Van der Zande “Pressed All Kinds of Buttons” for Petit Win

Renger van der Zande said he “pressed all kinds of buttons” to fix a late-race light issue that nearly derailed Chip Ganassi Racing’s victory at Motul Petit Le Mans, adding it was nice to finish a seven-year Cadillac tenure “off with a bang.”

The Dutchman charged to the win in the ten-hour IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale aboard the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R which he shared with Sebastien Bourdais and Scott Dixon.

After a bold overtaking move on the No. 6 Porsche 963 of Nick Tandy, van der Zande appeared to be clear to drive to victory until an already present headlight issue worsened further.

The car had been driving with just a single headlight illuminated by the time of the pass on Tandy, but a mechanical black flag loomed when the headlights on the car shut off completely deep within the final hour.

Van der Zande said in the post-race press conference that the team seriously feared having to pit to solve the issue, which would have cost the team the win.

“This manual we get from Cadillac is a lot of buttons and a lot of options, so I started to press all kinds of buttons this way, and it was still not good enough,” van der Zande said.

“Then it stuck more and more and more, then they told me press the white button. So I pressed the white button, and it worked. So we got the lights back.

“I don’t know how it was, but we got the lights back. It was more a question of getting a call from inside to come to the pits and change the lights. That was the biggest worry.

“The vision was still very good. I raced LMPC for a while where the lights are less than with this car, lights off.

“But when I was driving on my own, it was kind of hard because you couldn’t see the curbs sometimes with the lights off.

“When I had cars around me, they kind of lit up the curbs, and I could see it. But we got lucky there. I think at the end it was okay.”

The win brings a strong end to the relationship between Cadillac and Ganassi, with van der Zande himself also departing the GM brand ahead of an expected move to Meyer Shank Racing and Acura.

“Super happy to finish this off with a bang because it’s the last race for Chip Ganassi with Cadillac,” van der Zande said.

“It’s my last race with Cadillac. I’ve been with Cadillac for seven years now, which makes me very proud in one way, but also sad to leave.

“Nice things come to an end, and this is the right way to come to an end with Cadillac.

“The last four years was with Chip Ganassi Racing, and Chip has been so nice to me. Mike [Hull], Mike O’Gara, the team.

“I think this year for the first time really we had what you call a team. Everybody was such a good team member, and everybody was working in the same direction.

“It’s sad that it comes to an end. We’ve been racing for three years now. I won Daytona with Scott, and a lot of other races. And then with Seb for the last three years.

“We feel like brothers, I think. It’s nice to finish this one off with a bang. This win was really good.”

Bourdais: Early Black Flag Felt Like “There We Go Again”

Van der Zande, Dixon and Bourdais fought their way to victory despite a first-hour mechanical black flag for a sensor-related issue that saw the No. 01 crew drop off the lead lap.

Bourdais, who took the start and encountered the issue, hinted that the problem felt like a big blow after the team had seen big results fall away due to issues in previous races.

“Lap three, there we go again,” Bourdais said.

“So I did a hundred laps with a set of tires and no power. That was very fun.

“It was just what looked like a bit of a lost race, and the guys just managed to get the PPU back under control and give us a chance to be contenders at the end.

“Just super happy that, like Renger said, to be able to finish on a high like this.

“It was a big frustration last year to lose it on the strategy call, which really we couldn’t do anything about. We covered just about everybody but the No. 60 [Meyer Shank Racing Acura], and then they kind of stole it from us.

“So this time we may have stolen the race from the No. 6 [Porsche], but that’s only fair I think. We’ll definitely take it.

“Super happy for all the guys at Chip Ganassi Racing and Cadillac and for my two awesome teammates. Yeah, couldn’t be a better send-off.”