Cooper MacNeil, Leh Keen and Andrew Davis will start the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season finale Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta from the second row in third tomorrow morning.
Keen (Charleston, S.C.), MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill) and Davis (Atlanta) worked diligently over the past two days working on the rain set-up of the No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche. Keen had the wheel for the 15-minute qualifying session run in a steady rain. Looking forward to showing the prowess of the Porsche in the wet, Keen posted early times that had him leading the GTD field. His fastest lap, a 1:38.899 lap, was done on his eighth circuit of the 2.5-mile, 12-turn undulating road course. In the waning laps, two cars posted faster times putting the white and black WeatherTech Racing Porsche in third position for the 10-hour Petit classic.
“I had some good qualifying laps,” Keen said. “I was able to turn a nice time and we will start in third, one of our best starts of the season. We have been toward the top of the time sheet in the rain sessions so I hope that sets the tone for the race. We are still working on the perfect wet set-up, but we are close. It was real sketchy in qualifying, but I think it was for everyone. The conditions look to be pretty wild tomorrow. Cooper and Andrew are good in the rain and I like it as well. It is going to be a wild and wet race, but I am looking forward to it.”
MacNeil and the team still fine tuning.
“We went out this morning and it was a steady rain like it was for qualifying,” MacNeil said. “We were really working on power down oversteer, which is typical in the wet in a Porsche. Leh did a great job in qualifying putting us upfront. We have a good starting position. The car is good in the wet, the Porsche is very predictable in these conditions. With the engine in the rear, it helps us to get the power down out of the turns. Long race tomorrow, we just have to manage the car and stay out of trouble.”
Alex Job, team owner, is ready for a messy race.
“The rain is suppose persist through the day and night tomorrow,” Job said. “Road Atlanta can be a handful in the dry, add rain and that makes it even more challenging. Cooper, Leh and Andrew are very steady in the rain, so I am looking for a very competitive run by the No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche tomorrow.