TIP – Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande sent Chip Ganassi Racing back to the fountain of victory at the Detroit Grand Prix with Saturday’s second straight win in the IMSA motorsport.
Ganassi won the race a year ago with van der Zande and Kevin Magnussen. Bourdais now has Magnussen’s chair and joins his new teammate in the celebration of a dip in the Belle Isle fountain following Saturday’s dominating victory.
Van der Zande ended up winning 0.309 seconds in the No. 01 Cadillac over the Acura driven by Oliver Jarvis. The race lasted 100 minutes without caution and everyone was watching defending champion Pipo Derani in the final round.
Bourdais and van der Zande won from the pole, and Bourdais took control in his own time. But when Derani took over new teammate Olivier Pla – he replaced Tristan Nunez at this week’s Action Express Racing championship – Derani recovered nearly 30 seconds in his final time.
He also had two wheel fights with Earl Bamber, who was in his sister Ganassi’s #2 Cadillac. That race took third place, and prevented Derani from taking the lead.
Bamber and co-driver Alex Lynn finished third, behind Michael Shank Racing’s Jarvis and Tom Blomqvist, leading the class.
It was the fourth Belle Isle win for van der Zande, the first for Bourdais.
In the GTD division, IndyCar rookie Kyle Kirkwood led the overhauled Vasser Sullivan Racing to a first win for the team, drivers and Lexus. Kirkwood won pole for the race, but raced on Saturday with an injured right hand he injured earlier in the day in a crash during IndyCar practice.
Though clearly ill, Kirkwood teamed up with Ben Barnicoat to win the production category and give Vasser Sullivan and Lexus their first win in the new GTD division. Both Kirkwood and Barnicoat were included in the lineup this week, with Barnicoat being a replacement for the usual Jack Hawksworth, who was injured in a motorcycle crash.
Kirkwood is the endurance driver for the team but had his first sprint on Saturday. He refuses to celebrate in the fountain because of superstitions and a race coming up on Sunday.
