Sports Cars
Chip Ganassi Racing leads Cadillac Racing 1-2 at Long Beach
LONG BEACH, CA (April 20, 2024) Chip Ganassi Racing’s Renger van der Zande and Sebastien Bourdais are back in victory lane with the Cadillac V-Series.R, at Long Beach after beating the No. 31 Cadillac, despite a late-race caution with 13-minutes to go.
”We are very happy right now with the biggest trophy we could get – the first-place trophy,” said Van der Zande. “Chip Ganassi racing did a fantastic job again. Our car has been fast all year so I am thrilled that we were finally able to bring home the win. The team deserves that.”
“It sure felt good to get this win for everyone in the shop and everyone from GM,” added Bourdais.
“Congratulations to the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R team and drivers Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande for winning the hard-fought race on the streets of Long Beach. It was a strong effort all around with pole sitter Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R earning their second runner-up finish in three races. A great day for Cadillac Racing at Long Beach,” said Mark Stielow, GM director of motorsports competition about the Cadillac 1-2 finish.
Bourdais qualified third and started behind pole-sitter Derani, who pitted from the lead for the lone time in the 100-minute race with 63 minutes left for energy and left-side tires. Inheriting the lead from Derani, Bourdais brought in the No. 01 Cadillac in a lap later for service and switch to van der Zande. The Chip Ganassi Racing team decided not to change Michelin tires, and van der Zande was able to get the advantage on the out-lap over Aitken, who was making his debut at the circuit.
”We had an excellent car, so I was a little frustrated that we were not able to get a better lap in during qualifying, but the strategy was perfect during our pit stop,” said Bourdais. “The team did a great job to get us out front and Renger did the rest by holding the 31 off and bringing the car home to victory lane.”
“Our tires were pretty old at the end. I was just hanging on at the end,” said van der Zande, who upped his IMSA victory total to 20 and has won at least one win in each of his 11 seasons. “This team is fantastic. Thanks to Chip, the guys, Mike O’Gara, my teammate Seb … this is how to win races, and I’m enjoying it.”
The victory is the fifth for Bourdais at Long Beach, who teamed with van der Zande to win on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit in 2022.
“It’s win number five here for me at Long Beach,” said Bourdais. “I’m super happy. We’ve had so many hardships and things just not working out. Our last win was Laguna Seca last year, so it’s been almost a year. I’m super happy for Cadillac, for Chip Ganassi Racing and for the boys.”
Bourdais and van der Zande, who teamed with six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion Scott Dixon to finish second in the 12-hour race last month at Sebring, moved to 58 points out of the GTP points lead. The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R is third in points.
Cadillac Racing and CGR will look to successfully defend its victory May 12 in the 2-hour, 40-minute race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
By Tony DiZinno
IMSA Wire Service
SEBRING, FL (March 15, 2025) – A historic sports car race added another chapter to international sports car racing lore on Saturday night.
Nick Tandy adds an overall Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring victory to previous overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2015) and the Rolex 24 At Daytona (2025), all with Porsche, to become the 10th driver in sports car history to win the unofficial “Triple Crown of Endurance Racing.”
The other nine are A.J. Foyt, Hans Herrmann, Jackie Oliver, Al Holbert, Hurley Haywood, Mauro Baldi, Andy Wallace, Marco Werner and Timo Bernhard.
This also builds on Tandy’s personal “Tandy Slam” of major 24-hour endurance sports car races achieved at Daytona, Le Mans, the Nurburgring and Spa-Francorchamps. Tandy completed that set at Daytona in January.
He shared the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class and overall winning No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 with co-drivers Felipe Nasr and Laurens Vanthoor as he did in Daytona. All have past Sebring wins; this is Tandy’s fourth Sebring win (GTLM – 2018, 2019, 2020) and the second for both Nasr (DPi – 2019) and Vanthoor (GTD PRO – 2023).
The No. 7 Porsche is also the first car to win back-to-back IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races in Daytona and Sebring in the same season since Wayne Taylor Racing achieved the feat in 2017 with a Cadillac DPi-V.R, albeit with different driver lineups.
