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Cadillac wins 10-hour IMSA Petit Le Mans in the final 15 minutes
The #01 Cadillac Racing car has won IMSA's Petit Le Mans event at Road Atlanta. The race largely follows regulations of the famous 24 hours of Le Mans event. Together with former Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Bourdais and Scott Dixon, Renger van der Zande took the victory in the final 15 minutes.
Behind the #01 Cadillac, the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport car crossed the line in P2, and the team's #7 car took the last step on the podium. With the #7 finishing in third, former Sauber driver Felipe Nasr and Dane Campbell (who were joined by Matt Campbell this event) also confirmed their IMSA title.
In terms of the other drivers with Formula One experience, Jack Aitken finished in P5 with Wheelan Cadillac Racing, while Romain Grosjean in the #63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx car finished in 15th position.
#01 car celebrates victory at Petit Le Mans
"I love this place, I love IMSA. To come off with a bang for Ganassi, the final race of our program for Cadillac, to win the last race. Man, I’m super proud," Van der Zande told NBC Sports afterwards. It was an important race for the team, as Cadillac will part ways with Chip Ganassi Racing
Van der Zande took the lead entering the final 15 minutes, but disaster nearly prevented them from crossing the line first in the state of Georgia. The car's headlights started to flicker intermittently with only four minutes on the clock, but they could avoid a black flag.
"Pretty scary," Van der Zande admits about that moment. "I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ Now we have to go back to the pits and repair or something that would end the race. I would have finished the race without the lights, no doubt."
"Last year, we were winning until the final 30 minutes. This year we weren’t leading until right at the end. We had a torque sensor issue which affected the beginning of the race, so we had to do 100 laps on a set of tyres," the former teammate of Sebastian Vettel at Toro Rosso, Sebastian Bourdais said.
This article was written in collaboration with Nicole Mulder
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