Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani was held in the pit lane by Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global’s Danny Formal 35 minutes into the race on Saturday, April 20. That, plus a gas-only pit stop, ultimately made the difference, as Chip Ganassi Racing was able to bring the Whelen Cadillac to the pits. From there, Renger van der Zande was able to hold on to win the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach with teammate Sébastien Bourdais.
“I think [the tyres] were quite old at the end,” van der Zande said after the race. “To be honest, [Bourdais] just asked me how the tyres were and I said, ‘Not so good. ‘In the end I endured. But man, this team is a team. I have to thank everyone that that’s how you win races and I enjoy that. All right, I like it. “
The margin of victory for Bourdais and van der Zande was 0. 564 seconds over Derani and Jack Aitken. Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr were third, followed by teammates Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy. Gianmaria Bruni and Mike Rockenfeller of Proton Competition were fifth.
Derani started from pole in his Cadillac and led early. Meanwhile, Bourdais controlled to stay out of trouble at the first corner as he did last year. Instead, he overtook BMW M Team RLL’s Nick Yelloly at Turn 1 to take second place.
Derani managed to pull away from Bourdais on the open court. However, Bourdais was able to catch him when Derani ran into the GTD cars.
After 35 minutes, the leaders began to stop. Derani stopped and held back in Formal and had to lock his tyres. This requires a tire change. Bourdais pitted a few laps later and only took fuel in addition to the engine change. That was enough for van der Zande to jump on Aitken.
Shortly after the pit stops, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global’s Louis Deletraz was too quick at Turn 1 and crashed into the wall to get the yellow card. That shut everyone down.
As the race went on, things got a little crazy. With 20 minutes left, Jaminet spun at the hairpin through Forte Racing’s Loris Spinelli. The spin caused a buildup. BMW M Team RLL’s Connor de Phillippi hit both ends and suffered significant damage.
Shortly after, The Heart of Racing’s Spencer Pumpelly spun out of Turn 6 and hit the wall. He didn’t fire a yellow card.
What prompted the third yellow flag was that De Phillippi, after making a pit stop to upgrade the nose of his BMW, slipped on the tyres at Turn 6. He was finally able to continue after his tires were removed, but then pulled out.
The green returned with just over 8 minutes remaining. From there, van der Zande was able to hold off Aitken and take the win.
In GTD, Vasser Sullivan’s teammates, Parker Thompson and Frankie Montecalvo, achieved from pole in their Lexus. But from the beginning there were difficulties.
The Montecalvo marshals replaced the lanes before the start. This resulted in a driving penalty that left Montecalvo near the end of the field.
Montecalvo controlled to make up a lot of time when the first yellow appeared after 10 minutes of racing. This happened when Inception Racing’s Brendan Iribe broke away coming out of turn five and hit the wall. Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson had nowhere to pass and collided with Iribe’s McLaren.
Go there. Adelson managed to limp his Porsche back to the pits, but the front left corner of the car was badly damaged. Adelson also did not return to the track.
Thompson was able to pull away from the rest of the GTD group at will. Conquest Racing’s Albert Costa controlled to overtake Montecalvo at the first-lap hairpin to take second place. Despite this, Thompson was still able to pull away a bit in each. lap.
The minimum GTD driving time has been reduced to 35 minutes for this race. Since the groups can cover the distance from there with fuel, the groups opted to avoid it as soon as possible.
The saves in the end didn’t get VasserSullivan’s 89th bachelor out of his head. This allowed Turner Motorsport to move up to second position in their BMW.
Despite the penalty, VasserSullivan’s No. 12 is still very fast. With Jack Hawksworth in the car, they had climbed to fourth. Hawksworth then hit the wall coming out of Turn 5. The ignition destroyed the rear suspension of his Lexus. , ending their day.
In the end, no one was able to challenge Barnicoat in the second part of the race, as the standard GTD Pro and Thompson took the elegant victory in ninth overall.
Barnicoat and Thompson’s margin of victory was 1. 449 seconds over Turner Motorsport’s Robthrough Foley and Patrick Gallagher. Korthoff Preston Motorsports’ Mikael Grenier and Mike Skeen were third in their Mercedes, followed by Gradient Racing’s Stevan McAleer and Sheena Monk. The Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 for Giammarco Levorato and Corey Lewis fifth.
Next up for the WeatherTech groups is the Hyundai N-powered Motul Monterey race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The race will air on NBC on May 12 at 3 p. m.
Phil Allaway serves 3 main roles in Frontstretch. Es the administrator of the site’s FREE email newsletter, which runs Monday through Friday and on weekends. He ensures the honesty of TV stations with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and is the site’s sports car racing host. editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press secretary for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, New York. It covers all the action on the steeply sloping track, from normal DIRTcar Modified races to occasional visits from roving series, such as the Super DIRTcar Series.