MacNeil posts two fourth place finishes in ferrari in Austin

Cooper MacNeil drove the No. 20 WeatherTech Racing Ferrari 458 Challenge car to consecutive fourth place finishes in the Formula 1 support race this past weekend at the Circuit of the Americas.

#20 Ferrari of Houston: Cooper MacNeil

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

MacNeil, the reigning American Le Mans Series GTC driver champion, competed in this past weekend's Ferrari Challenge at the all new, ultra-fast, 3.4-mile, 20-turn Circuit of the Americas. Driving the white and black WeatherTech No. 20 458 MacNeil qualified third for the first race run on Saturday afternoon.

"The track is awesome," MacNeil said. "It has a few too many turns for my taste. Everything is brand new. The racing surface is really smooth. It has a little of everything, fast turns, tight turns and elevation change. In qualifying I went out on sticker tires. I had a decent lap that was good enough for second. I pitted and put new tires on and went out and tried to go for the pole. I was really pushing to get some heat in the tires, but I couldn't find the grip, and I ended up fourth. I had a pole car, but just couldn't get a clean lap."

In Saturday's race, MacNeil started from the second row. "I started fourth in Saturday's race and was dicing it up with the third-place car. I had some needless contact, but still finished solidly in fourth place."

"On Sunday I got a good start and moved into third by the first turn. Three laps later I made a slight bobble and gave-up the position. The top four cars checked-out from the rest of the field and we had a great battle. My tires were pretty much shot with four laps to go. I didn't have anything for the first three guys at the end of the race. I ran clean, had a good battle and ended up fourth again. It was great to be back in the Ferrari, especially at such a big racing weekend."

MacNeil will now focus his efforts on running in the GRAND-AM Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona, Jan. 26-27 in the WeatherTech Racing Porsche.

WeatherTech Racing