Getting to Know: Graham Doyle

Before jumping into the #45 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Lamborghini GT3 EVO2 for his first stint in the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year, a mere two-hour drive from his home in Tampa, Florida, teenager Graham Doyle had just nine race starts to his name.

Not just GT race starts, no, race starts full stop. But don’t let that fool you into thinking that Doyle is not from racing stock. In fact, for those in the know, that could not be further from the truth.

His father and grandfather, both named Dan, were prolific racers in their time and it was via their connection with WTRAndretti team owner Wayne Taylor that young Graham found himself with a golden opportunity to showcase his natural talent at the wheel.

“It’s funny because the relationship with Graham in particular is kind of a 360-degrees one, because it goes all the way back to when I was in the early part of my driving career, when I won Daytona, and Sebring, and the championship, I was driving for his grandfather,” explained Taylor.

“And Graham’s dad was racing in another one-make series, and I was coaching him in that series. And then, out of the blue, I get a call from Dan Doyle, and he asks me if I had spoken with my team manager Travis at any time. I said that I talked to him all the time but that I hadn’t heard anything for a while. And Dan said: ‘you better check’, so I called Travis and he said: ‘oh, Graham Doyle is driving for us!’

“And I was like: ‘what!? What are you talking about?’ and Travis said they had done the deal and that they had already received the cheque!

“I certainly don’t get involved with young drivers if they’re not going to make it, so I had to see him. And what surprised me was that he had never driven a Formula Ford, never driven a go-kart, never driven anything; we put him in a Lamborghini with about 700hp, with paddle shifts…a difficult car to drive and I have heard this from Ryan Briscoe and other drivers who have driven for me, and he really kicked it out of the ballpark. He’s done seven [Super Trofeo] races and has won four.”

With no prior karting or car racing experience – with the exception of occasional rental karting – Doyle started his Lamborghini journey in the LB Cup class of the Super Trofeo North America championship in 2023. Before long, his raw pace and adaptability began to show, with the top step of the podium becoming a regular occurrence.

He also went on to become the youngest American driver to take a race win in the Lamborghini World Finals at the season-finale at Vallelunga in Italy last November.

“I’ve been associated with racing basically since I could walk,” begins Doyle. “My grandfather owned an IMSA team back in the day and raced at Le Mans – I’ve heard stories of him winning at Le Mans, winning at Daytona – and I’ve known Wayne my entire life too. “He was at my dad’s wedding, coached my dad too so it runs in the family, and I consider the team my family as well.

“And the funny thing is that I have no actual racing background other than my family did it; I have no karting experience, last year was my first year of racing; I got in contact with WTRAndretti as it seemed a good option for Super Trofeo with their track record and was able to become part of the team and start testing with them in 2021 and 2022.

“When I was younger, I was always interested in racing and my dad got me a gas-powered kart when I was about four, and when I figured out how it all worked, I was gone! So, I’ve been in stuff for a long time, but it took a while to take the plunge and actually start racing.”

Doyle was too young to enter the championship when he first joined the team but put that year of testing to good use when he finally made his race debut at Laguna Seca at the start of the 2023 season. A few teething issues and mistakes in the opening practice sessions aside, Doyle picked up a pair of points-scoring finishes, which then set him up for the remainder of the maiden campaign.

“The race start was stressful as I had never done one before, I didn’t know if it was going to be chaos or not, luckily it was a calm start,” says Doyle. “The most stressful part was qualifying because, as you know, we all start in the pit-lane and then launch out of the pit boxes when the green flag drops, and I had never done that before.

“So, I want to be honest and admit that I did stall the car a couple of times when I was trying to launch because I was so hyped up. But at the race start, once I was able to settle into position and get into a rhythm, I just went from there. I started second in that race, third in the second and finished fourth in both.”

From there, it was a continuous upward trajectory, with a first podium finish coming at Watkins Glen before the elusive maiden victory a round later at Road America. All the while though, the apprenticeship continued at a staggering pace, with Doyle lapping up every bit of advice from his more experienced team-mates, double champions Kyle Marcelli and Danny Formal.

“I have such an awesome backing from the team and from my driver coach, Danny Formal, who is a two-time Pro class champion, that’s been really positive,” says Doyle.

“He has a wealth of experience and knowledge about the series and the car and he is bringing me up to a higher level. I am always asking them questions and I couldn’t say a bad thing about them.

“Along with Kyle and Ryan [Norman] take time out of their own activities to go over my data, teaching me about racing technique, lines, everything really so that has helped my learning curve in Lamborghinis so much.”

Having cut his teeth with success in Lamborghini Cup in his first season in 2023, Doyle moved up to the Am class for 2024, and the message from team boss and mentor Wayne Taylor is clear.

“I am trying to convince him that he just needs to have a clean season and try to win the championship,” explains Taylor. “Don’t necessarily try to focus on each race at a time.

“The most important thing you can do is to get a championship under your belt, that’s priority number one. It’s more important for him to win in a Super Trofeo car and learn on the GTD, because once you are a champion, it can never be taken away.

“And even after that, I still think we should put him in the Pro car, because everyone thinks that you can come into the sport and instantly go straight to the top, but it doesn’t work like that, there’s not many people that can do that. They come in and spend a lot of money, embarrass a lot of people and waste their time.

“What I will say about Graham and his journey in Super Trofeo: you can jump into this car, that car or this car, all you like. But what everyone needs to know is that it’s done on merit, not on money.”

Doyle has the bigger picture of the Am title in his sights for 2024, which means focusing less on winning races but maintaining his form over the course of the year to be in the right position come the World Finals at Jerez de la Frontera in November. And with the might of WTRAndretti pushing him all the way, the teenager is perhaps in no better environment to achieve his ultimate goal.