JEREMY SHAW
IMSA SPORTSCAR
LONG BEACH (USA)
20 APRIL
ROUND 3/11
Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande employed the perfect blend of speed and strategy to score a finely judged victory last Saturday in Long Beach. It was the second time in three years the Franco-Dutch pairing had emerged on top on the unforgiving California streets for Chip Ganassi’s Cadillac Racing IMSA SportsCar Championship team.
Curiously, it seems to be a case of feast or famine for Bourdais at the legendary venue. He won three of five outings for Newman Haas Racing in the CART/Champ Car days, taking the chequered flag consecutively from 2005 to 2007, but had only one second-place finish to show from 10 IndyCar Series starts between 2011-21.
Two years ago, Bourdais won from the pole on his prototype debut at Long Beach, despite an early spin that meant he had to pass every other car to regain his lost advantage. And then last year his hopes of a repeat win were dashed when an issue with his Cadillac’s brake-by-wire system caused him to crash at the first corner.
The Frenchman was bound and determined to make amends. A problem with his car’s hybrid system meant he had only five minutes to post a qualifying time on Friday afternoon, and he was further angered by some traffic on his best lap, which left him only third on the grid.
Bourdais charged past Nick Yelloly’s BMW M Hybrid V8 on the first lap of the race, but had to be content to follow the similar Action Express Cadillac of polesitter Pipo Derani through the opening stint of the 100-minute race. The critical moment came when Derani peeled off into the pitlane after 35 minutes for what would be his only pitstop.
As Derani took on left-side tyres only and handed over to co-driver Jack Aitken, Bourdais completed one more circuit before ducking into the pits, whereupon the Ganassi team opted to take on fuel only. Their pitstop times were virtually identical, but the extra lap on hot Michelin tyres – plus not having to warm up the left-side rubber