The Porsches came alive in the cooler night conditions after fighting most of the race with the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R. The No. 7 Porsche beat the sister No. 6 Porsche, driven by Mathieu Jaminet, Matt Campbell and Kevin Estre by 2.239 seconds, with the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06 in third.
Inter Europol Competition scored the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class victory with a mix of good strategy, able to emerge in podium position after the final round of pit stops, plus a sprinkle of luck when the leading No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR car ran aground of a Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class car inside the final 20 minutes. Tom Dillmann, Bijoy Garg and Jeremy Clarke shared the winning No. 43 ORECA LMP2 07.
Porsche doubled up victories with the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class with the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 R GT3 (992), shared by Laurin Heinrich, Klaus Bachler and Alessio Picariello. They beat the pair of BMW M4 GT3 EVOs fielded by Paul Miller Racing, the No. 48 car finishing ahead of the No. 1 car.
Winward Racing repeated its 2025 GTD class win with the same trio of Russell Ward, Philip Ellis, Indy Dontje in the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3. A forceful pass by Ellis on last year’s GTD PRO winner, Jack Hawksworth, netted the Winward Mercedes-AMG the top spot.
By Tony DiZinno
IMSA Wire Service
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – History was made on several levels in the 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona to kick off the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
Porsche Penske Motorsport won its second consecutive Rolex 24, the third overall for team owner Roger Penske and fourth for the team, with the No. 7 Porsche 963 driven by Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor claiming the overall and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class triumph.
Nasr is the only member of the trio who was part of last year’s winning entry, with a reshuffled lineup. Tandy moved from the team’s No. 6 car, and with the win is the first driver globally to have won all four major 24-hour endurance sports car races in Daytona, Le Mans, Spa-Francorchamps and the Nürburgring overall. Vanthoor was part of last year’s FIA World Endurance Championship-winning lineup with Penske.
The win is Nasr’s third (2024 in GTP/overall, 2022 in Grand Touring Daytona Pro), Tandy’s second (2014 GT Le Mans) and Vanthoor’s first at the Rolex 24.
The team nearly completed a 1-2 sweep, but a late pass by Tom Blomqvist delivered his second straight runner-up finish. Blomqvist co-drove the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06, and got around Matt Campbell’s No. 6 Porsche 963.
“It’s amazing to see the work we’ve done with this Porsche program the last couple years, winning the (IMSA) championship last year, and with the relationship we have with Porsche, our organization, I’m thrilled,” Roger Penske said in victory lane. “It was quite something there at the end!”
History was also made in the two Grand Touring classes, as two iconic brands – Mustang and Corvette – both won.
Ford’s newest Mustang scored its first IMSA victory, with Dennis Olsen holding off all comers in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class in his No. 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 he shared with Christopher Mies and Frederic Vervisch.
While Mustang beat Corvette in GTD PRO, Corvette emerged victorious in Grand Touring Daytona courtesy of the customer effort from AWA, which scored its second Rolex 24 win (2023 in Le Mans Prototype 3). Drivers Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern and Marvin Kirchhoefer shared the winning No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
Tower Motorsports ascended to the top of Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), in the hands of Sebastien Bourdais, John Farano, Sebastian Alvarez and Job Van Uitert sharing the No. 8 ORECA LMP2 07. The Rolex win is Bourdais’ third in as many IMSA class (Prototype/Overall in 2014 and GT Le Mans in 2017).
All other winners – the three Ford drivers, all four AWA Corvette drivers and the remaining three Tower LMP2 drivers – secured their first Rolex 24 victories and the custom Rolex Daytona timepieces that come with the wins.
By John Oreovicz
IMSA Wire Service
DAYTONA BEACH, FL (January 23, 2025) – A tough start turned into a strong finish for BMW M Team RLL in qualifying for the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the opening round of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 driven by Sheldon van der Linde caused a red flag when it stalled on track less than five minutes into the 15-minute Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class qualifying session. But Dries Vanthoor saved the day as he drove the team’s No. 24 entry to the GTP and overall pole for Saturday’s 24-hour contest.
