No. 93 Acura “Fell on the Right Side” of Race-Defining Yellow

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Nick Yelloly and Renger van der Zande credited their victory in Saturday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to the combination a well-timed full-course caution adnd having a strong car on a series of late-race restarts.

The Meyer Shank Racing duo broke through to give Acura its first victory since the luxury automaker began sponsoring the Grand Prix of Long Beach back in 2019, following a controlling second half of the race.

While having started the 100-minute contest from pole, Yelloly got caught out by traffic early on to the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken, who took the lead and began to extend his advantage.

However, the race’s second full-course caution, for a crash by the No. 25 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Philipp Eng, came just as the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 was in the pits, which offered them enough of an advantage to jump the Aitken’s teammate Frederik Vesti following the pit sequence.

“It was all relatively smooth sailing,” said Yelloly of the start. “For me, I think I had a relatively decent and very comfortable first couple of laps.

“Then when we came to the first set of lap traffic, I went one way thinking he clearly saw me and I think he panicked when he saw Jack go to the left  a little bit and slammed the brakes.

“I gave him a little nudge. Unfortunately that wasn’t what we planned on doing. I was just trying to stay in a safe, close length with quite a bit fuel target and see how it played out.

“In the pit stops, obviously, we fell on the right side of that yellow, which was great for us.”

Van der Zande admitted he felt the No. 31 Cadillac had a pace advantage but he managed to hold Vesti at bay thanks to three subsequent restarts in quick succession.

“It was a great battle but for sure they had a bit of an upper hand on the pace,” said the Dutchman.

“I had to keep the rear [tires] alive a little bit. Our car generally has a bit of oversteer and more tire deg on the rear than the other brands have.

“We seem to be very, very fast in qualifying and then lack a bit of racing pace.

“If you look at the pole positions we did lately, it’s in the last 12 races of this programs we took a lot of pole positions and then in the race we struggle sometimes.

“It’s so hard to overtake on a street track so even the pace he had, I don’t think he had a chance to really get by. I had to manage the rear quite a bit but we made it stick.

“The Michelin tire held on again. It’s the no-tire change strategy.”

When asked if he was nervous in the closing stages, amid the restarts, van der Zande said he felt the car “came alive” before hitting traffic.

“I was managing the pace because I was just feeling where the grip was and all that,” he explained. “I knew my time in traffic where I could make a gap. It happened like that.

“You have to be lucky in a way for sure. But I think the risk I took in traffic was high to get a gap. When I was through traffic, the yellows came.

“It was not very good. Then yellow after yellow after yellow. I think the restarts were quite easy to make it in the front.

“But when the 31 got the tire temperatures in the car, that’s when I knew to worry a little.

“I was managing it but I honestly, it’s so hard to overtake, I was not worried but for sure it was high intensity.

“I came out [of the car] a little red because of all hard work out there.”

It marked Acura’s first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win since last year’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and came on a weekend when news broke of the manufacturer’s impending exit at years’ end.

Van der Zande diffused any talk of the the withdrawal, which has yet to be officially confirmed, in the post-race press conference by focusing on the positives.

“Winning the Acura Grand Prix for Acura, as an Acura driver, I think that makes it very, very special,” he said. “We got brought into this program to win this one, I would say. There’s been a lot of effort.”

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