WeatherTech Racing will start the 70th running of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Advance Auto Parts from ninth and tenth on the GTD Pro grid.
After a day of downtime with the No. 97 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Mercedes-Benz of Billings, Montana support, the team diagnosed a fluid leak on the car. Parts had to be secured and the team was able to get it out for this morning’s practice and qualifying.
Cooper MacNeil had the controls of the 97 car for qualifying and with limited laps this weekend posted a time of 2:01.947 good for tenth on the GTD Pro grid.
“We had to put a new engine in the car since Daytona,” MacNeil said. “When you have new parts sometimes you have some issues. We had one yesterday, which unfortunately sidelined us for the entire day and night. The Proton guys and girls secured the parts and we were back out this morning. It robbed myself, Jules and Maro of some valuable seat time.
“In qualifying I did my best, not too bad considering we didn’t do any laps yesterday. We didn’t have time to work on qualifying, so we will see if we can improve it in the warm-up a little tomorrow morning and then go racing.”
In the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Julien Andlauer drove in qualifying. The young Frenchman put in a time of 2:00.951 that will have him starting next to MacNeil in ninth.
“We are looking for some speed from the car,” Andlauer said. “This is a tough track. We are new with the car at this track and we have been trying a couple of things for the race. The Proton guys are working hard on the WeatherTech Porsche and we will try a few things in the warm-up and be ready for the race tomorrow.”
WeatherTech Racing Sebring driver lineup:
No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R will be Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill), Julien Andlauer (France), and Alessio Picariello (Belgium).
No. 97 WeatherTech Racing with Mercedes-Benz of Billings Mercedes-AMG GT3 Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill), Maro Engel (Germany), and Jules Gounon (France).
Source. Kyle Chura/WeatherTech Racing
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