ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (August 6, 2016) – Cooper MacNeil and Sven Müller
will start tomorrow’s running of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Continental Tire Road Race Showcase from the back of the GTD grid at Road America.
MacNeil had the controls of the No. 22 WeatherTech Racing Porsche for the 15-minute qualifying session. Fighting an oversteering car he posted a time of 2:09.014 that would have had him and newcomer Müller starting from the fifth row for tomorrows 4 p.m. ET start. However, an adjustment made to the car on pit road during qualifying was deemed to be a violation of IMSA rules and the team will start from the back of the GTD grid in 14th.
“Qualifying was ok, the car was a little loose,” MacNeil said. “We have been fighting oversteer all weekend. When I try to push the car I end up having to lift and loose time. The 23 car is fast, they have it figured out. We will look at the data and get Sven’s input and make some adjustments for the warm-up. Sven is doing a good job in the car. It took him about two laps to learn this track.”
On racing with his dad, David MacNeil in the No. 77 WeatherTech Porsche.
“It is cool to have my dad out there too,” Cooper MacNeil continued. “It changes the whole atmosphere of the team. It is fun and to be running together on the track is pretty special. This is only his second time in the GT3R and he is getting better every lap and every session. As a result of our pit lane infraction I will be starting alongside him at the back of the field.”
Teammate Müller took to the four-mile, 14-turn Road America circuit quickly. The young German Porsche Junior Driver had to learn the long road course in short order and is already on pace with the top cars in the class.
“To be here running with Alex Job Racing at Road America is amazing,” Müller said. “The circuit is really fun to drive. The whole team is professional. Cooper gave us a pretty good starting position for the race originally, but now we will have to fight from the back. We are even more motivated so we will have to have excellent strategy and stay out of trouble to get a result tomorrow.”
“Sven has really done well so far with the team, the car and the track,” team owner, Alex Job said. “He was able to get up speed very quickly is among the fastest drivers on the track. Cooper did a nice job in qualifying, but unfortunately we made a mistake with the adjustment on pit road. We need to fine tune on the car a little more so we have some work to do tonight for the warm-up.”
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Continental Tire Road Race Showcase will be broadcast live Sunday, August 28 on Fox Sports 1 starting at 4 p.m. EDT.