Longtime WTRAndretti drivers, and reigning Lamborghini Super Trofeo PRO Champions, Kyle Marcelli and Danny Formal have been confirmed as full-season GTD drivers for the team’s 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship campaign.
The duo will share the team’s #45 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, along with additional drivers for the endurance rounds that will be announced soon.
This news also confirms a switch in GTD manufacturer for WTRAndretti from Acura (below) to Lamborghini. Another change comes in the formation of its team. Its Acura campaign in 2023 was a joint-effort with Racers Edge, while its 2024 GTD programme will be fully independent.
WTRAndretti is no stranger to the Italian make though, as it has years of success within its single-make series.
Since 2015 it has taken home nine Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Championship titles, back- to- back championships in the PRO Class Championships and a Lamborghini Grand Finals title. The team plans to continue to field four to six Lamborghini Super Trofeos in all four classes in 2024.
“We’re really excited that Lamborghini has come to us and regarded us as a team that is worthy of a factory programme,” said Wayne Taylor, team principal, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti.
“Danny Formal and Kyle Marcelli will be doing the full season. We’ve got a long history with Lamborghini with us running four cars a year in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo series, so there’s a great relationship already built. Like I always said, everything to do with success in motorsport, is to be able to have people you can communicate with and build relationships with, so very excited about that with Lamborghini.”
Coming off a second-consecutive PRO class championship in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series, Marcelli is ready to bring his experience and expertise, which includes titles in Pilot Challenge and World Challenge America, to the team in 2024.
In 2023, the Canadian-driver pulled “double duty” while racing in the GTD Class co-piloting the Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 – earning GTD pole position for the famed Twelve Hours of Sebring.
“I couldn’t be more excited to make my full time return to the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship with WTRAndretti,” said Marcelli. “It has been three years in the making, first taking an opportunity with WTR to drive the Lamborghini Super Trofeo in the PRO Class in 2021, then winning back-to-back Championships in 2022 and 2023.
“It has always been the long-term plan in house to be back at the top level of the sport. I know the team has been working so hard to put this together and we are just thrilled that it is happening. I couldn’t be prouder to be doing it with Lamborghini. It just seems like an obvious and seamless fit for the team and us. To continue to share the cockpit with Danny, we have developed a great relationship on and off the track. We complement each other very well and in different ways.”
Formal joins as the other half of the full-season pairing after first joining WTRAndretti in 2021. Since then Formal, alongside Marcelli, broke records en route to both LST North America PRO class championship titles in 2022 and 2023.
Formal also gained experience in the competitive GTD field as an endurance co-driver in the Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 in 2023. Prior to his sportscar experience, the Costa-Rican driver worked his way up through the karting ranks earning many championship titles along the way.
“What can I say,” he said. “2024. My dream come true! My first full season, endurance, and sprint championship, in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar GTD Championship with WTRAndretti and Lamborghini Squadra Corse. My dream come true. So thankful for the opportunity to share the car with my brother, Kyle Marcelli in our fourth year together.
“We have been pushing each other so hard these past four years. We have two Lamborghini Super Trofeo PRO Championships. Just grateful, thankful, excited, and looking forward to starting the 2024 season with a bang at Daytona and try to get a couple wins this season and hopefully a championship.”
WTRAndretti’s GTD campaign, which will run alongside its two-car GTP effort with Acura, will get underway at the Rolex 24 Hours next January.
