Van der Zande, Bourdais Win Action-Packed CTMP Contest

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Renger van der Zande made a late-race pass on Oliver Jarvis to come out on top in an action-packed and incident-filled Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The Dutchman, in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R, got around the pole-sitting No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura DPi of Jarvis with ten minutes left on the clock and crossed the line 3.509 seconds for the win.

It marked van der Zande and co-driver Sebastien Bourdais’ third IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win of the season in an up-and-down race in the DPi ranks.

Jarvis and co-driver Tom Blomqvist recorded their fifth consecutive runner-up finish although retake the points lead after a race to forget for the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05, which finished sixth in class after multiple issues.

Taylor found himself in the barriers after an incident with the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Pipo Derani, which brought out the race’s fourth and final full-course caution.

It came after he got turned around by the No. 02 CGR Cadillac of Earl Bamber while battling for second in Moss Corner, with the Kiwi getting a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.

The No. 10 Acura, which saw Taylor get back in the car after a short stint by Albuquerque, also had a close moment with Jarvis, with the two Acuras DPis running side-by-side with slight contact. Jarvis was handed a warning for the incident.

Jarvis emerged from the final round of green flag pit stops in the closing 40 minutes as the leader after needing to take on less fuel than the pair of CGR Cadillacs and the other DPi competitors.

However, a hard-charging van der Zande, who took the final restart with 18 minutes to go while in third, managed to pass the Englishman for the race-winning pass.

The No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Pipo Derani and Olivier Pla finished third in class, ahead of the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac of Tristan Vautier and Richard Westbrook, who faded from second on the closing restart.

LMP3 class honors went to the No. 54 CORE autosport Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Colin Braun and Jon Bennett, who extended their points lead in the process.

Braun crossed the line ahead of the No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier of Gabby Chaves.

It came after a race-ending accident for Scott Andrews’ No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier, which had slight contact with Jarvis before slamming into the Turn 4 tire barriers with 57 minutes to go.

Andrews, who was on his out lap, had been running second in class at the time after an intense battle for the lead between his co-driver Gar Robinson and Jarett Andretti.

Pfaff, Heart of Racing Take GTD Class Wins

Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet scored a controlling victory in GTD Pro, with the Heart of Racing coming out on top in GTD.

Campbell took the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R to a 1.115-second class win over the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD of Antonio Garcia after a flawless race for the Canadian squad, including a strategic two-tire stop.

Having started from the pole, Jaminet held command of the race until making its second pit stop with 1 hour and 5 minutes to go to Campbell.

The No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas completed the GTD Pro class podium in third.

It was an equally dominant run for the No. 27 Heart of Racing entry of Roman De Angelis and Maxime Martin, which scored their second consecutive class victory in GTD.

Martin held off the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Philip Ellis by 0.493 seconds at the line.

Rick Ware Racing, meanwhile, claimed its first-ever podium finish with its No. 51 Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 of Ryan Eversley and Aidan Read.

RESULTS: Chevrolet Grand Prix

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