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Konica Minolta DPi-V.R Qualifying Report Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach

Date: April 13, 2018 Event: Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix (Round 3 of 10) Series: Prototype division of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Location: (Calif.) (1.97-mile, 11-turn temporary street course) Result: 6th by (1:13.880 at 95.896 mph) Pole Winner: of (1:12.922 at 97.155 mph)

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R will start Saturday’s Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix from the outside of the third row after IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying Friday afternoon on the Grand Prix of Long Beach (Calif.) street circuit.

Renger van der Zande, who opened the season with a pole qualifying effort at the Rolex 24 At Daytona and is joined this weekend by full-time co-driver Jordan Taylor in search of the team’s fourth consecutive victory at this event, was credited with a fast lap of 1 minute, 13.880 seconds at 95.896 mph around the 1.97-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit. It was good for sixth among the 21 car-and-driver combinations that will take the green flag for Saturday’s one-hour, 40 minute.

Van der Zande had actually clocked a lap in the 1:13.400 range that would have placed the No. 10 car fourth on the grid. But he was called for a track limit line violation on that lap while negotiating turn one and the lap time was disallowed, per the IMSA rulebook.

“I think it was quite an effort to get the car set up as good as it is and we definitely have a good racecar,” said van der Zande, the Dutch driving veteran who finished on the LMPC-class podium here two years ago with . “I didn’t get too many laps in practice, which made it tricky at the start of qualifying. But I treated it as a learning session and I think everything got better every lap. I think the peak of the tires came at the end so it turned out OK. I gave it my all but, like all street tracks, the risk gets higher and higher the closer you get to the walls. There’s always that fine line, and I had that one lap where I was on the limit everywhere but, it got taken away because of a track violation. I think the race is going to be interesting. Because the GTDs aren’t here, I think it’s going to be a safer race, in the way there should be less trouble on track, probably all-green racing. So we need to make some good strategy decisions and do it on the , both of which are absolute strong points with this team. We’re going to give it our all.”

The top-five qualifiers for Saturday’s Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix are:

1. Team Penske (No. 6 Acura DPi), Juan Pablo Montoya and (1:12.922 at 97.155 mph)

2. (No. 31 Cadillac DPi-V.R) and (1:13.109 at 96.907 mph)

3. Team Joest (No. 55 Mazda DPi), , , (1:13.156 at 96.845 mph)

4. Acura Team Penske (No. 7 Acura DPi), Helio Castroneves and (1:13.346 at 96.594 mph)

5. Action Express Racing (No. 5 Cadillac DPi-V.R) Joao Barbosa and Felipe Albuquerque (1:13.733 at 96.087 mph)

The green flag flies at 4:05 p.m. EDT Saturday with live television coverage by the FOX broadcast network at 4 p.m.

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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