MacNeil and Bleekemolen to start COTA third in GTC

AUSTIN, Texas, (Sept. 20, 2013) - Cooper MacNeil and Jeroen Bleekemolen will start the No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche from the second row for the inaugural American Le Mans Series race at the Circuit of the America's (COTA) tomorrow afternoon.

MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill) is a veteran, comparatively, of the new COTA circuit located 20-minutes south of Austin. Bleekemolen (Monte Carlo) is visiting the 3.4-mile, 20-turn undulating road course for the first time. The drivers were greeted with a Texas sized rain storm throughout the day. Bleekemolen had the wheel for qualifying and turned a lap of 2:27.920, in wet conditions, which put the WeatherTech Porsche on the second row of the GTC grid.

"We had hoped to be quick enough for pole, but we came up short," Bleekemolen said. "The balance was good in free practice, but on new wet tires it just didn't work as well as I'd hoped. I am disappointed. If we could have figured the balance out a little better, I could have been on pole. The race will be dry, so we will be ready. The COTA circuit is alright. It is a modern F1 track. The facilities are great. There is so much runoff around the track that it takes a little challenge away from the driver. I like all of the North American circuits, because they are very tight compared to the ones in Europe."

MacNeil has a race weekend under his belt at COTA in the Ferrari Challenge Series.

"My practice laps were good," MacNeil said. "I did all of my laps in the wet this morning. I raced here last November in the Ferrari, so I have a lot of dry running here as well. It will only take me a lap or two in the warm-up to get used to the track in the dry tomorrow. Jeroen did a good job in qualifying under some tough conditions. We are just a tenth off of the pole in third. We have a six point lead in the GTC Championship points. We are here to win, so that is what we will try to do."

Alex Job, team owner, is looking forward to the race tomorrow.

"We had some tough conditions today," Job said. "This place can be treacherous in the rain, with all of the paint on the inside and the outside of the turns. Cooper and Jeroen put in a lot of laps today. Jeroen was disappointed with qualifying. He thought he had a pole car, so he is motivated for the race tomorrow, which should be dry."

AJR