Fifteen years have passed since the Dutchman was a thorn in the side of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo in Formula 3, yet Renger van der Zande still performs on a high level and was arguably the year’s outstanding IMSA SportsCar driver.
The 38-year-old’s shining moment was a spectacular pass on Nick Tandy to secure victory in a thrilling ending to Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, to conclude his seven-year Cadillac career on a high. He was consistently the fastest Caddy driver throughout the second half of the season and made very few mistakes. JS
How van der Zande won Petit Le Mans
Renger van der Zande has made a habit of being in the right place at the right time to win the traditional IMSA season finale.
In 2018, he profited from Filipe Albuquerque running out of fuel on the final lap to snatch a last-gasp victory in the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R he shared with Jordan Taylor and Ryan Hunter-Reay. And in 2020, when necessary calendar rejigging meant the 10-hour race became the seventh round of nine, he again profited when Ricky Taylor and Felipe Nasr tangled to deliver the goods for WTR alongside Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon.
But as van der Zande correctly points out when assessing this year’s victory alongside Sebastien Bourdais and Dixon as the pick of the bunch, this time it was decided “on pure pace”. “The nicest win in Petit Le Mans for sure, the one I will remember for a long time,” is his assessment.
There are plenty of other factors at play too for a driver that will switch to Meyer Shank Racing’s Acura team next year. It was also his Chip Ganassi Racing team’s Cadillac swansong before WTR takes over as the factory squad next year, while van der Zande points out that the slim chance of sneaking second in the points meant victory was the sole focus. That turned the affair into “an all-in race”, which wasn’t about to change when his headlights periodically glitched out in the closing laps…
“I had a couple of times where I could see our car was very strong going into Turn 1,” he remembers. “I overtook two GTP cars into Turn 1 already, which for me was the indication.
“The time is right when the time is right and that's exactly what happened. I was very close to [Nick] Tandy [in the Porsche Penske Motorsport 963] and I was taking care of my tyres very well, especially the front tyres. I stayed out of the slipstream for quite a while, because I otherwise would scrub them.
“With 15 minutes to go, I asked on the radio, 'is there traffic coming in the next couple of laps' because that's when I wanted to close the gap to Tandy and wait for the opportunity. And the opportunity came because he was obviously in traffic a little bit.
“It slowed him down and that's when I went all-in, into Turn 1. It turned out really well!” JN
