BoP boosts Acura for a 2025 first win at Detroit

IMSA

Jun 1

Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic podium with Nick Yelloly - Renger van der Zande (center),Felipe Albuquerque - Ricky Taylor (left) and Matt Campbell - Mathieu Jaminet (right) — 📷© Courtesy of IMSA. Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic podium with **Nick Yelloly** - **Renger van der Zande** (center),Felipe Albuquerque - Ricky Taylor (left) and Matt Campbell - Mathieu Jaminet (right)

As we wrote, the Porsche 963 domination would end at the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic as weight has been added and power taken away from the Porsche 963 while minimum weight has been reduced and power added to the Acura ARX-06 and Cadillac V-Series.R. This does not take away the merit of the drivers: Nick Yelloly clinched pole with a faster lap than Blomqvist with the same car (Blomqvist is known as one of the fastest driver in the IMSA championship) and Renger van der Zande made a bold move with just over three minutes remaining. Cadillac was supposed to benefit from the BoP also but both Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing entries went into qualifying knowing they’d lose their fastest qualifying laps after bringing out red flags in the two practice sessions held earlier Friday.

Acura tops qualifying and race.

#93 Motul Pole Award — 📷© Courtesy of IMSA. Nick Yelloly first Motul Pole Award (left) with Renger van der Zande, drivers of the #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06.

Both Acura ARX-06 locked the front row with the only sub-66-second lap in the 15-minute qualifying session. Nick Yelloly earned his first career pole in WeatherTech Championshipun with a 1:05.762 in the #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06, ahead of Tom Blomqvist driving #60 Acura ARX-06 with a 1:05.908.

📷© Courtesy of IMSA. Both Acura Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 leading the field at Detroit.

At Detroit, Renger Van der Zande and Nick Yelloly became the first GTP polesitters to win from pole since Meyer Shank Racing did so at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2023. It was not a “walk in the park” of Detroit for the Acura boys as the second half of the race saw #6 Porsche controlling the race during 31 laps, then #10 Cadillac charged to the front during 10 laps until Renger van der Zande made a bold move in #63 Acura to lead the 4 last laps.

#10 Cadillac as runner-up finish

Despite qualified eighth (since his fastest lap was erased after causing a red flag in practice), Felipe Albuquerque driving the #10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R gained three positions in the first corner of the green flag lap and drove to the front of the 11-car field while every other entry pitted for the mandatory driver change and energy replenishment. The #10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R rumbled down pit lane with 54 minutes left. A quick swap of drivers and timing the fuel fill just enough to make it to the checkered flag brought Ricky Taylor back onto the racing surface in first until van der Zande appeared to carve through Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class traffic slightly better to take him over and extend the lead to 0.947 of a second by the end of the 84-lap race.

📷© Courtesy of IMSA. #10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R

Ricky Taylor: “A little sadness from me because we were so close to our first win with Cadillac in the GM race with everybody here. To get the 100th Cadillac podium in IMSA prototype competition feels amazing, but that one step would have been nice. It was a great fight, the team did an amazing job, the strategy was incredible, Felipe (Albuquerque) did a great start. I think everything for our race went perfectly for us to go from eighth to first and almost winning. I can’t say enough about the team and the execution. It’s nice to take this solid result into Le Mans.”

Filipe Albuquerque: “Starting from eighth, we didn’t know what to expect. A podium was brilliant. The race start came out brilliant, moving up three positions to fifth in the first turn. And the strategy to leave me out for so long paid off and we lined up P2. Ricky held up really well on the outlap with everyone hot already. Then it was Ricky stuff, chasing the leaders and then he dived in for P1. There is no shame in getting passed later on in traffic. I think we are happy with the result because we did a perfect race. The other car was just a little faster in the last phase of the race. I’m happy with the team, the evolution we are doing with the team with Cadillac. I’m happy today.” Source: Cadillac Racing

📷© Courtesy of IMSA. Left: Whelen Cadillac #31; center and right: both Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.

Porsche defends championship lead with podium finish in Detroit

The two Porsche 963 from Porsche Penske Motorsport wrapped up the 100-minute Detroit street with Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet clinching a podium spot in third with the #6 car and Championship leaders Felipe Nasr - Nick Tandy followed in fourth.

At the green flag, Nick Tandy catapulted the #7 car from seventh up to fourth, and by lap four, the Englishman had advanced to third.
During the first pit stop around the 40-minute mark, the Porsche Penske Motorsport crew delivered another stellar performance, sending both 963 back out on the track faster than their rivals. At halfway, the #7 car led the race, while the #6 was battling for a podium spot in fourth. But with just 15 minutes left on the clock, the situation shifted: Nasr lost two positions in a spirited battle for the lead and ultimately had to let the #6 move up to third.

Matt Campbell (Porsche 963 #6): “What a crazy race! Our goal was to finish on the podium – and we did it. After the start, things didn’t look great, but we never gave up. The balance of our Porsche 963 shifted a lot today – sometimes it felt fine, sometimes tricky. With third place, we closed the gap slightly to our sister car in the championship while also extending the margin to our closest rivals.”

In the manufacturers’ standings, Porsche holds a 147-point lead over its closest rival. Nasr/Tandy and Campbell/Jaminet rank first and second in the drivers’ championship, while Porsche Penske Motorsport leads the IMSA team standings.

Felipe Nasr (Porsche 963 #7): “Nick got off the line well and gained several positions. Thanks to smart strategy and flawless teamwork, we then advanced to the front. Unfortunately, after a caution period about 30 minutes before the flag, we lost pace because we couldn’t get the front tyres into the optimal operating window. Ultimately, we finished fourth – not bad at all for the championship.” Source: Porsche

Top-5 result for the BMW M Hybrid V8 on the streets of Detroit.

With fifth and seventh places on the tight street circuit, the BMW M Hybrid V8s missed the podium in a sprint race for the first time. In qualifying, Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor secured third and fourth on the grid, ending Vanthoor's impressive streak of four consecutive pole positions.

Both cars struggled to move forward in the tight field. Van der Linde handed over the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 to Marco Wittmann, while Vanthoor passed the #24 car to Philipp Eng. After a later pit stop, Eng returned to the track ahead of Wittmann and held his position ahead of his teammate until the end. Wittmann crossed the finish line in sixth but lost a position due to a post-race penalty for overtaking under yellow flags.

Dries Vanthoor (#24 BMW M Hybrid V8, BMW M Team RLL, 5th place): "That was a tough race. On my part, I didn’t get a good start and lost two positions. Over the course of the race, we didn’t optimise our strategy. We need to keep working on this and understand why others are doing a better job in this area. We’ll come back fighting next time."

Sheldon van der Linde (#25 BMW M Hybrid V8, BMW M Team RLL, 7th place): "What started with a great qualifying and third place unfortunately ended with relatively few points in the race. I was very happy with my lap in qualifying. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to capitalise on the good starting position in the race. That’s something we absolutely need to improve on. I’m confident that we’ll manage to do so in Watkins Glen. The BMW M Hybrid V8 has performed well there in the past, and I hope we can secure our first podium of the season."

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