IMSA SportsCar Prototype champion Ricky Taylor will have a new home next season.

Acura Team Penske announced this morning that Taylor will complete the team’s full-time driver lineup for its pair of new Acura ARX-05 Daytona Prototype international (DPi) race cars that will debut in the 2018 Championship.

Taylor will be paired with Helio Castroneves, who was announced as the third member of the team’s full-time driver lineup just prior to last weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya were introduced as the team’s first two drivers in August.

The team also announced today that IndyCar racers Simon Pagenaud – who drove in Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans with Castroneves and Montoya – and Graham Rahal will complete the team’s lineup for the 2018 Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida.

“Adding a champion sports car driver in Ricky will help our team grow and develop,” said Team Owner Roger Penske. “Ricky had a phenomenal season in 2017. He brings a great deal of sports car experience and his knowledge of the cars, the racetracks and the series overall will be a big benefit to our team.

“Having that experience, along with the winning pedigree of Helio, Juan and Dane, provides a great platform as we launch the Acura Team Penske program next season. When you add Simon and Graham for the endurance races, I feel we have a strong lineup for Daytona and Sebring.”

The 28-year-old Taylor is coming off a magnificent season in the WeatherTech Championship. Co-driving the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R alongside his younger brother, Jordan, for the team owned by his father, Wayne Taylor, the team opened the year with five consecutive victories, including wins in the prestigious Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida.

The Taylor brothers finished the year with seven top-three results in the 10-race season to win what was Ricky Taylor’s first championship. It was Jordan Taylor’s second title, having won the final GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype crown in 2013 co-driving with Max Angelelli, while Ricky raced for Spirit of Daytona Racing alongside co-driver Richard Westbrook.

“No matter which way I look at it, professional and personally, it is a father’s dream to have his son called upon by Roger Penske,” said Wayne Taylor. “So, I’m incredibly proud of Ricky and excited for him, and I think, honestly, the entire team has been supportive of this move, as well as everyone at General Motors and Cadillac. But I’ve still got Jordan, and he knows how to win championships.”

Angelelli stepped out of the cockpit as a full-time driver following the 2013 season, opening up a slot for Ricky Taylor to join the family team. In four WeatherTech Championship seasons together, the brothers have won a total of 12 races.

“I can't lie,” said Ricky Taylor. “Nobody could have taken me away from driving with my brother and everything that my dad had built there besides an opportunity like this with Team Penske coming back to sports car racing, and Acura, after their great season in GT this year with the NSX.  There's so many big factors that it doesn't look like it's just a flash-in-the-pan sort of deal.  It seems like it's something that is really exciting.  The series is growing.

“It was a hard decision after such a good year and so much momentum was built over there, but I think this is a new challenge and an amazing opportunity.  I'm excited to take it.  Although I think Jordan and my dad would have said I was stupid not to. Coming over here was a decision I'm really excited about.”

Ricky Taylor solidified his reputation as one of the fastest drivers in the WeatherTech Championship in 2017. He qualified on the pole position for five races this year, and his eight career poles put him second on the all-time series list behind James French, who has 10 career poles in the WeatherTech Championship.

“There's a pretty big checklist of things that we're looking for when we're talking about our drivers,” said Honda Performance Development President Art St. Cyr.  “But, first and foremost, was we want to get the fastest drivers we possibly could.  Looking at the way Ricky started out this year with the first five wins, it was very clear that he was a very fast driver.

“Part of the other things that we had was really someone who could represent the Acura brand well.  Ricky is an American, which helps, because Acura is a North American brand.  Those types of things.  He's well‑spoken.  We think this is his time to really shine.  We thought that he would be good in the mixture as far as chemistry. When it comes down to it, ultimately we've got to win races.  He fits pretty much every box that we needed.”

Full-time drivers in the Verizon IndyCar Series, both Pagenaud and Rahal have considerable experience in the sports car ranks. Pagenaud won the 2010 American Le Mans Series LMP championship and owns 10 ALMS victories, including the 2010 Motul Petit Le Mans. Last weekend, he co-drove the No. 6 Team Penske ORECA LM P2 car with Montoya and Castroneves to a third-place result in the 10-hour season finale at Road Atlanta.

“First of all, it was an honor to be part of the star lineup with Helio and Juan Pablo,” said Pagenaud, the 2016 IndyCar champion. “Also, the return of Team Penske to sports car racing, I think it really was an interesting start of a new era for the team.  Being part of it was very special.

“My background is all about sports cars.  Having the opportunity to drive again in that field was a lot of fun.  Great racing.  Fantastic level of competition, as well, whether it's GTD or Prototypes.  We all had a blast.  The team did a fantastic job bringing the podium back home on the first race.  It was a great time.”

