Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon celebrate their Petit Le Mans victory (IMSA/Michael L. Levitt/LAT Images).

SOURCE: SportsCar365

Chip Ganassi Racing overcame an early race sensor-related infraction to take a dramatic victory in Saturday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans, while Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Felipe Nasr and Dane Cameron claimed the GTP drivers’ championship with a third place finish.

Renger van der Zande made a bold pass around the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 of Nick Tandy into Turn 1 with 15 minutes remaining to take the lead in the ten-hour contest, which included a nearly five-hour run of green flag racing.

The No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac, which dropped off the lead lap in the opening hour due to a mechanical black flag for a sensor-related issue, came back into contention following a multi-car accident involving the then-second placed Ricky Taylor in the final hour.

It set up a 35-minute shootout to the finish that saw six GTP cars restart on the lead lap.

Van der Zande, who also overcame a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility with the No. 20 High Class Racing Oreca 07 Gibson in the third hour as well as a spin on his out-lap with two hours to go triggered by a GTD car, shared the win with Sebastien Bourdais and Scott Dixon in the team’s final WeatherTech Championship race with Cadillac.

The pole-sitting No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac, which had two early race penalties, completed the top-five in the race after also making a late-race pit stop with Jack Aitken at the wheel.