Felipe Nasr has said that his victory in the WeatherTech 240 at Watkins Glen would not have been possible if had the second full course yellow had not happened, as the Brazilian would not have had enough fuel to make it to the end.
Nasr and Pipo Derani celebrated their first win in nearly a year on Friday, holding off Chip Ganassi Racing’s Renger van der Zande by 1.4 seconds.
The #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-VR vaulted into the lead of the race after the red flag, as a different strategy meant the team could make a shorter stop under yellow and therefore move into the lead of the race.
From there, however, it was not sure if Nasr could make it to the end on his tank of fuel. He was saved when debris on the track from Jack Hawksworth’s Vasser Sullivan Lexus brought out a second caution, which gave Nasr the opportunity to save fuel and make it to the end.
“It was just awesome,” Nasr said. “That’s what racing is about. It’s hard. When you pull it out, it really amazes you.”
“Once we got that second yellow after the restart, that helped us a lot. But I was still saving fuel.”
“We are so limited on the capacity that we don’t have the luxury to go flat out all the time, but that second yellow helped us out big time.”
Nasr’s life was made more difficult in the closing stages as the #01 Cadillac of Van der Zande came charging up into second and put down serious pressure, but Nasr was able to hang on and make it across the line in first place.
For the Brazilian pairing, it was their first time in victory lane since the Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring on July 18, 2020.
As Derani later explained, the team gambled on an alternate strategy, which ultimately played in the team’s favor.
“In those situations, you never really know if it’s going to play out your way,” Derani said.
“You’re gambling and possibly adding an extra stop, but it’s better to try to gamble and go for a win than finishing in third or fourth.
“They did that with a tremendous amount of confidence in the team and the strategy and the drivers.”
