Van der Zande, Bourdais Dominate Long Beach

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Renger van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais claimed a commanding victory in Saturday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, leading a 1-2 finish for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Van der Zande took the No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R to a 3.761-second win over teammate Earl Bamber in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring-winning No. 02 entry following a series of late-race yellows in the 100-minute contest.

Having started on pole, Bourdais lost the lead on the fifth lap while trying to navigate around the No. 34 GMG Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Kyle Washington in the Hairpin.

The Frenchman impressively regained a 21-second deficit during his stint to retake the lead from the sister No. 02 car of Alex Lynn on Lap 29, with the No. 01 Cadillac remaining out front to the checkered flag.

It marked the duo’s first victory of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Late-race contact between Oliver Jarvis and Pipo Derani gave the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac of Richard Westbrook and Tristan Vautier another podium finish.

Jarvis’ No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 and the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Pipo Derani came together at the Hairpin while battling for third at the time.

IMSA race control declared no further action, with the incident demoting Derani to fifth.

The Whelen-sponsored Cadillac fought back after an electrical gremlin that left Tristan Nunez stopped in the Turn 1 runoff during his stint.

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque finished sixth overall and in the DPi class after opting for a two-stop strategy early in the race. 

Heart of Racing Wins After Corvette Penalty

The Heart of Racing’s Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas came out on top in GTD Pro, benefitting from a drive-through penalty for the the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD.

Riberas held off Ben Barnicoat in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 for Aston Martin’s first win in the new-for-2022 class.

The pole-sitting Corvette of Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia finished third in class after one of the car’s wheel nuts fell out of its pit box and punctured the radiator of the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, which had been running second at the time.

Garcia was forced to serve a drive-through penalty for the crew “losing control of equipment” during its stop.

A drive-through penalty for the No. 25 Team RLL BMW M4 GT3 of John Edwards, due to co-driver Connor De Phillippi assisting with a dislodged drivers’ side door during its pit stop, also dropped the factory BMW out of contention.

After starting from the rear of the 26-car field due to an engine-related infraction in qualifying, De Phillippi led GTD Pro by virtue of not pitting until the race’s first full-course caution with 44 minutes remaining.

Paul Miller Gives BMW M4 GT3 First Win in North America

Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow, meanwhile, gave M4 GT3 its first victory on North American soil with a dominant run in GTD.

Sellers brought the car home in third amongst the production-based machinery after a flawless run from class pole.

The No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 of Mario Farnbacher and Marc Miller finished a surprise second, with Aaron Telitz and Frankie Montecalvo’s No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus completing the GTD podium.

Sellers battled with the No. 27 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin of Maxime Martin on the restart with 30 minutes to go that resulted in damage to the Aston and ended with the Belgian AMR factory driver in the wall.

The incident brought out the race’s second yellow, with a third full-course caution coming out shortly after for Stevan McAleer’s No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in the wall.

McAleer was credited with a sixth place class finish, behind the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW and the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche.

RESULTS: Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John