Action Express Racing’s Pipo Derani was held up entering the pit lane by Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global’s Danny Formal 35 minutes into the race Saturday (April 20). That, plus a fuel-only pit stop, was ultimately the difference as Chip Ganassi Racing was able to jump the Whelen Cadillac in the pits. From there, Renger van der Zande was able to hold on to win the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach with teammate Sebastien Bourdais.
“I think [the tires] were pretty old in the end,” van der Zande said after the race. “To
be honest, [Bourdais] just asked me how the tires were doing and I said, ‘not so good.’ I was just hanging on there at the end. But, man, this team is a fantastic team. I have to thank everyone. This is how to win races and I’m enjoying it. It’s good. I like it.”
Bourdais and van der Zande’s margin of victory was .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. Proton Competition’s Gianmaria Bruni and Mike Rockenfeller were fifth.
Derani started from the pole in his Cadillac and led early. Meanwhile, Bourdais managed to avoid trouble at the first turn like last year. Instead, he got past BMW M Team RLL’s Nick Yelloly in turn 1 to take second.
Derani was able to pull away from Bourdais in clear track. However, Bourdais could catch back up when Derani caught the GTD cars.
35 minutes in, the leaders started pitting. Derani stopped and got held up by Formal and had to lock up his tires. That requires a tire change. Bourdais pitted a couple of laps later and took only fuel in addition to the driver change. That was enough for van der Zande to jump Aitken.
Shortly after the stops, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global’s Louis Deletraz went a little too fast into turn 1 and crashed into the wall to bring out the yellow. That closed everyone back up.
As the race continued on, things got a little wild. With 20 minutes to go, Jaminet was spun out in the hairpin by Forte Racing’s Loris Spinelli. The spin caused a stack up. BMW M Team RLL’s Connor de Phillippi was hit on both ends and had significant damage.
Shortly afterwards, The Heart of Racing’s Spencer Pumpelly spun exiting turn 6 and hit the wall. That did not draw a yellow.
What did bring out the third caution was that de Phillippi, after making a pit stop to replace the nose on his BMW, slid into the…
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