As the checkered flag flew in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying session on Friday, VISIT FLORIDA Racing found themselves celebrating as the No. 90 VISIT FLORIDA Racing Gibson-Riley sat atop the timing charts with a fast time of 1:24.693-seconds set by Renger van der Zande during the 15-minute run.
But with the session cut short by a red flag, IMSA deemed that the minimum green-flag time had not been reached and the grid would instead be set by championship points.
Unfortunately, that saw Renger van der Zande and his co-driver Marc Goossens lose out on what would have been a debut pole position for the Riley/Multimatic combination, though the team was still thrilled with the lap van der Zande was able to put in.
“I feel very comfortable at this race track,” said van der Zande, who has won the previous two Detroit events in the PC category. “I think we made some nice changes to the car. Marc (Goossens) was in the car this morning he was just making it better and better. Then I jumped in and made one final change. But we made another change for qualifying – we’re working hard and it’s paying off! I love street tracks – every session is different. I’m very happy with this. It’s a shame we’re starting on points because I’d love to start on pole!”
VISIT FLORIDA Racing brought the Florida weather with them to Detroit on Friday with sunny skies and pleasant temperatures greeting the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Belle Isle for Round 5 of the 2017 championship. Similar weather is expected for race day with VISIT FLORIDA Racing looking to shine on the streets of Belle Isle.
With Saturday’s race just 100 minutes in length, the VISIT FLORIDA Racing team will perhaps look to mix up the strategy for the short sprint.
The Detroit Grand Prix goes green at 12:40 PM ET on Saturday with LIVE coverage on FS2 at 12:30 PM ET.
