How Derani's long road to title success exorcised painful memories

By:

Jamie Klein

Jan 16, 2022, 5:05 PM

It took Pipo Derani no time at all to establish himself as a winner in IMSA, winning the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours on his first two starts in 2016. But it took until the final corner of the 2021 season before he could become its champion, the culmination of a journey that he believes has made him a better driver.

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When Action Express Racing pair Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani clinched last year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship title in November’s Petit Le Mans finale, it marked an important milestone for one of the two Brazilian drivers sharing the #31 Cadillac DPi-V.R.

For Derani, it was the final achievement in the North American series missing from an already-glittering CV, the Brazilian having already won the Daytona 24 Hours, the Sebring 12 Hours - three times! - and Petit Le Mans, as well as the Endurance Cup that links those three races plus a six-hour fixture at Watkins Glen.

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Jamie Klein

Jamie Klein is one of Motorsport.com’s Global News Editors, reporting primarily on the FIA World Endurance Championship, Super Formula and SUPER GT. He took his first steps into motorsport journalism in 2013 as a freelancer before joining Motorsport Network full-time in 2015 as UK Editor. In 2016, he moved into a more wide-ranging role as he became a regular in the paddocks of the WEC and MotoGP. After a two-month trip to Japan in late 2018 gave him his first taste of reporting live on Super Formula and SUPER GT, he made the move to Tokyo permanently in 2019, and has been a regular presence in both paddocks since 2020. Away from motorsport, he is studying the Japanese language and can often be found relaxing in an ‘onsen’ (hot spring) or gorging on ramen, occasionally at the same time. He can be found on Twitter at @JamieKlein_.