After beginning third, Bourdais spent many of the early portion of the IMSA’s 100-minute traditional within the runner-up spot pursuing pole-sitter Pipo Derani within the Motion Specific Racing-prepped No. 31 Cadillac.
The pivotal second of the race got here when Derani pitted on lap 26, handing off to co-driver Jack Aitken because the workforce placed on two new left-side tires.
Bourdais pitted the subsequent lap and relinquished driving duties to Renger van der Zande, with the choice made to proceed working on the set of tires that began the race, which saved time and propelled them into the lead.
Quite a few incidents simmered any possibilities Aitken had of constructing sufficient tempo as much as retake the highest spot. In the long run, van der Zande was capable of maintain on and finest Aitken to win by 0.564s in a race that went 68 laps across the 11-turn, 1.968-mile avenue circuit.
“Technique gained this race,” van der Zande mentioned.
“The tires have been form of gone on the finish. It was fairly slippery. However I’m very pleased with my workforce.”
The idea to take no tires mirrored final 12 months’s successful name by Porsche Penske Motorsport, which have been capable of make the most of a tougher rubber.
When requested by Motorsport.com through the post-race press convention the place the arrogance got here from to take no tires regardless of a speculated larger tire put on going into the occasion, Bourdais make clear the topic.
“It got here from yesterday’s information,” Bourdais mentioned.
“Clearly, we actually dreaded plenty of tire deg as a result of it is the softest of all of the tires that there’s within the Michelin panel. And it is form of bizarre, however the degradation was truly little or no, and the wear and tear was virtually nothing.
“After we noticed that, we went by means of the truth that the solar form of got here by means of the clouds round noonish, observe temp is kind of low in comparison with what we have been anticipating.”
And there was the added concern of how tough the dealing with could be on new tires that might take time to construct as much as temperature on the out-lap.
“Being second anyhow, we’ve to strive one thing to leap these guys, so over-cutting them was clearly the decision and doing no tires was one of the simplest ways to maximise the pace on the out-lap,” Bourdais mentioned.
“They solely took two tires, however it was the second distinction. So, it was positively the proper option to go and Renger made it stick. Clearly, look rather a lot smarter afterwards, however yeah, we weren’t completely positive it was going to work. However that was the one approach we have been going to attempt to win this race.”
The outing marked twentieth IMSA victory of van der Zande’s profession and the twelfth for Boudais. The driving force pairing additionally gained Lengthy Seashore in 2022.
The unofficial championship standings have the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport duo of Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr main with 1,032 factors, with Bourdais and van der Zande trailing by 58 factors.