WATKINS GLEN, Ny. (July 3, 2016) – WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.), Leh Keen (Charleston, S.C.) and Gunnar Jeannette (Salt Lake City, Ut.) finished fifth in GTD in today’s running of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.
The WeatherTech driving trio had some ground to make-up after starting at the back of the GTD grid for the quarter-day event. MacNeil had the wheel of the No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche for the start at the newly repaved Watkins Glen International. He was able to race the car back up to eighth position when he turned it over to Keen. Keen drove a strong stint to get the car into second place in GTD when he handed the Porsche over to Jeannette. As Jeannette managed the car through a couple of caution periods he was able to lead several laps during his time in the white and black Porsche. With an hour remaining Keen was running in the top five. With a late yellow and some unfriendly passes by two competitors who went early on the restart he lost touch with the fourth place car and brought the WeatherTech Porsche home in fifth place.
“We had a good race,” Keen said. “Cooper did a good job at the start to make up some places. I jumped in and did a single stint and moved the car up a couple of positions. Gunnar drove to the lead and we were up toward the front pretty much all day. Once the dust settled with the pit stops at the end we ended up fifth. I had two guys pass me early on the restart toward the end, pushed me wide and went bye. They each got a drive thru penalty, but the damage was done and I lost too much time to the Viper. The good thing is we go again next week at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.”
“The Alex Job Racing guys found some pace in the car overnight,” MacNeil said. “I had a great stint, I was able to drive it up to eighth. Leh jumped in and made up some more ground and then Gunnar drove it to the lead. Leh had the last 90-minutes and did a good job to get us maximum points. We didn’t quite have the pace of the Audi and Ferrari today.”
“My race was fairly uneventful,” Jeannette said. “I was battling upfront through pit stops and was able to lead some laps. I got passed by a DP going into the Bus Stop and he rubbed my front. I think it affected the toe of the car a little. It is a little tough to end up fifth when we were running in the top three most of the day, but, a solid finish overall.”
“Cooper, Leh and Gunnar did a nice job behind the wheel today,” team owner, Alex Job said. “We were all scratching our heads a little after qualifying yesterday, but the crew was undeterred. They reviewed the data and made some changes. After the warm-up we were in the top five. Cooper had a nice opening stint, Leh followed with a nice run and Gunnar led some laps. There were a lot of yellows and we got bounced around a little by some DPs and passed under yellow. But a top five is a pretty good run on the day.”
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will travel to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix, July 8-10.