Van der Zande Takes Dramatic Detroit Win for Acura MSR

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Acura Meyer Shank Racing broke Porsche Penske Motorsport’s four-race win streak in a thrilling late-race battle for victory in Saturday’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic.

Renger van der Zande made a move around Ricky Taylor’s No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R in Turn 1 for the lead with four minutes to go.

It came less than ten minutes after Taylor took over the top spot from the No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 of Felipe Nasr, who had built up a near-six second advantage prior to a full course yellow for debris that set up a 28-minute shootout to the finish.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship points leader Nasr slipped to fourth as a result of the late-race battle.

An overcut strategy by the No. 7 Porsche Nick Tandy, who ran third in the early stages of the 100-minute race, saw co-driver Nasr emerge in the lead ahead of the pole-sitter Yelloly.

A similar call by the WTR Cadillac that kept Filipe Albuquerque out until pitting with 53 minutes to go, saw co-driver Taylor jump into second and put him in prime position with a yellow for debris with 37 minutes remaining.

However, van der Zande’s pass on Taylor saw the Acura take a 0.947-second win in dramatic fashion.

It marked both drivers’ first win with the Jim Meyer and Mike Shank co-owned team and with Acura, which scored its second consecutive Detroit triumph.

The No. 6 Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell, which won the last round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, came home third, ahead of Nasr and Tandy in the sister Porsche.

The pair of Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8s initially came home fifth and sixth, although the No. 25 car of Marco Wittmann was assessed with a post-race drive-through penalty, which dropped him behind the No. 60 MSR Acura of Colin Braun, who inherited sixth.

Heart of Racing Team’s Ross Gunn came home eighth ahead of the No. 40 WTR Cadillac of Jordan Taylor and Earl Bamber’s No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac, which dropped a lap down after making a second pit stop.

Ford Multimatic Motorsports Win GTD Pro on Home Soil

GTD Pro class honors went to the No. 64 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 of Mike Rockenfeller and Seb Priaulx, who led virtually from flag to flag.

Priaulx, who started on pole, handed over to Rockenfeller on Lap 22 and withheld a late-race yellow for debris to take a 1.623-second win over the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alexander Sims.

It marked the first class win of the season for the No. 64 Mustang GT3 crew after the sister entry took victory in the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Marco Mapelli and Andrea Caldarelli completed the class podium in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, the team’s first top-three finish of the season.

Aaron Telitz came home fourth in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, despite the car serving two drive-through penalties, and a last-lap incident with the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Laurin Heinrich, who was running fourth at the time.

Heinrich’s co-driver Klaus Bachler got spun by Teltiz’s co-driver Jack Hawksworth in the early stages, which saw the No. 14 Lexus receive its first drive-through penalty.

Telitz emerged from the pits in third and was handed another drive-through, this time for a pit lane infraction.

Both Heinrich and the No. 4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg received post-race incident responsibility penalties, equivalent to drive-throughs, for incidents between the two cars, which dropped them to fifth and sixth in the finishing order.

RESULTS: Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John