Monterey, Calif., (May 1, 2022) – WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill) and Daniel Juncadella (Spain) finished sixth in GTD Pro in today’s running of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship Presented by Motul at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Juncadella had the wheel of the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Mercedes-Benz of Billings, Montana support for the start of the two-hour-and-forty-five-minute race. The Spaniard was able to keep second position before handing off to MacNeil 50-minutes into the race. The WeatherTech/Proton crew had a wheel gun issue and had to pull MacNeil back into the pit box to fully secure the right rear wheel. The result was the car going to the back of the GTD field on the restart.
MacNeil proceeded to make up positions returning the controls back to Juncadella for the finish. The team was hopeful for a full-course caution in the last third of the race, but it never came and had to settle for sixth on the day.
“It was a tough break with the wheel gun issue, but that is racing sometimes,” Juncadella said. “Everything has to come together and sometimes the luck is not there. It is a shame because we had such a strong WeatherTech Mercedes-AMG this weekend. I want to thank WeatherTech Racing because we had a proper weapon. It was good fun and I look forward to racing with Cooper again in the future.”
“Unfortunate first stop with the wheel gun breaking,” MacNeil said. “These things happen. We’ll learn from it. Mechanical things break all the time. It is unfortunate it happened when we were in a position to fight for a podium. The Proton guys bounced back and had a couple of good pit stops after that first one. We never got the yellow we needed at the end. We will be back and Watkins Glen with new wheel guns.”
The GTD Pro cars will not return to action until Watkins Glen in late June. The team will now prepare for the 24 Hours of Le Mans to run June 11-12.