Rahal won the 2011 Rolex 24 At Daytona with Chip Ganassi Racing, and has made eight starts in the Rolex 24.  His most recent start came this year in the No. 93 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3, co-driving with Andy Lally, Katherine Legge and Mark Wilkins to an 11th-place class result in the car’s debut race.

“As it kind of runs in the blood, it was a perfect opportunity to come over here,” Rahal said.  “Sports car racing is something that's important to myself, to my family, and clearly is a huge part of the history of Team Penske.  So, combined with Acura Team Penske, I think it will be a great season for all the full‑time guys.  It's a dream opportunity for me to jump in and be a part of the endurance races.”

With the team’s lineup now solidified, preparations are well under way for the 2018 season, which opens with the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 27-28, 2018. Prior to the Rolex 24, the three-day Roar Before The Rolex 24 At Daytona will provide one of the first opportunities to publicly see the team in action during the three-day test on Jan. 5-7 at Daytona International Speedway.

“We take one day at a time around here,” said Team Penske President Tim Cindric.  “We're going to hit the ground running next week.  We'll have all four of the full‑time drivers in the car next week.  It's good for them to get acclimated with each other.

“Helio and Ricky, they know each other I guess socially, you'd call it, but they've never worked together.  It will be interesting there. Dane and Juan, they got a chance to race against each other the other night.  I was glad to see they started things off the right way, kept things clean, because I was a little concerned about how that might turn out for day one as teammates.  They passed the first test.

“Then it's our goal to be on track one or two times a month up until we get to the Roar in January.  We received our second Acura car actually at the end of last week, so we have two cars in‑house now.  We're starting to build those up.  Hopefully there will be a point in time where we can actually take two cars to a test, but it will be a little bit before that occurs.

“Busy times, for sure, and at the same time a couple of these guys are still hopping in and out of the 2018 IndyCar.  Yeah, there's a lot going on here in what they call the ‘off‑season.’”

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) officials today announced plans for a pair of sanctioned test sessions in late 2017 and early 2018 in addition to the previously announced traditional three-day Roar Before The Rolex 24 At Daytona test in early January.

Daytona International Speedway will be the site of a two-day sanctioned test on Dec. 5-6, 2017, while Sebring International Raceway will have four days of testing on Feb. 20-23, 2018.

The Daytona test will be open to all registered IMSA SportsCar Championship Prototype (P) and GT Le Mans (GTLM) only. GT Daytona (GTD) cars will not participate.

IMSA will require mandatory participation from entrants representing selected manufacturers and constructors. Each of four WeatherTech Championship sessions across the two-day test will be two-hours, 45-minutes in length.

In addition to the WeatherTech Championship race cars, the Daytona test will be open to all registered IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge GS and TCR race cars, with the same mandatory participation requirements for selected manufacturers. The test will not include ST race cars.

The IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda, which will open its 2018 season with its first race at Daytona International Speedway, also will participate in the December test. It is open to all participants in both LM P3 and MPC classes, with required participation from selected entrants.

IMSA Prototype Challenge will have two, one-hour sessions on Tuesday, Dec. 5. A pair of one-hour test sessions for the Continental Tire Challenge will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 6. 

At Sebring, the first two days of testing on Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 20-21, will include the Continental Tire Challenge, IMSA Prototype Challenge, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama and Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama.

IMSA SportsCar Championship testing will be held on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 22-23, with a night session planned for the evening of Feb. 22.

As announced with 2018 schedules in August, the Roar Before The Rolex 24 At Daytona will be held Jan. 5-7, 2018. The test is mandatory for all Championship Rolex 24 At Daytona participants and will be open to all three Challenge classes. The Roar also will include a one-hour, 45-minute IMSA Prototype Challenge race.

One day after the official entry list was unveiled for the 20th Anniversary Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, an additional entry came in and it’s a big one.

Team Penske is bringing an ORECA LMP2 machine for a trio of IndyCar superstars: Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud. Between the three of them, they own five Indianapolis 500 victories and two IndyCar championships.

The Motul Petit Le Mans will provide a “sneak preview” of sorts for Team Penske, as the team re-enters full-time sports car competition with a two-car IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship program with a pair of new Acura DPi race cars next season.

“We’ve had this race on our radar for some time, but we wanted to wait until we were able to get our drivers some testing at Road Atlanta prior to committing, as it is a very fast track and these cars are very difficult to drive from an IndyCar,” said Team Penske President Tim Cindric.

“Unfortunately, we confirmed this the hard way, as we have had to totally rebuild our car after an incident during testing last week. ORECA have bent over backwards to be sure we receive everything we need as they understand the importance of this race as our team prepares for the debut of our Acura ARX-05s at the Daytona 24.”

