Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.) finished third in GTA in today’s running of the Pirelli World Challenge Series (PWC) race run at Sonoma Raceway this afternoon. Teammate Gunnar Jeannette (Salt Lake City, Utah) had a tough 50-minutes of racing and was classified in 21st in GT.

In qualifying this morning, MacNeil drove his No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche to a third place starting position with a time of 1:34.471 in the PWC GTA Class. Jeannette started the No. 97 WeatherTech Racing Porsche in the GT category from the sixth row with a time of 1:32.995.

At the drop of the green flag MacNeil made an early aggressive move on the Ferrari of Martin Fuentes and moved into second. Just a few turns later, as the field bunched-up, Fuentes was able to take the position back. As the 50-minutes of racing ticked away the University of Colorado at Boulder senior was able to race to his first podium finish in the PWC series with a third place run.

“It is good to be back in sprint racing having the car to myself,” MacNeil said. “The WeatherTech Porsche was good today. We made some changes since qualifying for the race which helped. I had a clean start, moved into second and then he came back by me in traffic. Everything went well today. For my first outing in World Challenge to get a podium I am just thrilled. We have more to learn about the tire with more speed to come.”

Jeannette had a tough race.

“It was a tough 50-minutes of racing,” Jeannette said. “I got hit and spun by a car that had a flat tire on the third lap. That sent me down the field. I made up some positions and then had to pit for a cut tire. When you do that in PWC it is pretty much the end of your day, especially when the race goes green the whole way. Positive is that Cooper got on the podium and I know what to expect in the early laps for tomorrow’s race.”

Team owner, Alex Job, is happy with the team’s PWC debut.

“We had an up and down day,” Job said. “Cooper had a nice run and drove the WeatherTech Racing Porsche to a podium finish. There is a lot of speed in the GTA Class and he was right those who have been running up front all season. Gunnar had some tough early luck, so we will be looking for better things from him tomorrow.”

The Pirelli World Challenge Series Cadillac Grand Prix at Sonoma Raceway will run race two tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET.