Alton, Va., (Aug. 27, 2022) – WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill) and Jules Gounon (France) will start the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Michelin GT Challenge from the fifth row in GTD tomorrow.
The WeatherTech Racing/Proton team had to do a thorough check of the No. 79 Mercedes-AMG with Mercedes-Benz of Billings, Montana support after Gounon went off into the grass through the esses in yesterday’s only practice cutting the run time for the team short. The team recovered and ran the full hour-and-a-half session this morning.
MacNeil had the controls of the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG for the 15-minute qualifying session under 90-degree temperatures. With limited track time MacNeil posted a lap of 1:46.648 that will have the team starting from the fifth row for tomorrow’s 2:10 p.m. ET race start.
“We had an issue in practice yesterday, so that cost us some run time,” MacNeil said. “Qualifying was OK, we ended up where we thought we would. We have a decent starting position. It is looking like it is going to be a race of attrition. We saw three or four cars go off the track and crash during qualifying. We will need to keep it on the track, run clean laps, watch our tire degradation in the heat, and be in position to fight at the end.”
The IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship Michelin GT Challenge will be televised on Peacock starting at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday. The race can be heard streaming on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM Radio (XM 207; Web/App 992).