Ricky Taylor

Ricky Taylor (born August 3, 1989) is an American racing driver, most notably in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship. His career highlights include an IMSA Series Championship in 2017, as well as marquee wins at the Daytona 24, 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans.

Ricky Taylor
Corvette DP of Ricky Taylor in the round of Road America of the 2012 Rolex Sports Car Series.
NationalityAmerican
Born (1989-08-03) August 3, 1989
Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Related toJordan Taylor (brother)
Wayne Taylor (father)
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship career
Debut season2014
Current teamAcura Team Penske
Car number7
EngineAcura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6
Co-driverHélio Castroneves
Alexander Rossi
Former teamsWayne Taylor Racing
Starts61
Championships1
Wins13
Podiums30
Poles11
Best finish1st in 2017
Finished last season3rd

In 2017, he, along with his brother Jordan, won the 2017 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the Prototype class with 5 wins.

In 2018, Ricky left his father's team, Wayne Taylor Racing, to join the new Acura Team Penske Prototype squad in 2018 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, partnering with Hélio Castroneves for the full season.

Ricky was also runner-up of GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype class in 2010 and 2011. Within that category, he earned seven wins and 20 podiums. He was also second in the 2014 24 Hours of Daytona and fifth in 2008, 2011 and 2013.

Early years

His father, Wayne Taylor, was driver of IMSA GT Championship in the 1990s, so his brother Ricky and Jordan Taylor grew up in Florida (USA). After competing in karting, Ricky was series champion of single seaters' school Skip Barber Southern in 2006 and runner-up of Skip Barber National in 2007.

In 2008, Taylor disputed the 24 Hours of Daytona for the Grand-Am series with a Riley-Pontiac of Daytona Prototype class of Wayne Taylor Racing, resulting fifth with Max Angelelli, Michael Valiante and his father Wayne Taylor. Months later, contested the round of Virginia with the Beyer's team, accompanied by Andy Wallace and Jared Beyer. Later, Ricky joined to Doran's team to participate in the final six races of the season with a Dallara-Ford, earning a fifth place with Burt Frisselle like best result.

Ricky became in regular driver of Beyer in the 2009 season of the Grand-Am series, using first a Riley-Pontiac and then a Riley-Chevrolet. He earned a fourth place, an eighth and a ninth in the last three races so that finished 18th in the drivers' championship in the Daytona Prototype class.

WTR and Spirit of Daytona

Wayne Taylor hired Ricky to contest the 2010 Rolex Sports Car Series with a Dallara-Ford. Accompanied by Max Angelelli, the driver captured one win and seven podiums and sixth place in the 24 Hours of Daytona. Thus, he was second in the drivers' championships and teams in the DP class, behind Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas and his nine victories.

In the 2011 Rolex Sports Car Series season, now at the wheel of a Dallara-Chevrolet. Scored three victories (one of them in the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen) and eight podium finishes and a fifth place in the 24 Hours of Daytona. As a consequence, was runner-up in the DP class behind Pruett and Rojas again.

Adopting the new Chevrolet Corvette DP in 2012, Taylor recorded three wins and seven top 5 in 12 appearances. Thus ended seventh in the driver standings and fifth in the teams in the DP class. Later, he contested the Gold Coast 600 of V8 Supercars in a Holden Commodore from Garry Rogers Motorsport alongside Greg Ritter, however he was sent into a frightening rollover several hundred metres after the start whilst trying to avoid two stricken cars.

Taylor became in driver of the Spirit of Daytona Racing for the 2013 Rolex Sports Car Series season, teaming with Richard Westbrook. He earned a third place, three-fifths and a sixth, so finished 11th in the drivers championship and eighth in teams in the DP. On the other hand, obtained a fifth place in the GTE-Am class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving a Chevrolet Corvette of Larbre Competition.

Team Penske

Beginning with the 2018 Roar Before the 24, Ricky Taylor will partner Helio Castroneves in one of two new works Acura ARX-05 fielded by Roger Penske.

Other competition

In 2012, Taylor was selected by Garry Rogers Motorsport to participate in the 2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600 event for V8 Supercars as an 'international' co-driver. In his first ever standing start he managed 200m before he rolled off a car that had stalled on the grid, totalling his #33 Holden VE Commodore and resigning himself and team-mate Greg Ritter to the sidelines for the rest of the weekend.

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2013 Larbre Compétition Julien Canal
Patrick Bornhauser
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GTE
Am
302 29th 5th
2014 Larbre Compétition Pierre Ragues
Keiko Ihara
Morgan LMP2-Judd LMP2 341 14th 9th
2016 Corvette Racing - GM Antonio García
Jan Magnussen
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GTE
Pro
336 25th 7th
2017 Keating Motorsport Ben Keating
Jeroen Bleekemolen
Riley Mk. 30-Gibson LMP2 312 47th 20th
2018 Jackie Chan DC Racing Côme Ledogar
David Heinemeier Hansson
Ligier JS P217-Gibson LMP2 195 DNF DNF
2019 Jackie Chan DC Racing Jordan King
David Heinemeier Hansson
Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 199 DNF DNF

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

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

Year Team Class Make Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Rank Points
2014 Wayne Taylor Racing P Dallara Corvette DP Chevrolet 5.5L V8 DAY
2
SEB
7
LBH
2
LGA
2
DET
1
WGL
5
MOS
3
IMS
4
ELK
10
COA
7
PET
1
2nd 330
2015 Wayne Taylor Racing P Dallara Corvette DP Chevrolet 5.5L V8 DAY
16
SEB
2
LBH
1
LGA
2
DET
6
WGL
6
MOS
1
ELK
8
COA
2
PET
4
5th 292
2016 Wayne Taylor Racing P Dallara Corvette DP Chevrolet 5.5L V8 DAY
2
SEB
12
LBH
1
LGA
6
DET
1
WGL
4
MOS
3
ELK
3
COA
1
PET
3
3rd 309
2017 Wayne Taylor Racing P Cadillac DPi-V.R Cadillac 6.2 L V8 DAY
1
SEB
1
LBH
1
COA
1
DET
1
WGL
6
MOS
7
ELK
2
LGA
3
PET
9
1st 310
2018 Acura Team Penske P Acura ARX-05 Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 DAY
9
SEB
15
LBH
6
MDO
1
DET
2
WGL
12
MOS
5
ELK
10
LGA
10
PET
5
7th 243
2019 Acura Team Penske DPi Acura ARX-05 Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 DAY
3
SEB
4
LBH
2
MDO
5
DET
3
WGL
5
MOS
5
ELK
7
LGA
2
PET
3
3rd 284
2020 Acura Team Penske DPi Acura ARX-05 Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6 DAY
8
WGL
MOS
ELK
LGA
MOH
ATL
SEB
8th 23
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