Wayne Taylor Racing has announced Matthieu Vaxiviere as the third driver for the Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi for the remainder of the North American Endurance Cup after Daytona.
The Frenchman, currently racing for TDS Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, will be joining Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande starting with the 12 Hours of Sebring in March. Following Sebring, he will also be a part of the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in June and Petit Le Mans in October
Vaxiviere will be taking over from Fernando Alonso and Kamui Kobayashi, who race for WTR in this weekend's Rolex 24 at Daytona but will not be doing any further races in IMSA this year.
“I’m so glad to join the Konica Minolta Cadillac team as a rookie in IMSA – it’s one of the best and iconic teams in the field,” the Frenchman said. “It means a lot to me. My meetings with Wayne Taylor have been absolutely fantastic. He’s such a down-to-earth and trusting person, with the big help of Max Angelelli.
"To drive alongside Jordan and Renger will be a pleasure. They gave me a warm welcome and made me feel at home. There is a big family atmosphere inside this really, really professional team. I love that and I’m going to do my best to show what I’m capable of."
“It’s great that we will have Matthieu with us for the rest of our endurance races this year,” team-mate Jordan Taylor added. "For such a young guy, he already has a lot of experience in this type of racing in Europe. He has always proven to be one of the quickest guys in the races over there, so he was at the top of our list for candidates this year.
"This will be his first adventure into American racing, but I think he’s going to love it. It’s a much different style of racing than what they have over there, but I have no doubt he’s going to fit right in with the team and be a strong asset for us."
The WTR seat will make for a busy Sebring schedule for Vaxiviere. Because of his commitments with TDS Racing, he'll be pulling double duty: the 1000 Miles of Sebring for TDS Racing on Friday, followed by the IMSA race on Saturday.
