Pole winner van der Zande knows he has to beat the heat next

Renger van der Zande was pleasantly surprised after winning the pole at Watkins Glen for Acura Meyer Shank Racing, but with record-high temperatures expected during the race, he expects Sunday's Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen to be an intense battle of tire management.

"I think the heat is not particularly good for us," van der Zande said after qualifying. "I know the Cadillac (V-Series.R) inside and out, and I think that one is a bit better on the tires than we are with the Acura.

"We'll see what happens tomorrow, but it's going to be about preserving the tires, let's say, and not stretching them too much like you would do in qualifying. The peak of the tire, you would expect it to be a little longer – but especially being here with the Hard tire, the peak came very quickly, and disappeared really quickly as well. Which shows that the heat is really killing it.

"Obviously, we have a fast car, and it's something that always helps."

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"I didn't expect a 31," he remarked about his course record lap. "I was expecting a 33, something like that, and when I saw 31 I was like, 'OK, that's a pretty good lap!'

"Because it's so hot outside, I felt the Michelin tires were coming in very, very quickly. So I thought, OK, let's give it a push, see where the tires are.

"In Turn 1 I overshot a little, and I backed out of the lap completely again. So I had a second prep lap, and then I took it a bit easy on my fastest lap, and I kind of nailed Turn 1. It worked out and from there on, the lap went really well. I didn't know how to get more out of the lap.

"In LMPC it was always the champ qualifying and with a qualifying rocket like Sebastien Bourdais, you want him to qualify," van der Zande added about his qualifying absenteeism. "And honestly, I like finishing races, so I have not been qualifying much."

Even though the No. 93 Acura will be starting right at the front, Endurance Cup driver Kakunoshin Ohta will still bear a significant share of the driving in tomorrow's sweltering heat – thrown right in the deep end in just his second IMSA GTP start, to help share the workload with van der Zande and Nick Yelloly.

"I think Kaku will be in the car second. We wanted him to get a go at the beginning of the race and it's very nice to have him here, especially with the heat," van der Zande said. "Getting a stint out of the way is something that really helps for our physical endurance. It's going to be so hot tomorrow, so having him with us is very helpful."