Konica Minolta DPi-V.R Qualifying Report Sports Car Classic at Belle Isle

Date: June 1, 2018 Event: Chevrolet Sports Car Classic (Round 5 of 10) Series: Prototype division of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Location: The Streets of Belle Isle in Detroit (2.36-mile, 13-turn temporary street circuit) Result: 7th by (1:23.558 at 101.246 mph) Pole Winner: Pipo Derani of Tequila Patron ESM (1:22.273 at 102.828 mph)

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R will start Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic from the inside of the fourth row after IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying Friday evening on the Streets of Belle Isle in downtown Detroit.

Renger van der Zande, who with co-driver Jordan Taylor is looking to score the team’s fifth Detroit victory in the last six years this weekend, clocked a fast lap of 1 minute, 22.273 seconds at 102.828 mph during a slightly shortened qualifying session around the 2.36- mile, 13-turn temporary street circuit due to a red-flag stoppage. It was good for seventh among the 26 car-and-driver combinations that will take the green flag for Saturday’s one-hour, 40 minute sprint race.

“It’s been a rough day – we’ve been chasing the setup a little bit over the bumps here but, for qualifying we made a very good step forward,” said van der Zande, the Dutch driving veteran who scored back-to-back LMPC-class wins here with the team in 2015 and 2016. “The only issue was the red flag, which made it all come down to a two-lap shootout at the end, which was really cool in one way but, at the same time, it would have been good to get the whole session in. I gave it my all and got a pretty good lap. It was nowhere near the pole but at least we’re a little bit ahead of where we were in practice. Then, into turn 11, I was fully sideways and almost spun off on an even quicker lap, but those are the risks you have to take, sometimes. I went over a bump, got a little wide, kept the throttle down to see if we could make it, but I had to lift, anyway, and lost a few tenths there. Altogether, it wasn’t the greatest, but in the race, anything can happen, for sure. We should be able to make another few steps forward because we’ve at least found the right direction.”

The top-five qualifiers for Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic at Belle Isle are:

1. Tequila Patron ESM (No. 22 DPi) Pipo Derani and Johannes von Overbeek (1:22.273 at 102.828 mph)

2. (No. 6 Acura DPi), and Dane Cameron (1:22.992 at 101.937 mph)

3. Acura Team Penske (No. 7 Acura DPi), Helio Castroneves and (1:23.275 at 101.590 mph)

4. (No. 5 Cadillac DPi-V.R), Joao Barbosa and Felipe Albuquerque (1:23.278 at 101.587 mph)

5. JDC-Miller Motorsports (No. 99 Oreca LMP2) and Stephen Simpson (1:23.384 at 101.458 mph)

The green flag flies at 12:40 p.m. EDT Saturday with live television coverage by FS2 beginning at 12:30 p.m.

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Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. is a leader in information management focused on enterprise content, technology optimization and cloud services. We are reshaping the Workplace of the Future™ (www.reshapework.com). Our portfolio of offerings deliver solutions to improve our customers’ speed to market, manage technology costs, and facilitate the sharing of information to increase productivity. The All Covered IT Services division offers a range of IT strategy, support, project and cloud computing solutions across all verticals. Konica Minolta has won numerous awards including one of Forbes Magazine’s Best Employers. The company has been recognized as the #1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys for nine consecutive years. Konica Minolta, Inc. has also been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for five years in a row. For more information, please visit: www.CountOnKonicaMinolta.com and follow Konica Minolta on Facebook, YouTube, and [email protected].

Contact Laz Denes with True Speed Communication (704) 875-3388 ext. 806 or [email protected] www.TrueSpeedCommunication.com ● Online Media Kit Available at www.TrueSpeedMedia.com