DETROIT, (June 3, 2016) – WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.) and Leh Keen (Charleston, S.C.) will start tomorrow’s running of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Chevrolet Sports Car Classic presented by the Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers from row five in the GTD Class.
MacNeil had the controls of the No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche for the 15 minute qualifying session. Taking a couple of laps to heat up the Continental tires, the senior at the University of Colorado at Boulder posted a fast lap of 1:32.673 on his fifth circuit of the 2.36-mile, 14-turn converted park street course that lies in the middle of the Detroit River. The qualifying session was a mix of pro and amateur drivers all posturing for what is sure to be a strategy play for tomorrow’s short, by IMSA standards, 100-minute race.
“I thought it was a good qualifying session for us in the No. 22 WeatherTech car,” MacNeil said. “My time was about a second shy of Leh’s, when I can get within a second that is a pretty good run. The car is really good. We are still working on our brake settings, there is a lot of bumps going into the braking zones. We have some pace in the car. We can out race a lot of the cars in front of us. I will keep the car clean and hand it over to Leh with all four corners on the car and see what happens.”
Keen likes the way the car is handling and running on the island circuit.
“It has been a pretty good day,” Keen said. “We got some speed out of the car in practice. We have been toward the top in the first two practices and Cooper is running quick. We qualified in the top ten. Some teams are mixing things up, they ran their pro drivers in qualifying. The race is short, just 100-minutes, so strategy is going to play a role. We have a good car, we will pin our ears back and go for it.”
“Cooper and Leh had very good practice sessions today,” Team Owner Alex Job said. “Street racing is tough, you have to deal with the confines, the crown in the road and the bumps. There is a lot for the team to think about with regards to set-up. We have seem to hit on a set-up Cooper and Leh like. This is going to come down to survival and strategy.”
