalty, Albuquerque managed to close the gap and finished only 0.671 seconds behind Taylor in a dramatic finish.

Ricky Taylor was joined in the No. 10 car by fellow drivers, including his brother Jordan Taylor along with Max Angelelli and retired NASCAR great Jeff Gordon. This year’s Rolex 24 marked Angelelli’s final race, and Ricky credited him for serving as a mentor to both he and his brother over the years.

“Max has taught us everything we know,” said Ricky Taylor. “He’s ‘Max the Ax’ and I think today was a good example of one of those lessons. That was a Max move today.”

In addition to the 1-2 finish, Cadillac likely could have had a third DPi, No. 31 Whelen Engineering, right up there as well. But the leader of the first third of the race fell to 6th in its class and 14th overall following a variety of issues.

The win is particularly sweet for Gordon, who became only the fourth driver ever to win both the Rolex 24 and Daytona 500. He joins the exclusive group of Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, and Jamie McMurray. Gordon, making his first Rolex 24 start since 2007, also became the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion to win the race.

Brett Foote

Brett Foote has been covering the automotive industry for over five years and is a longtime contributor to Internet Brands’ Auto Group sites, including Chevrolet Forum, Rennlist, and Ford Truck Enthusiasts, among other popular sites.

He has been an automotive enthusiast since the day he came into this world and rode home from the hospital in a first-gen Mustang, and he's been wrenching on them nearly as long.

In addition to his expertise writing about cars, trucks, motorcycles, and every other type of automobile, Brett had spent several years running parts for local auto dealerships.

You can follow along with his builds and various automotive shenanigans on Instagram: @bfoote.