Cooper MacNeil and Jeroen Bleekemolen will start tomorrow’s American Le Mans Grand Prix of Monterey at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca from the pole position in GTC.
The duo of MacNeil (Hinsdale, ILL) and Bleekmolen (Monte Carlo) are looking to get back to the top of the GTC standings after a fourth-place finish at Long Beach. Starting the weekend off fast, the white and black WeatherTech Porsche has been a fixture at the top of the timing sheet in the three practice sessions. In qualifying, Bleekemolen turned a lap of 1:27.296 good for the top spot in the competitive GTC class at the 2.2-mile 11-turn Laguna Seca circuit.
“We have been going really well since the first practice yesterday,” Bleekemolen said. “The car has been handling really well and our lap times have shown the strength of the WeatherTech Porsche. We made a few small changes during practice, nothing major. Qualifying was a close fight against the others. I put in a fast lap early on in the session, and I was quite happy with the run. I stayed out in case anyone would go faster. Tomorrow we will need to stay out of trouble and keep the car clean. We need to have a good strategy, strong pit stops and Cooper and I maintain our strong pace. We have a good race car.”
MacNeil brings a lot of laps around Laguna Seca and a very strong pace.
“Practice so far this weekend has been great,” MacNeil said. “We have led every session. Jeroen went out and backed that up with pole position for the race tomorrow. If practice and qualifying are indicative of anything the race should go our way. The car has been great right off of the trailer. That is typical of this Alex Job Racing team. The WeatherTech Porsche is fast. It is up to Jeroen and myself to do the work on the track and the team will support with good pit stops and our usual strong strategy.”
Alex Job, team owner, has the WeatherTech Porsche at the point in GTC.
“Jeroen and Cooper have been fast all weekend,” Job said. “The car had a good set up right off of the trailer. We have made a few small adjustments, more for the changing track temperature than anything. We need to take a guess at the weather for last third of the race tomorrow and set up the car accordingly.”
The American Le Mans Grand Prix of Monterey at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca television broadcast will air May12 at 4:00 pm EDT on ESPN 2. Live streaming can be viewed on May 11 starting at 6:15 pm EDT on ESPN 3.
Source : Alex Job Racing