Renger van der Zande enjoys celebrating victories and delivering quintessential Dutch honesty. And heading into next weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, he’s both frank and excited about the primary goal that unites the two: delivering Acura its first Long Beach win since it took over title sponsorship of the iconic Southern California street race, not far from its U.S. racing headquarters.

“It’s the event of the year for Acura,” van der Zande said on an IMSA-hosted media call. “This is an event that Acura has never won. I think it’s very important to point it out, so we’re trying to make it happen this year.”

In actuality, Acura has won at Long Beach, but it’s been a minute. You’d have to go back to the American Le Mans Series days when Acura had a Long Beach double in 2009. The brand doubled up with an overall win by the ahead-of-its-time Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) ARX-02A car driven by Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud and additionally in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class with Luis Diaz and Adrian Fernandez.

Now in Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and the previous Daytona Prototype international (DPi) eras, Acura’s not yet scaled the same heights at a track where risk-taking and pushing as close to the barriers is a big part of the game.

“I think if you don’t have a fast car or if you don’t have a compliant car, you’re not able to push,” van der Zande explained. “What makes a driver good at the racetrack, like street tracks of Long Beach, or Detroit, or Monaco, or Macau, is how close do you like to drift towards the wall. If you’re not comfortable with the walls, then you’re gonna be slow.”

Acura’s best result in the six Long Beach IMSA races staged since 2019 (2020 was cancelled due to the global pandemic) came the first year – a 2-3 finish for Acura Team Penske in DPi. Mario Farnbacher and Marc Miller also took a second place in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class in Gradient Racing’s Acura NSX GT3 in 2022.

What might it mean for Acura to finally break through? History provides a lesson.

Another Home Race Wait Led to A Major Celebration

In the late 1990s, Honda built the Twin Ring Motegi complex to showcase its IndyCar engines and American oval racing to Japanese fans. But a Honda-powered car did win not any of five CART-sanctioned races at Motegi. Arch-rival Toyota won in 2002 following four consecutive victories for Ford-Cosworth. The winless streak continued under Indy Racing League sanction until Dan Wheldon finally broke through to take home honors for Honda in 2004, which ignited an enthusiastic party.

“I’ve never seen a celebration like that,” recalled Kurt Antonius, who served as Honda’s U.S. public relations chief for 28 years. “Especially at a Japanese event where everything is so prim and proper.”

The Acura, Honda and Long Beach Connection

Acura, the sport and luxury brand created exclusively for the North American market by Honda debuted in the U.S. 40 years ago in 1986. It took over title sponsorship of the Long Beach Grand Prix in 2019 after 42 years of Toyota backing.

The Southern California hometown vibes are very real for Acura. Honda’s first American headquarters were located in Los Angeles, and Torrance has served as American Honda Motor Company’s corporate home since 1990. In addition, Honda Racing Corporation USA (HRC US), which oversees the Acura ARX-06 GTP program and all of Honda’s other North American racing activities, has operated out of Santa Clarita, California since its establishment in the early ‘90s.

Motorsports is an important part of Honda’s history and culture, and many of the 2,400 associates who work at American Honda’s Torrance campus enjoy an annual ‘Driver Day’ where they can meet and greet IMSA and IndyCar pilots and get up close to the exotic Honda- and Acura-powered race cars that will navigate the iconic Long Beach street course.

Representing the Acura-MSR IMSA effort at this year’s Driver Day will be van der Zande, Colin Braun, Nick Yelloly, and Tom Blomqvist. Braun and Blomqvist share the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian ARX-06 in the GTP class, while Yelloly and van der Zande are teamed in the No. 93, which features a greater complement of HRC US personnel and engineering. Braun has also already been active in advance, part of Honda and Long Beach’s media day which included a trip to an Anaheim Ducks National Hockey League game.

Van der Zande drove sports cars for General Motors-affiliated teams including Wayne Taylor Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing from 2017-24 prior to joining the Acura effort in 2025. He appreciates the passion for racing he sees not just from the associates at HRC US who are directly involved in IMSA or IndyCar programs, but company-wide at Torrance.

“I did my first Driver Day last year and I thought it was great that they do it,” van der Zande said. “This is motorsports only, but I’ve been to other events where Honda does cross promotion like golf or tennis or motocross and it’s really good that they combine it. The fans are good in America in general. I feel they are very respectful in a nice way. They’re fans of the sport and the drivers and the teams and that’s what makes racing in America a lot of fun.

“The transition to Acura and HRC has been smooth,” the Dutchman continued. “They’re very professional and organized. I appreciate the effort of everyone that is trying to get the word out about racing and what it represents for the brand, and I’m always happy to support that.”

Street Course Focus

Van der Zande has earned the reputation of a street course specialist, mainly thanks to memorable victories teamed with Sebastien Bourdais in a Ganassi Cadillac at Long Beach in 2024 and last year at Detroit, where Yelloly qualified the No. 93 Acura on the pole. In that 100-minute sprint race, van der Zande scythed from third to first in the final 13 minutes, passing Ricky Taylor’s Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac for the lead and the win with just four minutes to go.

He deflected credit to Bourdais for the Long Beach success – “I just had to drive it home,” van der Zande said – but he took quiet satisfaction from Detroit for the same reason that winning for Acura at Long Beach would mean so much.

“To win Detroit last year and beat Cadillac on their home ground with an Acura was amazing,” he smiled. “You need to play it smart on a street track. There’s a lot that can go wrong. Timing is very crucial. Somehow it has always been good to me. I can say I’m not slow on a street track, that’s for sure, and being clever with the timing can pull it your way.

“Sometimes people don’t like the street tracks, but they seem to fit me well.”

Van der Zande and Acura’s pursuit for the win will come Saturday, April 18, at 4 p.m. ET on network NBC, also available via IMSA’s Official YouTube channel internationally.

IMSA Wire Service PR