Thus far, the team has unveiled half of its 2018 WeatherTech Championship full-season driver lineup.  Montoya is set to be joined by 2016 Prototype champion Dane Cameron, who will compete in his final race aboard the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R he shares with Eric Curran and Mike Conway in the Motul Petit Le Mans.

“Juan has participated in the majority of our prototype tests since we announced him as one of our full-time Acura drivers,” Cindric said. “We would also like to involve our other drivers in the program whenever possible. Helio and Simon have good experience in prototypes at Road Atlanta, so they seem like a natural fit to participate in the Petit for us.”

Castroneves won the 2008 Motul Petit Le Mans in a Team Penske Porsche RS Spyder co-driving with Ryan Briscoe, current driver of the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT. Montoya is a three-time winner of the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

“It will be fun to work with Juan again,” said Castroneves. “The car is a blast to drive, as it has lots of power and an incredible amount of downforce. The last time I ran at Petit, I was fortunate enough to be part of the winning team in our class. It was one of the highlights of my career. Now, I’m looking forward to that challenge again, and I’m sure it will be fun racing with these guys in this setting.”

Pagenaud won the 2010 Motul Petit Le Mans in a Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01 P2 prototype with David Brabham and Marino Franchitti as his co-drivers. He also helped Cameron and Curran clinch the 2016 WeatherTech Championship Prototype title with a fourth-place run last year a few weeks after winning his first IndyCar championship.

“It’s a bit of a homecoming to get back into a prototype car,” Pagenaud said. “They are great cars to drive, and to be paired with Juan and Helio in an endurance event is going to be a lot of fun. This is a chance for me to help Team Penske prepare for next year, while seeing what things we can learn and where we can improve right now.”

The stars will be out in full force next week when the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship fires the engines for the final time this season at Road Atlanta for the 20th Anniversary Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on Saturday, Oct. 7.

In addition to the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans serving as the season finale for the WeatherTech Championship, it also represents the fourth and final round of the race for the 2017 Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup. The four-round Patrón Endurance Cup recognizes the top performers in the four WeatherTech Championship endurance races:  the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida, Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and Motul Petit Le Mans.

And because it’s an endurance race, many teams have enlisted superstars from throughout the sport to complete their driver lineups alongside their regular, full-season drivers.

WeatherTech Championship Prototype class-leading No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R co-drivers Ricky and Jordan Taylor will be joined by IndyCar champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, one of three IndyCar stars currently on the entry list.

Ford Chip Ganassi Racing again will have Scott Dixon as part of the lineup for its GT Le Mans (GTLM) class No. 67 Ford GT shared by Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe. In the team’s No. 66 Ford GT, Sebastien Bourdais is reunited with Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller – the same lineup that won the GTLM class in this year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona and the 2016 GTE Pro class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Motul Petit Le Mans also will feature a “Who’s Who” of global sports car racing stars. In the Prototype class, Brendon Hartley and Bruno Senna have joined Tequila Patrón ESM – Hartley in the No. 2 Nissan DPi alongside Ryan Dalziel and Scott Sharp, and Senna sharing the team’s No. 22 entry with Johannes van Overbeek and Pipo Derani. Filipe Albuquerque returns to the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R with Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi, and Mike Conway is sharing the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi with Dane Cameron and Eric Curran.

Rebellion Racing returns to the WeatherTech Championship for the first time since March’s Twelve Hours of Sebring and will have Mathias Beche, Nick Heidfeld and Gustavo Menezes in its ORECA LM P2 car. On the heels of their thrilling victory in last Sunday’s AMERICA’S TIRE 250 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Renger van der Zande and Marc Goossens return in the No. 90 VISIT FLORIDA Racing Ligier LM P2 machine and will be joined by regular Mazda Prototype racer Jonathan Bomarito.

Other strong Prototype class entries include the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA LM P2 shared by Chris Miller, Stephen Simpson and Misha Goikhberg; and the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier for Jose Gutierrez, Olivier Pla and Julien Canal.

The GTLM class will see the championship-leading No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R in the hands of regulars Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia alongside another international sports car star in Mike Rockenfeller. The team’s No. 4 entry will have endurance ace Marcel Fassler alongside Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin.

Risi Competizione, the defending GTLM winners at Motul Petit Le Mans, return with Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander going for a second consecutive victory, this time with Alessandro Pier Guidi as their co-driver. BMW Team RLL, which has placed both of its cars in victory lane this season, has last weekend’s Mazda Raceway winners John Edwards and Martin Tomczyk in the No. 24 BMW M6 GTLM along with 2014 WeatherTech Championship GTLM champion Kuno Wittmer. In the No. 25 BMW, Bill Auberlen and Alexander Sims are joined by Dutch hotshoe Nicky Catsburg.

