Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti announced Tuesday morning (Nov. 7) that they have signed INDYCAR regular Colton Herta and Toyota GAZOO Racing’s Brendon Hartley to serve as the endurance drivers for their two Acura ARX-06 teams in 2024. Both drivers will compete in the five Michelin Endurance Cup events (Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, Indianapolis and Road Atlanta).
Hartley will drive the No. 10 Acura with full-time drivers Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor. Herta will share the No. 40 Acura with Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor.
“I really enjoyed my time with WTRAndretti at Petit last year and Daytona this year, so I jumped at the opportunity to compete in the endurance races in 2024 when Wayne [Taylor] called me,” Hartley stated. “WTRAndretti knows how to win and going to a two-car team will strengthen the whole operation even further.”
Hartley has nine career starts in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. As he noted above, the most recent of those races was this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, where he served as the team’s fourth driver. Hartley finished second overall. He has one career overall victory in the series, that coming in the 2017 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta with Tequila Patron ESM.
Hartley is also coming off of winning the Hypercar World Championship in the FIA World Endurance Championship, which he clinched with teammates Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa Saturday at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Prior to his Formula 1 days (with Scuderia Toro Rosso, now AlphaTauri) and years with Toyota, Hartley raced full-time for Starworks in Grand-Am’s Rolex Sports Car Series alongside Scott Mayer (current NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Sam Mayer‘s father). The duo scored an overall victory at Road America.
For Herta, he also has nine career IMSA starts. Seven of those nine have come with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL Racing), including this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona in a BMW M Hybrid V8.
“It’s super exciting to join such a prestigious team like WTRAndretti for the endurance events,” Herta said. “They’ve shown how successful they can be in the past and I’m looking forward to hopefully adding to that!”
WTRAndretti plans to announce fourth drivers for both Acuras in the near future. They are technically allowed to run three drivers in their Acuras in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2024, but it will be the last time that they can. The 2024 IMSA Sporting Regulations have a note that indicates that the GTP class will have a four-driver requirement for the Rolex 24 at Daytona starting in 2025.
In addition, WTRAndretti has still not announced any drivers or a manufacturer for their full-time GTD effort that will run No. 45 in 2024. The No. 43 Aston Martin for Gabby Chaves and Jarett Andretti (formerly No. 94) is considered to be a separate effort that will be fielded solely by Andretti Global.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
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Goes back to the saying opinions are like asshole’s everyone has them and they all pretty much stink! Nascar doesn’t give a damn what we think !!