Braselton, Ga., (October 13, 2023) - WeatherTech Racing will start the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale Motul Petit Le Mans from third on the GTD Pro grid tomorrow.
Jules Gounon (France) had the wheel of the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Mercedes-Benz of Billings, Montana support for the 15-minute qualifying session. Under misting skies, the decision was taken to use wet tires. The Frenchman posted a time of 1:24.2 around the 2.5-mile, 12-turn track located an hour north of Atlanta good for P3 in GTD Pro. Gounon shares the WeatherTech Racing/Proton prepared Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Maro Engel (Germany) and Dani Juncadella (Spain).
“We made the right decision to go into qualifying on the wet Michelin tires,” Gounon said. “We may have missed it on the tire pressures. I was able to go P3 which is a good starting position for a 10-hour race. Maro, Dani, and I were fastest in the first practice yesterday and second in the night running. Let’s see what we can do in the race.”
The team is trying to bookend the season with race wins. The WeatherTech Racing/Proton team won the season opening Rolex 24 At Daytona win with Cooper MacNeil in February. The team leads the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Championship (IMEC) with 33 points, just 3 more than the Corvette team.
The Motul Petit Le Mans from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta will be televised live on Peacock starting at 11:40 a.m. on Saturday with the USA Network joining in for the finish from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.