The Porsche GT Team brings back some familiar faces to its driver lineup at Road Atlanta, namely a pair of overall 24 Hours of Le Mans winners. Nick Tandy returns to the cockpit of the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR with Patrick Pilet – with whom he took the overall Motul Petit Le Mans victory in 2015 – and Dirk Werner. Earl Bamber, who picked up his second 24 Hours of Le Mans overall victory in three years, will share the No. 912 Porsche with Gimmi Bruni and Laurens Vanthoor.

The GT Daytona (GTD) class winds down 2017 with a 17-car field. Leading the way are championship leaders Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan – who picked up their first victory of the season last weekend in Monterey – in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 along with co-driver Matteo Cressoni.

Ferrari became the seventh different manufacturer to win in GTD competition last weekend, and all eight of the class’ manufacturers would love to close out the season with a final victory. Porsche will have four chances with each entry fielding a Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Three of those driver lineups already have won this year, including Daniel Morad, Michael Christensen and Michael de Quesada in the No. 28 Alegra Motorsports entry, the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports machine of Patrick Lindsey and Joerg Bergmeister – joined by Matt McMurry next week – and the No. 50 Riley Motorsports-WeatherTech Racing machine of Cooper MacNeil and Gunnar Jeannette, being joined by Porsche factory ace Patrick Long. The fourth Porsche, the No. 54 CORE autosport 911 GT3 R, nearly won last weekend at Monterey and will have Colin Braun, Jon Bennett and Nic Jonsson in its car.

Audi will have three entries for Motul Petit Le Mans, led by the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports R8 LMS GT3 of 2017 Canadian Tire Motorsport Park race-winners Lawson Aschenbach and Andrew Davis along with Matt Bell. Alex Job Racing will field the No. 23 Audi for Bill Sweedler, Townsend Bell and Frank Montecalvo and the No. 29 Montaplast by Land Audi returns to WeatherTech Championship competition for co-drivers Connor De Phillippi and Christopher Mies.

A majority of manufacturers will have two entries, including the pair of Lexus RC F GT3 race cars fielded by 3GT Racing. Driving the team’s No. 14 entry will be Sage Karam, Robert Alon and Ian James, while the No. 15 has sports car legend Scott Pruett alongside Jack Hawksworth and versatile racer Austin Cindric.

Lamborghini has two GTD entries, the No. 16 Change Racing Huracán GT3 co-driven by 2017 VIRginia International Raceway winners Jeroen Mul and Corey Lewis and their endurance co-driver, Brett Sandberg;  and the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini of Madison Snow, Atlanta’s Bryan Sellers and Trent Hindman.

Mercedes-AMG, which has won three races so far in 2017, has the No. 33 Riley Motorsports-Team AMG entry for Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Mario Farnbacher, the same trio that won the Twelve Hours of Sebring. In the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 will be Tristan Vautier, Kenny Habul and Dion von Moltke.

Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, which took the Prototype class victory last year in the Motul Petit Le Mans, returns this year with a pair of Acura NSX GT3s in the GTD class. Two-time 2017 GTD race winners Andy Lally and Katherine Legge will be joined in the No. 93 Acura by Mark Wilkins, while Ozz Negri – who was part of Shank’s winning lineup last year – will share the No. 86 Acura with Jeff Segal and Tom Dyer.

The lone BMW in the GTD field will be the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 shared by Justin Marks, Jens Klingmann and Jesse Krohn. Klingmann and Krohn won the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase last month.

The final WeatherTech Championship race in the history of the Prototype Challenge (PC) class will see 2018 champions-elect James French and Patricio O’Ward with endurance driver Kyle Masson looking to close out a perfect season with their eighth victory aboard the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA FLM09. However, BAR1 Motorsports will look to stop the streak with one of its two entries, the No. 20 ORECA for Don Yount, Daniel Burkett and 2004 Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice, or the No. 26 ORECA of Garett Grist, Tomy Drissi and an as-yet-unnamed third driver.

Practice for the WeatherTech Championship Motul Petit Le Mans gets under way Thursday, Oct. 5 with a one-hour session beginning at 11:10 a.m. ET. Thursday’s activities will include three WeatherTech Championship practice sessions, the second running from 3:15 to 4:15 p.m. ET and night practice from 7:30 to 9 p.m. ET.

Friday’s schedule calls for an hour-long practice session beginning at 11:40 a.m. ET, followed by qualifying, which begins at 4:20 p.m. ET. Saturday’s race day schedule includes a warm-up session from 8:30 to 8:50 a.m., with the green flag scheduled to fall on the Motul Petit Le Mans at 11:05 a.m. ET.

The weekend schedule also includes Friday’s two-hour IMSA SportsCar Challenge season finale and two races apiece for the IMSA-sanctioned Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama, Lamborghini Super Trofeo and IMSA Prototype Challenge.