One Set of Tires Run Propels No. 01 Cadillac to Long Beach Victory – Speedway Digest

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

The speed shown by a pair of Cadillac V-Series.R prototypes this weekend showed that one of their two cars could win Saturday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, Round 3 of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

The only question was which one. The answer came for the second year in a row with a strategic strike at the only stop in the 100-minute race that often comes down to time spent on pit lane.

Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande took the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class and overall honors in the Chip Ganassi Championship prepared No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, after starting third.

Bourdais bid his time and pitted behind Motul Pole Award winner and early race leader Pipo Derani in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing Cadillac, on Lap 27 to Derani’s Lap 26.

Both cars changed drivers, Bourdais to van der Zande and Derani to Long Beach rookie Jack Aitken, but the difference came in tire selection.

With a softer Michelin tire being offered this year compared to last year, it was unclear going into the race whether the 2024 winning car would be able to repeat the 2023 winning strategy of running all races on the same set of tyres.

The Whelen Cadillac team from Action Express Racing changed two left-side tires, while the Ganassi Cadillac team chose to follow suit by not changing any tires.

That proved to be the difference in the race, with van der Zande getting back on track ahead of Aitken and holding on for the rest of the hour through a pair of restarts that provided ample opportunity for laps as he made his way through Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class traffic.

Ultimately, van der Zande beat Aitken by 0.564 seconds in the 68-lap race. Afterwards, van der Zande noted that it was a late call to opt for the no-tire approach.

“It was very cold, then the sun came out and it started to get warm,” van der Zande said. “We left it until the last minute to decide. They made the right choice for sure.

“The strategy won this race. The tires were kind of gone at the end; it was completely slippery. But I’m very proud of my team.”

Aitken ran within a few tenths of van der Zande, but a series of incidents around the track cost him time before the final restart, when he was unable to make a move.

“It was the same as the last 50 minutes. I gave him everything,” Aitken said. I really tried. But it was a great car and Renger.

“Once they were in position, it’s very difficult to pass without taking big risks. The couple of yellows we did have helped Renger to take care of the tires. They lasted very well, better than I think at the beginning of the weekend.

The win is van der Zande’s 20th in his IMSA career and Bourdais’ 12th. The pair teamed up in Ganassi’s car to win at Long Beach in 2022. Bourdais crashed on the opening lap last year when a technical failure caused the car to turn into the wall on the front straight.

“When we get to Turn 1, we’re winning,” van der Zande joked to his co-driver, who immediately followed up with a humorous splash at van der Zande.

For the IMSA GTP class, it is the second year in a row that three different manufacturers have won the first three races. Last year it was Acura, Cadillac and Porsche in that order and this year it is Porsche, Acura and Cadillac.

Coincidentally, Acura won this year’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac, with Cadillac taking home today’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Behind the pair of Cadillacs on Saturday were three Porsche 963s. The pair of Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron who led the championship in race number 7 of the Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 finished third in front of sister car number 6 and customer number 5 of the Proton Competition.

Unofficially, Nasr, Cameron and the No. 7 Porsche have 1,032 points with a gap of 58 points to van der Zande, Bourdais and the No. 01 Cadillac, with Derani, Aitken and the No. 31 Cadillac 77 points in arrears.

The WeatherTech Championship returns to California May 10-12 at the Motul Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

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