Yahoo Autos van der Zande celebrating 100 IMSA starts at Sebring
Pulling out of the pits in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R for the first time during the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring will make it official for Renger van der Zande – 100 races in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
In his 11th season of IMSA competition, the Dutch driver has compiled an impressive book of statistics, including 19 victories, bookended by wins at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – his first in 2014, the most recent one last season. In the 10 seasons prior to 2024, he has earned a victory in each one.
“If you think about how many sets of tires, how much fuel, how many kilometers run, how many engineers and mechanics and press conferences, how many big moments I’ve had in this series it’s quite impressive to hear it’s 100 races already,” van der Zande declared.
He’ll once again be partnering with Sebastien Bourdais and Scott Dixon for the race, which will be the 400th race entered in his career, and he’s happy that the milestones are coming in IMSA competition.
“This is my favorite series; I would sign up for another 10 years in IMSA if I could do that today,” he said. “I’m proud of the development of IMSA in general. When I came to the series originally it was the American Le Mans Series and it became the Tudor American Sports Car Championship and now it’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
“And being with one of the top teams since 2017, I want to thank John Doonan for being such a great leader. I want to thank Chip Ganassi having me on for a fourth year, and close friend Peter Baron who got me in the series and has always been there to help. There are many people that I have to thank. The most incredible thing is I’m still enjoying it as much as I was in the beginning. This is what I love to do; it’s my racing family.”
Although the No. 01 was the quick qualifier two years ago, Sebring is one race that has eluded van der Zande, despite Cadillac’s record of success at the bumpy circuit built on a World War II airbase. Still, he counts it as one of his top events.
“Sebring is my favorite race weekend of the year and it’s more special this year with the 100 starts. It’s a proud moment. It’s a track that suits me very well and it also suits my teammates. We’ve always been fast there. It’s one of the roughest, toughest races to win. I’ve never been able to win it, but I’ve been close so many times. We have a really strong lineup for the endurance races, and it’s also good to see the momentum on the WEC side with the car finishing really well at Qatar,” he noted.
The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac takes place on Saturday, beginning at 9:40 a.m. ET. It begins with a trio of practice sessions on Thursday, with qualifying on Friday.
