MSR’s Van der Zande, Yelloly Give Acura Long Beach Win

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly gave Acura a long-awaited first Long Beach victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship era in Saturday’s 100-minute sprint race.

The pole-sitting No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 lost the lead early in the running to the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken through traffic, in what initially looked to hand the advantage to the Cadillac.

While Aitken stretched out to a considerable lead, a well-timed full-course caution for the No. 25 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Philipp Eng, who ended up in the barriers, came just as the Dutchman was in pit lane, resulting in a position swap due to the amount of time gained.

Van der Zande then held off Frederik Vesti and drove to a 0.818-second win over the Dane, subbing for Earl Bamber, to give Acura MSR its first WeatherTech Championship win since the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen last year.

Additionally, it marked the Ohio-based team’s maiden win, in any series, on the streets of Long Beach.

The No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 of Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre completed the GTP podium, ahead of the sister No. 7 entry driven by Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer in fourth.

Estre sustained minor left-front damage after he clipped the rear of Aitken’s Cadillac at the start of the race, and was one of the first cars to pit under green flag conditions that was on a one-stop strategy.

Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor completed the top-five in their No. 25 BMW, despite contact between the South African and Romain De Angelis’ Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie on the race’s second restart, which was deemed incidental.

It dropped De Angelis to a ninth place result after running fourth at the time.

Laurin Heinrich, in his first race with JDC-Miller Motorsports, finished sixth after a pit stop on the restart from the first yellow that saw the Porsche factory driver drive 92 minutes of the race.

The German driver set the race’s fastest lap as he charged back through the field but was held by both BMWs on different occasions.

The No. 60 MSR Acura of Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun finished seventh after starting last in GTP due to not qualifying after undergoing a chassis change following Braun’s accident in second practice.

The pair of Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac were eighth and tenth, led by the No. 40 entry of Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz, who was caught out by the timing of the second yellow.

Ricky Taylor, meanwhile, brought out the fourth yellow after htting the Turn 5 wall in his No. 10 WTR Cadillac in the final 30 minutes of the race.

The No. 25 BMW finished last in GTP after Eng’s hit into the barriers that brought out a yellow, and a subsequent stop-and-hold plus 60-second penalty for incident responsibility due to blocking Heinrich on the back-straight one lap earlier.

Vasser Sullivan Takes GTD Honors

Aaron Telitz and Benjamin Pedersen came out on top in the GTD class aboard their No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

Telitz held off the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Robby Foley by some five seconds for the team’s first GTD win in two years.

It also marked Pedersen’s first career WeatherTech Championship win.

The No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Albert Costa and Many Franco completed the class podium in third.

Pfaff Motorsports was on track to record a career-best fourth with its Lamborghini Temerario GT3 until Andrea Caldarelli was forced to make a late-race drive-through penalty for incident responsibility with the No. 66 Gradient Racing Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Corey Lewis, who brought out the race’s fifth and final yellow with less than ten minutes to go.

It promoted the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari to fourth in class, while last-lap move on the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Mason Filippi gave fifth to the No. 89 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo.

The DXDT Corvette, which inherited the class pole after the No. 89 flunked post-qualifying tech, led the opening stint in the hands of Robert Wickens, but faded in the closing stages.

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