Leinders: Small Details Have Cost Maiden GTD Win

Bas Leinders believes “small details” have stopped Inception Racing from scoring a maiden GTD class victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The team manager insists the No. 70 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo has impressed despite relative inexperience in the series, with drivers Brendan Iribe and Frederik Schandorff scoring three podium finishes in their first full season together.

“I think [in] most races there has been a possibility to finish in the top five and on the podium,” Leinders told Sportscar365.

“We have also learnt quite a lot, our drivers, the engineers, the tracks, as a team, strategy-wise, I think as a package we are strong.

“For this year our drivers didn’t know Lime Rock, Road America, Frederik didn’t know VIR, so I think over half the tracks one of our drivers didn’t know.

“We have been close to winning, it just hasn’t happened yet. We are trying to push forwards, but you can’t always push forwards. You have to do the best you can that weekend with what you have and hopefully that’s enough.

“From our side, there has sometimes been a really minor thing that has happened which does not give you the win, and as the IMSA championship is really competitive, everything needs to be perfect or close to perfect in order to win.

“You need to get all the details right. Some people will say we weren’t lucky, I suppose luck or bad luck does exist sometimes, but I always come from the fact that you mostly create your own luck.”

The team currently sit fourth in the GTD standings, and after claiming victory in the Michelin Endurance Cup last year, Leinders outlined how expectations were high going into this year, considering the race-winning pedigree in the Optimum Motorsport-run organization.

“We have worked very hard and we are having results,” he said. “Last year we won three championships, Asian Le Mans, IMSA Endurance GTD, and GT World Challenge Gold Cup, so if you don’t work well then you don’t achieve that.

“The aim this year was to win the IMSA GTD. That was a very high aim because of the competition and the lack of experience we have here.

“This year there were small details as a team, some mistakes from drivers at certain moments in the race which meant that we didn’t win.

“We are quite close and I feel if you had to start over again, which you can do next year, we would be really strong in order to win the championship.”

The three-time FIA GT Championship class champion heaped praise on Iribe and Schandorff, who have shared full-season driving duties, offering his surprise that the latter has not been signed to a factory deal.

“Brendan is a Bronze-rated driver,” Leinders said. “He started racing in GT3s in 2020, but we have done a lot of racing and so he has been able to gather a lot of experience.

“He is still improving now. Racing, battling with other cars, understanding when to push and when not to push, especially in endurance racing you need to wait your moments.

“You can only really learn it from doing, and from making mistakes. I have a long career as a driver myself and I’ve made mistakes, I’ve done a lot of races and made a lot of mistakes, and learnt from them.

“Then you start getting the results, and that’s also starting to happen with Brendan.

“Frederik, for me, is an excellent driver. Underrated. He is really fast, and has a really good race-craft, and rarely makes mistakes. He is somebody to watch for the future.

“I would say that I am amazed that he is not a works manufacturer driver at the moment. He’s linked to Inception and we would like to keep him for the future because he is really good.”

Leinders on Chances for Indy, Petit Le Mans

With only two races remaining this year, time is running out for Inception to score that elusive class win before the season draws to a close.

Leinders described that the focus remains on championship position, and that he will not encourage a gambling attitude to their race strategy.

“There’s only two races left [and] the chances that you win one, and you haven’t yet, those chances are there but I don’t think we should focus too much on that,” he said.

“I think we should focus on doing a good job, and see where we end up. We don’t want to try and over-achieve, and take risks that are not good. We still want a good result, we still want to finish well in the championship.

“We don’t want to go FCY, short fuel, and hope that there’s another FCY in the last 15 minutes. That’s not the way I would like to win a race. We want to win it, going for it, not just gambling.

“Because we are a team that wants to race for a championship, obviously now I think the BMW (Paul Miller Racing) will win it but we still want to finish in the top three and so we also want to make sure we win the Akin Cup for Brendan.

“Yes we have a feeling we can win a race, but if it’s not this year, it will be next year.”