DAYTONA BEACH — Renger Van Der Zande turned the most rewarding lap of his young career and broke the heart of veteran Helio Castroneves in Rolex 24 At Daytona qualifying.
Van Der Zande, who was elected by the team to make the qualifying run in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi, made a wildly fast lap on his last run over Daytona International Speedway’s 3.56-mile road course to snatch the pole away from Castroneves.
Castroneves was sitting on pit road in [...]
DAYTONA BEACH — Renger Van Der Zande turned the most rewarding lap of his young career and broke the heart of veteran Helio Castroneves in Rolex 24 At Daytona qualifying.
Van Der Zande, who was elected by the team to make the qualifying run in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi, made a wildly fast lap on his last run over Daytona International Speedway’s 3.56-mile road course to snatch the pole away from Castroneves.
Castroneves was sitting on pit road in his No. 7 Team Penske Acura DPi, surrounded by photographers, when Van Der Zande flashed across the finish line with a lap just .007 seconds quicker than the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner.
“I’m super thrilled,” Van Der Zande said. “I’m super thrilled to be in this seat (driver for the No. 10 team). I have come a long ways in the few years.
“I moved up to the Prototype class and this year I’m with the championship team. It’s been tough at the same time, because these guys expect a lot from you.”
The No. 10 entry won the 2016 Rolex 24 and went on to capture the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Van Der Zande idled down pit road to his crew, where he was met by a bear hug from car owner Wayne Taylor after emerging from the asphalt-hugging Prototype.
The 31-year-old driver turned a lap of 133.378 mph, just a touch better than Castroneves’ effort of 133.368 mph. Castroneves will start on the outside pole of the 50-car field.
“I did everything I could,” Castroneves said. “Unfortunately, just got beat by .007 seconds. Nothing you can do about that. It’s OK though. We looked strong. The guys are going to have to fix a couple of things on the car because I was pushing it really hard.
“But we are starting on the front row, which is a pretty big deal. It’s a good start for our team. We have a lot of things to learn still, but really happy for Acura Team Penske and all of the guys. We’ve worked hard to get to this point and we have a few more practices to fine tune it for Saturday.”
It was a close time trial session. Only one second separated the top 13 Prototypes that qualified.
“I didn’t expect to grab this pole,” Van Der Zande said. “I was waiting to hear from them (team on two-way radio). When they told me, I was over the moon.”
On the second row of this weekend’s twice-around-the-clock endurance race are the No. 5 Cadillac DPi, wheeled by Filipe Albuquerque, and the No. 38 ORECA LMP2 driven by James French in Thursday’s time trials.
Rounding out the top-5 starters is the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac DPi, the local team, which at one point topped the qualifying board.
Formula One regular Fernando Alonso qualified 13th in the No. 23 Ligier LMP2. His speed was 132.106 mph.
“I think it was a good session for us,” Alonso said. “It was nice to have some laps, finally, with no traffic. When we are in the (all class) practice there is a lot of traffic and a lot going on. In the Prototype qualifying you can put some laps together.”
There were two incidents during Prototype qualifying.
The No. 22 Nissan DPi, with Nicolas Lapierre at the wheel, went off the racing line and into the tire barrier in the west horseshoe.
The car suffered significant damage to the left-front fender. The left-front wheel was not turning as Lapierre limped back to the garage area.
Later in the heated, 20-minute session, the No. 31 Cadillac DPi came to a complete stop near the in-out area of the road course.
The GT Le Mans pole went to the No. 3 Corvette Racing C7.R with veteran Jan Magnussen in the cockpit. The car was clocked at 124.688 mph.
Corvette Racing is celebrating its 20th consecutive season of sports-car racing. It made its debut in the 1999 Rolex 24.
“To be honest I’m a little bit surprised that we found that kind of speed for qualifying, but a good lap,” Magnussen said.
The GT Daytona pole was awarded to the No. 51 Ferrari. It turned a fast lap of 120.844 mph.