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.
"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
