DPi Championship Race Onto The Home Stretch

The battle for the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship title in DPi has been heavily shaped by the dramas in the closing minutes of Petit Le Mans that saw Renger Van Der Zande sneak through to victory and extend the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R.’s lead in the championship.

Had things stayed settled at Petit Le Mans and had the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R. had gone on to win, they would have been knocking on the door for the lead in the championship. Now though, the #31 Cadillac sits 12-points out of the lead and needs some dominos to fall their way in the final two races to take the title.

“I would love to go into the last few races as the championship leader. That’s how it was going to be had we won the last race [Petit Le Mans],” Derani said. “We’re just going to try and do the best we can to win the next two races. Of course, there’s a preference, it’s always to be the championship leader.

“We’re going to go in, no pressure, try and win both races and see what’s the outcome,” Derani added.

For Wayne Taylor Racing, their championship pursuit has been an interesting one. While the team’s on-track performance has been consistent, they have made waves off track. Announcements of the team’s switch from Cadillac to the Acura ARX-05c and the likelihood that they will have an all-new driver lineup next season, have made for an interesting season for the team.

“We are going into the last two races with a big points lead, which we want to keep. Laguna Seca and Sebring have always been big races for Wayne Taylor Racing, so hopefully, they will be again this year,” Van Der Zande said.

“I believe we have a good shot at doing well at both tracks. All that matters is scoring podiums or wins. I will give it my 110% for winning those races and winning the championship,” Van Der Zande added.

Wayne Taylor has his eyes on his son, Ricky, and the rest of the #7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05c. The #7 Acura is eight points behind the #10 Cadillac and are likely going to be their strongest competition for the championship.

“The race is going to be between us and Penske,” Wayne Taylor said. “We had a fairly good race at Laguna Seca last year, it’s not our best track… However, our team always makes miracles out of nothing as we saw at Petit Le Mans. I have ultimate faith in the whole team and that Ryan [Briscoe] and Renger [Van Der Zande] will do their job as well as they did at Petit Le Mans and Daytona.”

Mazda, meanwhile, has seen both of their cars eliminated from championship contention. It’s been a tough season for Mazda, who will drop down to a single-car entry next year. Between their two cars, they have just four podiums and a single win. The #77 Mazda RT-24P has not stood on the podium since the second race at Daytona in July.

“After a couple of disappointing results due to bad luck on the #77 car, we head to Laguna trying to put this right,” said Jarvis. “We are now out of contention for the driver’s championship so we will be pushing for wins to finish the year strongly and also to reward the team for their incredibly hard work. It has been a tough season for everyone involved due to the current circumstances around the world, so we want to get good results in the last two races to make it all worthwhile.”

Harry Tincknell, one of the drivers in the #55 Mazda RT-24P, believed the team had the pace to win at Petit Le Mans before a brake failure early in the race sent the car tumbling down the order and out of contention.

Tincknell recalled the 2018 race from Laguna Seca when he made contact with a slower car and spun from the lead of the race. The team had the pace all race that day and looked well on their way to securing the programme’s first win.

“I feel like I owe the team one at Laguna as I was leading there in 2018 until I had contact with a backmarker and spun. That should have been the first win for Mazda, so I definitely have unfinished business there,” Tincknell said.

For the final two races of the season, the #10 Cadillac and the #7 Acura are the two cars to watch with the #31 Cadillac relegated to a long-shot contender who needs misfortune from others to have a chance.

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