MONTEREY, Calif. – The infamous corkscrew at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca has seen its share of iconic passes over the years, but the winning pass in Sunday’s IMSA Weather Tech SportsCar Championship race definitely made the list.
Renger van der Zande – competing for the VISIT FLORIDA Racing team that had its Daytona Beach, Fla., race shop and equipment damaged in Hurricane Irma just 14 days ago – made the bold move with three laps remaining. After slowly reeling in Dane Cameron over the final 20 minutes of the two-hour, 40-minute America’s Tire 250, van der Zande charged from nearly five car lengths back, outbraking the race leader with three laps remaining and completing the winning pass by the exit of the corner.
Van der Zande went on to win by 2.248 seconds in the No. 90 Ligier LM P2 started by co-driver Marc Goossens. It was the first win of the season for VISIT FLORIDA Racing, and the first WeatherTech Championship win for an LM P2 prototype.
“I asked over the radio, ‘Hey guys, can I go for it?’,” said van der Zande, who also won at Mazda Raceway in the Prototype Challenge class in 2014. “You know, it’s their car. They said, ‘Yeah, go for it’ and I knew the Corkscrew was the place to do it. It was one shot, two minutes to go, and I just did it.”
Renger van der Zande and Marc Goossens raced to victory on Sunday’s in the America’s Tire 250 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. (IMSA Photo)
It was an emotional win for VISIT FLORIDA Racing. After Hurricane Irma swept through Central Florida, team owner Troy Flis said the team found two feet of water in its shop and a foot of water in its offices, and damaged race equipment.
“Irma put everybody a little bit behind, but Florida is back open,” he added. “We love Laguna, and we knew this was going to be our best shot [to get a win]. I knew we had the best team and the best guys. It was a big challenge to get an LM P2 car to win overall, and I got to give it to these guys, they did a heck of a job.”
The runner-up finish was good enough to vault the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R of Cameron and co-driver Eric Curran to second in the series standings with only the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans season finale remaining in two weeks. The deficit is nearly insurmountable, however, with points leaders Ricky and Jordan Taylor and the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R. team unofficially holding a 29-point lead.
The brothers finished third at Mazda Raceway and can clinch their first WeatherTech Championship title by starting the season-ending race at Road Atlanta and scoring points.
Source : speedsport.com
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