VISIT FLORIDA Racing Has Early End to Long Beach Weekend

Long Beach, Calif. (7 April 2017) – VISIT FLORIDA Racing made the trek West this week in pursuit of the team’s second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship podium of the season with drivers Renger van der Zande and Marc Goossens as the duo were set to share the Gibson-powered No. 90 VISITFLORIDA Racing Riley/Multimatic in Round 3 of the championship.

Both drivers showed speed on the legendary street circuit, and were taking turns working through the VISIT FLORIDA Racing test plan in the opening practice session of the weekend on Friday. Unfortunately, van der Zande suffered a brake issue heading into the braking zone for Turn 1.

The Dutchman was able to slow the car, but not before making contact with the tire barriers in the run off area for Turn 1. The high-speed contact saw

Long Beach Grand Prix, Long Beach, CA, April 2017. (Photo by Brian Cleary/bcpix.com)

the machine absorb the energy, allowing van der Zande to quickly emerge from the car and head for an all-clear from the IMSA medical staff.

Unfortunately, the No. 90 machine suffered damage that is significant enough to prevent the team from participating in the remainder of the race weekend.

“Renger (van der Zande) had a brake issue going into Turn 1 and the car just wouldn’t get slowed down,” said VISIT FLORIDA Racing Team Owner Troy Flis. “We are relieved that he is okay, but it looks like we are done for the weekend. The damage got into the tub, and with this race being out on the West Coast, we just don’t have the access to resources that we’d need to continue this weekend. It is a shame for VISIT FLORIDA, but we’ll go back and look at what happened and work on our plan to come back stronger.”

VISIT FLORIDA Racing will next be in action at Circuit of the Americas on May 4-6 for Round 4 of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.