IMSA – Bourdais and van der Zande win at Long Beach, double with Cadillac

If Cadillac has been seen back since the start of the WEC weekend in Imola, the V-Series.R has been in good spirits on the other side of the Atlantic and twice for the American brand’s GTPs on the streets from Long Beach, California.

Renger van der Zande and Sébastien Bourdais took full advantage of Cadillac Racing’s strategy during the only pit stop, the #01 without changing tires and thus had a chance to play against the #31 Cadillac – Whelen Cadillac Racing of Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken, being ahead. since the start of the race thanks to Derani.

Van der Zande managed to restart for the last time less than ten minutes from the checkerboard, after making contact with the barriers of the No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 – Nick Yelloly’s BMW M Team RLL, coming ahead of Aitken. This is the second victory for the duo of Bourdais – van der Zande after the success of 2022. For the third year in a row, the French driver climbs the highest step of the podium, after the victory of Mathieu Jaminet in 2023 with Porsche.

The podium is completed by No. 7 Porsche 963 – Porsche Penske Motorsport of Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron. However, it was the sister car n°6 of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy that took third place for a long time, but contact suffered due to Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 n°78 – Forte Racing at the hairpin, sent Jaminet spins. .

Gimmi Bruni and Mike Rockenfeller put the #5 Porsche – Proton Competition in the top 5 ahead of the #24 BMW – BMW M Team RLL of Philipp Eng and Jesse Krohn.

A race to forget Acura, as Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque (Acura ARX-06 n°10 – Wayne Taylor Racing and Andretti) only finished 8th. Even worse for n°40, as Louis Délétraz, Jordan’s second Taylor, ended his race in the wall at turn n°1.

In GTD, Ben Barnicoat and Parker Thompson dominated the event in the #89 Lexus RC F GT3 – Vasser Sullivan to win ahead of the #96 BMW M4 GT3 – Turner Motorsport of Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher, and the No. 32 Mercedes- AMG GT3 EVO – Korthoff/Preston Motorsports of Mike Skeen and Mikael Grenier.

Second Lexus #12 – Jack Hawksworth’s Vasser Sullivan and Frankie Montecalvo, second on the grid, lost heavily from the start with a penalty for changing lanes before the green light, before contact with Hawksworth forced him to retire. Other retirements for Brendan Iribe’s McLaren 720S GT3 EVO n°70 – Optimum Motorsport, who hit the wall at turn n°5 after 10′ of the race, before being hit by Adam Adelson (Porsche 911 GT3 R n°120 – Wright Motorsports) who could not avoid McLaren.

The temporary position is HERE