Yelloly, Van der Zande Enjoying “Quite Seamless” Acura Switch

Nick Yelloly and Renger van der Zande are enjoying a “quite seamless” transition after linking up to form a new driver pairing at Acura Meyer Shank Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The Brit and the Dutchman will share the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 for the full season, with Alex Palou and Kakunoshin Ohta set to alternate for the Endurance Cup rounds and both joining at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The pairing marks a new career chapter for both drivers, with Yelloly joining Acura after ending a six-year tenure as a factory driver.

Van der Zande, meanwhile, moved brands after Chip Ganassi Racing’s partnership with Cadillac came to an end after the 2024 season concluded.

Yelloly spoke of the smooth nature of the transition between brands, also noting that he steps into an environment that already features some familiar faces.

“I’ve known Renger a long time anyway, so that was quite seamless,” he told Sportscar365.

“And then in the other car I’ve known Tom [Blomqvist] because he was at BMW and we raced together in Formula Renault in 2009.

“So we’ve known each other a long time and then everyone else is very easy to get on with. I raced against Colin [Braun] in 2023 when he was with MSR.”

Van der Zande added that the freshness of the partnership extends beyond the pairing between himself and Yelloly.

“It’s a brand new team,” he said.

“Also the team members like the mechanics and the engineering, everybody is new so it’s what we really have to take into account going into the season.

“Also for myself, I was with Seb [Bourdais] for four years. New teammate, we had a big night in Miami to break the ice [last year].

“I think that was the right thing to do and those things help to get to know each other.

“So far it’s been smooth sailing. But when the pressure really comes on the whole system, that’s when you really see where the weaknesses are.

“And there will be some weaknesses because we’re so new. But at the same time, the preparation has been almost like a military operation.

“From the team side, Meyer Shank and Michael Shank is doing an amazing job on that.

“But also on the Honda side you can really clearly see what their goals are, which is getting more interfaced with the team and getting it as a factory effort. You can really see that.”

Van der Zande, a two-time Rolex 24 winner, insisted that he would keep low expectations for the first season of the new partnership, saying his priority is “blending into the season” and learning to work together.

“My expectations are as follows, I want to blend into this season with nice points,” he said.

“So I think if we can grab the win, we’ll do it. But it shouldn’t be the main focus right now.

“I think the main focus is blending into the season, grab the maximum points of what we are capable of as a group and in our car. And then we start looking at winning races.”

Yelloly, for his part, described his motivation for departing BMW and joining Acura as a “good opportunity to go and see what another manufacturer is doing.”

“Obviously, the operation with Acura coming in is more of a full factory kind of situation,” he said.

“I felt that was a good opportunity for me at the time. I’ve been at BMW for six years.

“I’ve been successful, won some good 24-hour races and when this opportunity came up I felt like it was time to go and see.”

The No. 93 car that Yelloly and Van der Zande share is engineered by staff from Honda Racing Corporation USA, while the No. 60 sister car is entirely overseen by MSR themselves.

“This is the first time they are actually doing it themselves,” van der Zande explained.

“But obviously I have a lot of experience. Nick has a lot of experience. There’s people like Michael Shank, who are pure racers.

“They bring a lot of information on how to run a team. And they’re still actively involved in a two-car effort.

“Michael Shank is still running the car, from the engineering side it’s HRC, which they’ve always done but now the suggestions that they make are actually made them to themselves.

“So it’s one step [less] in between making decisions.  So in a way, that’s what I like about this situation.”

John Dagys contributed to this report