Van der Zande, Bourdais Take Strategic Long Beach Victory

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Renger van der Zande held off Jack Aitken to lead a Cadillac 1-2 in Saturday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, in a strategic victory for Chip Ganassi Racing.

The Dutchman and co-driver Sebastien Bourdais scored their first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win in nearly a year, after completing the 100-minute race on a single set of Michelin tires.

While the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Pipo Derani led from pole, a two-tire change for the Whelen Engineering-sponsored GTP entry and no new Michelins for the No. 01 Cadillac saw van der Zande vault into the lead from second place.

Van der Zande crossed the line 0.564 seconds ahead of Jack Aitken, who took over from Derani in the pit stop exchange.

It marked the CGR duo’s first WeatherTech Championship win since WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last year.

The No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 of Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron completed the GTP class podium after the No. 78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Loris Spinelli ran into Nasr’s teammate Jaminet, causing a pileup in the hairpin with 22 minutes to go.

While Jaminet got back going to finish fourth, the No. 25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Connor De Phillippi, who had been running fifth, sustained significant damage as he limped his car back to pit lane.

De Phillippi then brought out the race’s third full course caution after stuffing his BMW into the Turn 6 barriers, which set up an eight-minute shootout to the finish.

The No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni and Mike Rockenfeller completed the top-five, followed by the No. 24 BMW of Jesse Krohn and Philipp Eng in sixth.

Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti had a race to forget, with the No. 10 Acura ARX-06 finishing eighth after Ricky Taylor was served a drive-through for contact with the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche of Richard Westbrook, who would finish seventh.

It came following the second restart after a race-ending accident for the No. 40 Acura of Louis Deletraz, who slammed into the Turn 1 wall to bring out a yellow.

The first yellow came at the 11-minute mark for a two-car accident involving the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Brendan Iribe and Adam Adelson’s No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, which sustained heavy right-front damage.

Vasser Sullivan Lexus Dominates GTD

GTD class honors went to the No. 89 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Parker Thompson and Ben Barnicoat, who finished ahead of Robby Foley and Mike Skeen following the late-race restart.

Barnicoat came home 1.449 seconds ahead of Foley’s No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 that he shared with Patrick Gallagher, followed by Skeen and Mikael Grenier’s No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

After starting on the front row, the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo dropped out of contention early after receiving a drive-through penalty for changing lanes at the start.

It was compounded by a brush with the wall by co-driver Jack Hawksworth later in the running.

Thompson and Barnicoat controlled the race from start to finish, marking the team’s first GTD victory since last year’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

The No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 of Stevan McAleer and Sheena Monk came home fourth in class after starting from the rear of the 27-car field due to missing qualifying because of an engine change.

Proton Competition’s No. 55 Ford Mustang GT3, meanwhile, completed the top-five, ahead of the No. 13 AWA Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

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