Fort Lauderdale, Fla., (July 12, 2022) – WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill) and Jules Gounon (France) are headed to Lime Rock Park for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix to run July 15-16.
Coming off a fourth place GTD Pro finish at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, the team has taken the decision to run the rest of the season in the GTD category.
Lime Rock Park is the shortest track on the schedule, just 1.4-miles and 7-turns, six of which are right handers. The short track layout requires that the drivers pay full attention for the entire lap, which is approximately 50 seconds long. The track layout should favor the high-downforce design of the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG with Mercedes-Benz of Billings, Montana support.
“Lime Rock is the ‘Bull Ring’ of the IMSA WeatherTech schedule,” MacNeil said. “With around a 50 second lap time you really have no time to take a break. The fast lap also means there is no room for error on the track or on pit road. If you make one small mistake, you’re going down a lap. We are hopeful that the tight layout and fact that there are six right hand turns will suit our WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG.”
Gounon will be racing at Lime Rock for the first time.
“I’ve never raced at Lime Rock before, but I am looking forward to driving at this short and fast circuit,” Gounon said. “I will be looking to Cooper to give me some tips, then we can work together to get the pace out of the WeatherTech Racing Mercedes. On the SIM I really like the flow of the circuit and especially the last downhill section.”
The IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix will be televised on Peacock starting at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday with additional coverage on USA starting at 5 p.m. ET. The race can be heard streaming on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM Radio (XM 207; Web/App 992).