WeatherTech Racing finished fifth in today’s running of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.) had the wheel of the No. 22 WeatherTech Racing Porsche for the two-hour-and-forty-five-minute race. MacNeil endured two caution periods and raced forward from the team’s tenth place starting position to turn the car over to Leh Keen (Charleston, SC) in fourth position. The team had a fast pit stop and put Keen back into the action in second place once the race went green again. Keen was in a battle throughout his stint as he ran upfront. Around lap 88, with 20-minutes to go, he began to experience braking issues, the pedal would go to the floor. Nursing the black-and-white Porsche around he was able to bring it to the finish in fifth place. The top five is a strong points paying position that will move the duo from third to second in the GTD points standings.
“It was a wild race,” Keen said. “We had a good race car today. We ended up being the highest finishing Porsche in GTD. The brakes were totally gone there at the end. I was pushing the pedal all the way down to the floor. I feel like we accomplished a lot today because it was a struggle to bring the car home. The crew did an awesome job in the pits. The strategy was right on point to get us to the front. We had a pretty good day considering what we had at the end. Cooper had a really good opening stint and we got another top five today.”
MacNeil had a strong start.
“At the start everyone was driving like it was the last lap of the 24 Hours of Le Mans,” MacNeil said. “It was pretty crazy. We had a mechanical issue at the end with the brakes. Leh did a great job to keep it in the top five at the finish and kept some fast drivers behind him, it was a good points day. We came here third in points and are leaving in second, so not too bad. I am really looking forward to Road America.”
Alex Job, team owner, had the team in a position for a podium.
“It was a pretty crazy start to the race with the early caution periods,” Job said. “Cooper did a good job to keep focused and brought the car in five places better than we started. We were adjusting our strategy and had Cooper and Leh in great position after the pit stops. We ran upfront all day and then Leh had the issue with the brakes. He did a great job to keep it on the track and score maximum points for us today.”
The TUDOR United SportsCar Championship will travel to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. for the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase Aug. 8-10.
The TUDOR United SportsCar Championship GTD (GT Daytona) Class is made up of some the world’s most sophisticated cars, including the Porsche 911 GT America, Ferrari 458, Aston Martin, BMW Z4, Viper SRT and Audi R8. All GTD Class cars run on the spec Continental tire.