Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande rebounded from a practice crash to claim the victory for Cadillac Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results for the Motul Course de Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
A shunt in a Turn 6 tire barrier two days earlier had been the latest in a string of misfortune for the No. 01 team. Bourdais crashed on the opening lap of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach last month, and the Chip Ganassi Racing-prepared V-Series.R caught fire during the Twelve Hours of Sebring.
But Bourdais, van der Zande and the team put it all behind them in leading 34 laps over two hours and 40 minutes on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course in Monterey, California.
“This one’s really sweet,” Bourdais told NBC Sports’ Matt Yocum. “You can see a lot of the emotions from all the guys. It’s been a lot of hard work and hardships for that 01 camp, and I couldn’t be happier for everyone and Cadillac and Chip Ganassi Racing.”
Said van der Zande, who also was involved in a violent wreck in a World Endurance Championship race April 29 at Spa: “I love winning races, man. It’s beautiful. We had some trouble. We had big crashes, big shunts. I’m lucky to be standing here. The car was really safe in the shunt and really safe to drive today. We focused on the long run, and that paid off, so I’m super proud.”
The winning hybrid prototype next will head to race with two other Cadillacs in the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month. Bourdais and van der Zande will be joined by six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon.
“It’s going to Le Mans, and it’s a winner,” said van der Zande, who finished the race after Bourdais drove the first 96 minutes. “It’s a winning car that will get flown over and fight for the big one.”
The victory capped a big weekend for team owner Chip Ganassi, who flew to California after celebrating an NTT IndyCar Series victory Saturday by Alex Palou in the GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Ganassi also earned a podium finish at an Extreme E event in Scotland.
It’s the first win this season for Cadillac Racing with Chip Ganassi Racing, which celebrated its 65th career victory and fourth at Laguna Seca.
The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet finished second, followed by the No. 31 Cadillac of Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims (who also reclaimed the Grand Touring Prototype points leads for driver and team).
Other class winners:
LMP2: No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07, with co-drivers Mikkel Jensen and Steven Thomas, earned its first victory.
GTD PRO: WeatherTech Racing scored its fifth career victory and its first at Laguna Seca with the No. 79 Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella.
GTD: The No. 91 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) earned its first victory with co-drivers Alan Metni and Kay van Berlo.