BMW was extremely competitive in the annual Roar Before the Rolex 24 test sessions, with Vanthoor setting the fastest overall time. The 26-year-old Belgian, who is embarking on his first full season of IMSA competition, repeated that form when it counted in qualifying.
It was Vanthoor’s first IMSA Motul Pole Award and also the first for BMW within GTP, as the manufacturer enters its third year in the new class. With the stoppage for the stalled No. 25 BMW, he and the other GTP contestants had time for only two flying laps. The younger Vanthoor brother (older brother Laurens is the endurance driver in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963) will share the polesitting No. 24 BMW with full-season co-driver Philipp Eng, Formula 1 veteran Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello.
“For sure it wasn’t easy with the red flag,” said Vanthoor, whose Motul Pole Award winning lap was timed at 1 minute, 33.895 seconds (136.493 mph). “It makes tire warming a bit more difficult for everyone. That was a big struggle for us last year, but we have been improving a lot. Then it was just about getting the lap together and trying to do the best that I could. That worked out, luckily, so I am very happy.
“We’ve been working hard,” he added. “It’s nice to see that it’s working for everyone here, and also everyone back at the factory. I think everybody can be happy and proud of that, but (the pole) is a little cherry on a big cake and there’s still a big thing still to happen. That’s the race, and that can go any way.”
Nick Yelloly qualified the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 on the outside of the front row in Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian’s return to IMSA competition after a year off at 1:34.186 (136.071 mph). Defending GTP class champion Felipe Nasr was third in the No. 7 Penske Porsche (1:34.280, 135.935 mph).
Qualifying was staged in difficult, cold conditions, with wind chills at Daytona in the low 40s ambient, and track temperatures not much warmer. Vanthoor wore a heavy parka and ski cap when he met the media after qualifying.
“It’s a bit cold in the car, but when you come out you’re sweating a lot,” he remarked. “You can get sick easily, and that would be the last thing we need going into a 24-hour race.”
LMP2: United Autosports Dominates as Goldburg Breaks Through
United Autosports USA dominated Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class qualifying for the Rolex 24 At Daytona, with Daniel Goldburg and Nick Boulle securing first and third on the grid for the team co-owned by McLaren Formula 1 team principal Zak Brown and Richard Dean.
It’s Goldburg’s second career Motul Pole Award in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition, and first since Road America in August 2021 in the former Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class.
Additionally, Goldburg’s lap ended Ben Keating’s run of five straight pole positions achieved at the Rolex 24 through either traditional qualifying or the Motul Pole Award 100 qualifying race, which ran for two years.
Bronze-rated drivers qualify in LMP2 and while Goldburg came close to pole several times in 2024, he came up short with four second-place efforts and seven top-five efforts in as many races.
“This is our moment to stack up against each other in the Bronze category,” Goldburg said after a pole-winning lap timed at 1 minute, 38.676 seconds (129.879 mph). “I’m super excited. I’ve been chasing this pole for all of the last year, and been a couple tenths off a bunch of times. That pole was elusive for me. So, this feels really good. I’ve been putting in a ton of work.
“It’s a long race ahead, but this is a great first notch,” continued Goldburg, who shares the No. 22 ORECA LMP2 07 this week with Paul di Resta, Rasmus Lindh and 2023 LMP2 Rolex 24 winner James Allen. “I’ve got great teammates and have been able to compare a lot of great data. I’m just inching closer and closer to what they do. After every session, I watch the video and chase the data and just trying to keep inching closer.”
Two-time IMSA LMP2 class champion Keating split his former team, United Autosports, in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 and will start on the outside of the front row.
Nick Boulle, who co-drove with Tom Dillmann to the IMSA LMP2 championship last year, will make his first start for United Autosports in the No. 2 ORECA from third place as he contests all Michelin Endurance Cup rounds of the WeatherTech Championship.
The field will take the green flag for the 63rd running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Saturday at 1:40 p.m. The first hour of the race will be broadcast on NBC, shifting to USA Network for four hours, before returning to NBC for the finish. Flag-to-flag coverage is available on Peacock.
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