Mutual respect: van der Zande and Taylor on dramatic Detroit finish

Renger van der Zande and Ricky Taylor shared the same perspective on van der Zande's climactic overtake to win the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic in Detroit.

Van der Zande and his Meyer Shank Racing co-driver Nick Yelloly fell to third place behind the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 and the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R, but with a pair of opportunistic moves, the Dutchman drove the No. 93 Acura ARX-06 to the front for his 22nd career win.

Even if he didn't necessarily feel he had the best car in the second half of the race.

"I don't think we had the fastest car, really. Especially when the Porsche passed us in the pits and the Cadillac passed us in the pits, they kind of took off from us. And at that point, we needed something else to have a fight for the win," van der Zande admitted. "At one point, I thought, well, maybe they're gonna get a go at each other, and that's what happened."

Van der Zande expressed nothing but respect for his rival in recalling the moments after the final restart with less than 30 minutes left, and eventually Taylor's move for the lead past the Porsche of Felipe Nasr: "You don't meet a nicer guy than Ricky Taylor outside the car. But he's one of the toughest guys in the car, and that's what you saw when he overtook the Porsche. I just wanted to make sure that I was right behind him.

"Because after the restart, our tires were struggling to get the same grip that we had before the yellow. I was sliding and slipping, and that's when I pushed really hard to stay close. And actually, it worked!"

Van de Zande didn't feel he had the strongest car, but he had enough to get the job done. Geoff Miller/IMSA

To get in position to challenge Taylor for the lead, van der Zande had to make the most of Taylor's move past Nasr just a few minutes earlier. "They had a go at each other, and I was able to pass the Porsche after they were fighting each other," he said, recalling his move on Nasr up the inside at Turn 5.

"I had to stay close to Ricky. I knew the car was a bit stronger in Turn 1, because the straight-line speed of the Cadillac was just way, way more, so Turn 3 was not really an option. I thought, 'OK, if I have a go, if I have a chance, it's going to be Turn 1.' Even though it's a tight one, and there might be a pile-up, I thought, 'Hey, let's go for it!"

And after getting the all-clear from his crew to try a move for the lead, van der Zande applied his prior knowledge of the Cadillac V-Series.R, its strengths and its weaknesses, towards that winning move.

"I also struggled a bit in Turn 1 last year. And I could see out of the last corner he always had a bit of a gap, but once that traffic came, he had a bit of a weak exit out of the last corner," he related. "Traffic in front of him, he braked a bit early, and I was like, 'This is the time to do it.'

"Ricky is one of the guys you can race hard, but fair. And that's what happened. I'm very happy to be on track with a guy like that."

"It allowed me to be really close into [Turn] 4 when he defended. I knew, as soon as he opens the door, I'm just going to go for it. And yeah, the car hung on."

In that split second his focus then turned towards putting distance between himself and Nasr in order to keep van der Zande at bay. "I knew Renger was kind of the car to beat, and I knew I could put Nasr between us before Renger got to me and give Renger a chance to pass me. That could be the race over, giving me a good enough buffer there.

"And Renger being Renger, he makes it happen – and so he got by as well. As soon as I saw him come through, I was like, 'Man, I'm gonna have to earn this!"

Ricky Taylor didn't end up on the winning side this time, but had no complaints the way things worked out. Brett Farmer/IMSA

Getting stuck behind a heated GTD PRO battle between Pratt Miller Motorsports' Nicky Catsburg and AO Racing's Laurin Heinrich at just the wrong time was enough for the blue Cadillac to be vulnerable to attack, however.

"I think I got some pick-up on the tires, and I locked up," Taylor explained. "I was making a couple mistakes after that, and then they cleaned off and I felt quite confident again.

"I made a little mistake in the last sector, and we were coming up to some GT cars. I thought I had a good enough buffer from Renger still, and honestly, he just caught me not expecting the move," he admitted. "He made a really nice pass into Turn 1.

"With a bump in the middle, it's so easy to lock the fronts. It took a lot of confidence on his part to make the dive, and I wasn't expecting it, so he made a really good move. Later in the lap, that same pack of GT cars we were catching, he defended and I went to the outside...there wasn't another good opportunity for me to get by."

Taylor shared the respect that was given to him by his former WTR teammate. "At the end of the day, I think the best car won," he said.

In reflecting upon his and Filipe Albuquerque's first podium of the season – and his eighth career podium in a Detroit street race – Taylor said: "I'm just so proud that we were able to put together a really strong race. Everything from the strategy, to the car setup, to the pit stop...It took a whole team effort.

"Every single aspect was perfect – other than that little dive at the end from Renger, which he totally deserved."