Renger van der Zande wasn’t a fan of his front row seat watching the politics of team orders play out between the two dominant Porsche Penske Motorsport entries at last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
The Dutchman, who co-drives Acura Meyer Shank Racing’s #93 Acura ARX-06 with fellow full-timer Nick Yelloly, was practically a spectator in the once-around-the-clock crown jewel of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. In the fight for a podium before finishing seventh, van der Zande could only watch as Porsche Penske Motorsport, who led all but 60 of the 343 total laps. It was as one-sided as the statistics appear, with the biggest drama coming in the final hour as Felipe Nasr (#7 Porsche 963) passed teammate Kevin Estre (#6 Porsche 963) in a move that led to the latter calling out the former for not obeying team orders.
On IMSA media zoom call last week, Motorsport.com asked van der Zande if he was shocked about Porsche were even more dominant than they showed in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, won by Nasr, despite a Balance of Performance (BoP) adjustment being made prior to Sebring. He chose not to answer in fear of “not saying anything bad” because “it’s a sensitive topic,” electing to not be made the first example of IMSA’s BoP conduct rule.
Motorsport.com then followed up with van der Zande to simply note he shared a moment with IMSA Radio in Sebring when he voiced his frustrations for not feeling like the team could not properly fight for the win.
“Yeah, that’s true,” said van der Zande, 40. “For me the most frustrating thing was to read after the race that..”
#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly, Alex Palou
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Lumen via Getty Images
And van der Zande, who has 22 career victories in IMSA, sidestepped briefly as Julien Andlauer, full-time co-driver with Nasr, was also on the call. “Julian congrats on the wins,” he said, also noting Daytona.
“It’s amazing for you and for Penske. They’re performing as a group amazingly and huge respect (to) all the drivers in the team and the engineers everyone.”
Then van der Zande drifted back on his issue.
“At the same time, to see them, kind of, like deciding between them who is allowed to win that hurt the most because there were another nine cars behind who would love to win one of those races,” he said.
“If you’re that dominant to just say, ‘Hey, 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 and I hope we’re gonna win. You need a fast car to win, so that’s the game.”
The chances of victory for van der Zande and the rest of IMSA’s top flight GTP category received a boost after IMSA made another BoP alteration following Sebring, dropping the hammer on Porsche with an additional 70 kilograms of weight, bringing their total to an unprecedented 1,000kg while also being powered with 480 kilowatts.
Additionally, though, the team orders that left van der Zande upset is something Porsche Penske Motorsport isn’t afraid to continue, with Team Penske President Jonathan Diuguid, who also serves as race strategist on the #6 entry, stating they’re ready to “absolutely” continue it moving forward during a media call last week.
#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06: Renger van der Zande, Nick Yelloly, Alex Palou
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Lumen via Getty Images
Looking ahead, though, is this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, a place where van der Zande has scored overall victory two times (2022, 2024), both of which came during his time with Cadillac, along with three additional podiums in eight starts. He’ll be looking to end a long dry spell for Acura, which hasn’t taken an overall victory at the iconic street circuit since 2009 under the American Le Mans Series banner.
“Nick is a very good qualifier in Long Beach,” van der Zande said. “I think we’re going to be deciding that he’s going to do that. You want to get as high up as you can get to the front because overtaking is difficult. in the race. Driver change is super important. Pit stops are super important. Because in a 100-minute race, those positions lost or gained in the pits is a big change and it’s not easy to make up for it.”
But van der Zande also recalls 2024 with Sebastien Bourdais, who crashed in qualifying but the duo managed to mount a furious comeback to win it all at the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit.
“Although when we won it with Sebastien Bourdais, he parked it in the wall, we were last,” he said.
“And he drove by the whole field. So, it’s also not said that overtaking is not possible. That was one of the most craziest things I’ve ever seen anyway. I guess if you have a bit of overspeed.
“So, I hope we’re gonna have a competitive car and then we can park it in the front in qualifying and then take it from there. But yeah, Nick is fast there. I think I’m pretty good out there. The car should be fast. And then don’t make any mistakes at all, and then you have a good shot at winning it.”
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