Van der Zande Cadillac Crashes Out in Second Hour

Cadillac driver Renger van der Zande dramatically crashed out of the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in the second hour with a big accident at Eau Rouge.

Van der Zande, driving the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R, was running in second position overall behind the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Mike Conway, who held a lead of roughly 40 seconds.

The Dutchman lost control of the car through Eau Rouge and went straight on, before spinning and making heavy contact with the barriers.

The safety car was called following the incident, while Van der Zande was able to walk away from the crash under his own power.

A team spokesperson told Sportscar365 that he has been checked and cleared from the on-site medical center.

His teammate Sebastien Bourdais told Louise Beckett on the official WEC broadcast that Van der Zande reported a problem with the car’s power steering leading to the crash.

“He seems to be OK,” Bourdais said.

“He said [he has] a little headache but it’s a massive shunt. The worst place for anything to happen.

“Apparently he said the power steering locked up on him completely and the car went up the hill. It’s definitely the worst-case scenario.”

With the No. 2 Cadillac out of the race, the No. 6 Porsche 963 of Laurens Vanthoor has moved into second place with Sebastien Buemi in third place aboard the No. 8 Toyota.

Michael Christensen runs fourth aboard the No. 5 Porsche, with the lone remaining Cadillac of Earl Bamber completing the top five.

Tom Blomqvist leads LMP2 for United Autosports running sixth overall aboard the No. 23 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson, with Fabio Scherer second for Inter Europol Competition.

Robin Frijns has moved up to third in class by getting by Prema’s Daniil Kvyat, with Louis Deletraz completing the top five for Team WRT.

Tomonobu Fujii leads GTE-AM after a contact-heavy pass on Sarah Bovy.

Fujii’s No. 777 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE and Bovy’s No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 ran side by side out of La Source halfway through the second hour, with the Belgian running through the grass after repeated sideways contact.

Fujii went into the lead, while Bovy briefly lost third to the No. 25 ORT by TF Aston Martin of Michael Dinan.

However, the Iron Dames Porsche recaptured the position before the safety car comes out.