Race is on Fox live at 3 p.m.
LIME ROCK, Conn. (July 22, 2016) – WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil and Leh Keen
will start the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Northeast Grand Prix from the sixth row at Lime Rock Park tomorrow.
The IMSA competitors are dealing with 95-degree air temperatures with track temps exceeding 140. MacNeil had the wheel of the No. 22 WeatherTech Racing Porsche for the 15-minute qualifying session. On his tenth lap of the 1.5-mile circuit located an hour west of Hartford, he posted a time of 53.734 that will have him start from row six on the GTD grid for tomorrow’s 3 p.m. start.
“We are six-tenths off of the pole, which is a lot here,” MacNeil said. “I was muscling the car around here a little in qualifying. The car went to understeer. With the heat and the layout of the track that really affects the lap time. You have to get the car turned, get the power down and keep the momentum going here at Lime Rock. We will be ready to make up positions tomorrow. All of the times a really close. There should be some good racing action out there in the race tomorrow.”
“My laps in the WeatherTech Porsche have been pretty good,” Keen said. “This is a short track. The team has been working on getting some of the push out of the car. It is tight, hot and there are lot of cars on the track. It is going to be a wild race. The secret to the race will be to keep the tires under the car in this heat and stay out of the contact that is going to happen. This is a tough place to pass, probably the worse in that aspect that we go to. We will have to get track position and keep it.”
“Wow it is warm out there,” team owner, Alex Job said. “The heat and track temp are playing havoc with the set-up. With the engine in the rear we will be managing our back tires all race in this heat. Cooper and Leh have a good handle on the track, we will just have to really be on our toes to manage the race from pit lane tomorrow.”
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park will be broadcast live on the Fox network starting from 3 p.m. tomorrow, July 23.