Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande Triumph Using a Single Set of Tires in the 100-Minute Sprint
By Mark Robinson
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Cadillac Racing borrowed a winning formula to win Saturday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the third race of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
Opting not to change tires during the only pit stop of the 100-minute race at the famed Southern California street course, Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande drove the No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R to victory at the most famous North American street-course race. Cadillac swept the top two finishing positions, with the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing entry co-driven by Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken just 0.564 seconds behind at the checkered flag.
It was the second straight year that the winning team at Long Beach ran the entire race on a single set of tires. The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 accomplished the feat a year ago.
Derani started from the pole Saturday and held the lead until the pit stop sequence unfolded some 35 minutes into the race. Bourdais was among the last Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) cars to stop, with van der Zande taking the wheel as the crew refueled the car but did not change Michelin tires. It permitted van der Zande to leapfrog the No. 31, a position the No. 01 held the rest of the way despite a pair of restarts from full-course cautions in the final hour.
The No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, with drivers Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr, placed third to take sole possession of the GTP points lead. Unofficially, they are 58 markers ahead of Bourdais, van der Zande and the No. 01 Cadillac.
The win is the second in three years at Long Beach for Bourdais and van der Zande. It is IMSA career win No. 20 for van der Zande while Bourdais earned his 12th victory. It also marked the 66th IMSA win for cars fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing.
Saturday’s winner in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class was the No. 89 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 shared by Parker Thompson and Ben Barnicoat. Thompson claimed the GTD Motul Pole Award on Friday and the No. 89 Lexus held fast to the lead throughout the race on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary circuit, crossing the finish line 1.449 seconds ahead of the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 driven by Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley.
Barnicoat, who picked up his seventh WeatherTech Championship win, and Thompson, who earned his second win, were paired for this race only so Vasser Sullivan could enter two cars in the GTD class. Barnicoat usually races with Jack Hawksworth in the GTD PRO class in the No. 14 Lexus. Thompson’s full-season GTD ride is with Frankie Montecalvo in the No. 12 Lexus.
Philip Ellis and Russell Ward finished seventh in GTD in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. Their unofficial points lead dropped to 185 over Foley, Gallagher and the No. 96 Turner BMW. Thompson jumped to third in GTD driver points, 10 behind Foley and Gallagher.
The next WeatherTech Championship event is the Motul Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca from May 10-12.