Renger van der Zande secured an important victory for Meyer Shank Racing during the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, held on a spectacular 1.968-mile street circuit. The Dutch driver, behind the wheel of the #93 Acura ARX-06, withstood the constant pressure from Frederick Vesti in the #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, crossing the finish line with a margin of 0.818 seconds.
This victory represents Acura’s first win at Long Beach since 2009, and it is van der Zande’s third triumph at this iconic track, following his victories in 2022 and 2024 with Cadillac.
This edition saw Laurens Vanthoor from Porsche Penske Motorsport complete the podium, finishing third in the #6 Porsche 963. His teammate, Felipe Nasr, took fourth place, while Sheldon van der Linde from BMW M Team WRT finished fifth.
Race Development
The race started with Nick Yelloly, who secured pole position, leading the group in a split-start format between the GTP and GTD categories. However, a yellow flag was soon deployed after an incident involving Henrik Hedman, who hit the safety barriers on lap 6.
After a restart, the pit stop strategy began to play a key role. Vesti started pressuring Yelloly as the drivers found themselves in traffic with the GTD class vehicles. Aitken managed to pass Yelloly and control the race for a few moments before several drivers were forced to pit.
With just 27 minutes remaining, Telitz in the #12 Lexus RC F GT3 established a 7-second gap to the second place, and the battle for second intensified with Vanthoor close to Vesti. As the race progressed, conditions became complicated with several appearances of the safety car, but van der Zande kept his composure and controlled the situation until the checkered flag.
With this victory, Meyer Shank Racing solidifies its position in the IMSA competition, marking a very positive point in their season. Telitz, for his part, celebrated the victory in the GTD class, adding even more achievements to his team, Vasser Sullivan.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_d5bea026ee2cdb98c0cf6d4e0bcea19aef71d406