[New post] V-PERFORMANCE ACADEMY CADILLAC FINISHES SECOND AT LAGUNA SECA

Kross Ekim 26, 2021

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V-PERFORMANCE ACADEMY CADILLAC FINISHES SECOND AT LAGUNA SECA

by sportscarracingnews

The No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R finished second in today's running of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Kevin Magnussen started No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R from the second row and had a drama free run. Handing over to teammate Renger van der Zande he proceeded to pursue the cars in front of him. With just two minutes to go he got to the back of the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac driven by Felipe Nasr in second place. He was able to get a good launch off the final turn to get up close enough to make a move. Van der Zande made side-to-side contact coming out of Turn Three and into Turn Four and passed Nasr for position.

"It was hairy at the end with Felipe Nasr," van der Zande said. "I've had great fights with him and this one was very much on the limit. We touched two times. I had to go for it. I was behind him and felt I was faster. I didn't make a move like that the whole race. I wanted to make it happen but not in a difficult way. It was late in the race and I felt it was the right time to do it. We had a really good car from the Chip Ganassi Racing team today. The Acura cars were really strong, so I think this was the maximum today."

Pipo Derani started the two-hour-and-forty-minute race from fourth place thanks to the Mazda being given a post qualifying penalty. He was able to navigate the races only caution period, two minutes into the event, and drive his way up to third prior to handing off to teammate Felipe Nasr. The Brazilian ran a strong closing stint trying, along with the Action Express Team, to catch the leading Acura cars and was able to get up to second until being passed in the late stages of the race settling for a third-place.

"It was a difficult race for us in terms of sheer pace," Nasr said. "We were struggling for rear grip. We were trying to minimize the points loss to the No. 10 car when we realized we couldn't win. We made some good strategy moves and got up to second place. Everything was looking good to hold on for second until we got taken out by the No. 01 car in a way, I feel, you shouldn't overtake other cars by bumping them and pushing them off the track."

The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R was started by Tristan Vautier. The Frenchman ran some fast lap times but when he entered pit lane to hand the car off to Loic Duval he had a lazy spin at pit entrance. The time it took to get the car turned and back underway combined with the pit stop sent the team down a lap resulting in a sixth-place finish.

"We were off the pace," Vautier said. "We had great one lap pace then our tires were shot after five or ten laps. The Mustang Sampling Cadillac was using the tires at an incredible amount, and we couldn't keep the pace. We will do some homework and be ready for Long Beach in two weeks."

Cadillac WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Results:

2. No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R, Renger van der Zande, Kevin Magnussen

3. No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R, Felipe Nasr, Pipo Derani

6. No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R, Tristan Vautier, Loic Duval

The IMSA WeatherTech Championship will travel south for the Long Beach Grand Prix to run, Sept. 24-25.

Source. Kyle Chura/Cadillac/Photo. Richard Prince