Long Beach, Calif., (September 25, 2021) – Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.) and Mathieu Jaminet (France) finished third in GTLM in today’s running of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Acura Long Beach Grand Prix.
MacNeil had the wheel of the Proton Competition prepared No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche RSR for the start of the 100-minute race through the streets of Long Beach. He had to weather the only restart of the race as there was only one caution period over the entire race. He handed off to Jaminet a fuel stint into the race at 40-minutes. The team had planned/hoped for a late race yellow to make up track position on the pair of Corvettes, but that never happened. The Proton Competition managed team had to settle for a third-place finish on the day.
“Tough race,” MacNeil said. “We really struggled early on with super low grip. The Michelin tires were OK but took a long time to come up to the operating window. We needed a yellow that never came. Another solid effort by the WeatherTech Racing Proton Team. The next one is VIR where I am looking forward to welcoming Kevin Estre back into the car and going for an overall race win.”
“We were waiting for a yellow that never came,” Jaminet said. “The car was good, I think it was the best it has been all weekend. For me, it was a really good experience. I really enjoyed it because it was my first time in Long Beach. It was just a shame there wasn’t a yellow to try and fight the Corvettes. That is racing sometimes. The level of the drivers is very good so not many yellows out there.”
The IMSA WeatherTech Championship GTLM and GTD cars will travel to Virginia International Raceway, Oct. 8-10, for a GT only weekend of racing.