Van der Zande: “Long Beach Is the Event of the Year for Acura”
Jake Galstad/Lumen Digital Agency/IMSA
By Dennis Krause
With the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in the rear view mirror, the goal for Renger van der Zande is clear — win Saturday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
A two-time Long Beach winner with other manufacturers, van der Zande, the co-driver of the No. 93 Meyer-Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06, says there’s a lot at stake in the 100-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship sprint race on the streets of Long Beach, given that Acura is the race sponsor and Acura, and its performance arm Honda Racing Corporation USA, are Southern California based.
“Yeah, it's the event of the year for Acura,” van der Zande pointed out. “I mean, this is an event that Acura has never won (in the WeatherTech Grand Touring Prototype and previous Daytona Prototype international era), and we're trying to make make it happen this year.
“It's one of those events last year we tried hard. We got tapped a little bit on the left rear by one of the Porsches, and it broke something off the rear tail, which is why we had to pit. Otherwise, I think we would have been on the podium. But yeah, I think when it happens this year, it's going to be huge, and that's what we're aiming for.
Michael L. Levitt/Lumen Digital Agency/IMSA
“It's going to be the event to shine,” the Dutchman continued. “And obviously last year we won in Detroit, which is a street track. The car hopefully performs as good as it did in Detroit. And we're coming off two races, the biggest two, the nicest races in the championship are, let's say the biggest one to win are Daytona and Sebring. And we didn't have a shot at winning that one those two. So I think for Accra, if we can win the Long Beach Grand Prix, would be the one.
“I know Nick {Yelloly], my teammate, is very fast there. I have some great memories coming there. And my family will be there. Will we stay over all the way until Laguna Seca, which is somehow they always like to come to California because it's so nice out there. And then, yeah, we're gonna have a fun weekend out so looking forward.”
IMSA’s Balance of Performance (BoP) is a moving target and competitors and media alike are not allowed to criticize or comment on it. However, after the recent Sebring race, van der Zande lamented to IMSA Radio that he didn’t feel he could’ve battled for the win.
“Yeah, that's true,” van der Zande admitted. “That's true. And you know, for me, the most frustrating thing was to read after the race that the (Porsche Penske Motorsport) team and the engineers, everyone kind of like deciding between them, who is allowed to win. That hurt the most, because there were another, I don't know, nine cars behind who would love to win one of those races, and if you're that dominant, to just say, Okay, after you, or no, it's me, that didn't feel good at all.
“But going into Long Beach, I hope we have a fast car,” said van der Zande, who has yet to stand on the podium this season. “And I hope we're gonna win. And you need a fast car to win. So that's the game, you know?”
Brandon Badraoui/Lumen Digital Agency/IMSA
But it’s not always just the fastest car that wins races according to van der Zande. The driver has to be factored in, as well.
“Yeah, it's always the combination for sure. And I think if you don't have a fast car, or if you don't have a compliant car, you're not able to push because what makes a driver good at the race track like Long Beach or Detroit or Monaco or street tracks Macau is how close do you like to drift towards the wall. And if you're not sliding a little bit with a race car, you're not fast enough. But if you're sliding too much, you're in the wall. So how close are you? Are you comfortable in getting towards the wall and getting close to the wall? But if you have a car that is really bad over the bumps, then forget about it, you're not going to go and slide around, be aggressive of the driving.
“So it's a combination of the two, but at the same time, I think it's more something that on the street track as a driver, it's something that you are comfortable with. Then if you're not comfortable with the walls, then you're going to be slow. And then it's more a matter of not being good at the race track, like a street track. I think there's many, many drivers who can be faster on a street track, but if you're not comfortable, nobody's fast.
“So you need the car, you need to like the danger of it, but then it's a lot of fun. I mean, still, one of my favorite race tracks is Macau, which is one of the craziest race tracks around the world. And in a way, the (Nurburgring) Nordschleife is a little bit the same. It's one of those where if you make a small mistake, or if you misjudge it a little bit, the consequences are huge in terms of damage, in terms of how much you are out of the race, probably every every little mistake is a DQ, so it's fun but dangerous at the same time.”
Van der Zande and Acura’s pursuit for the win will come Saturday, at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT on network NBC.
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.