WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.) and Alessandro Balzan (Italy) drove to an eighth place finish in today’s running of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio.
At the drop of the green flag on the two-hour-and-forty-five-minute race, MacNeil was caught behind a slower Porsche, even though he was quicker. After making the pass he was able to gap that group of GTD competitors and hand the No. 63 WeatherTech Ferrari over to Balzan in sixth. As the race progressed without a caution flag, the team was not able to make up any track position to the GTD leaders and had to settle for a strong eighth place finish on the day.
“I had a good stint,” MacNeil said. “I was able to pick up a couple of positions and drove to about an eight second gap to the cars behind us at the first pit stop. Unfortuantley, our strategy of staying out and hoping for a yellow didn’t work out today. That is racing, you take chances and risks. We ended where we started. The car is one piece and we are on to the street race in Detroit. I think the Ferrari 488 will be well suited to the island circuit. The WeatherTech and Scuderia Corsa guys worked hard all weekend.”
“We had more expectations for the race today,” Balzan said. “The traffic here at Mid-Ohio was really the key. I was struggling with some front grip on the WeatherTech Ferrari. We finished ahead of the 33 Mercedes today, which is important for the championship. When you have a race that goes green all the way you need to try and stay in the top five. Cooper got stuck behind the 58 Porsche for like 20 minutes. When he got by he was able to put some time on them. The top GTD cars were fast today. We will come back strong for the race in Detroit at the end of the month.”
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will travel to Detroit for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, June 1-2.
Source. Kyle Chura/WeatherTech Racing
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