@WeatherTech • @weathertechca • @UnitedSportsCar – WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil and Leh Keen will be looking to make some waves at the TUDOR United SportsCar Continental Tire Grand Prix powered by Mazda at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this weekend, May 1-3.
Coming off of a seventh place finish at Sebring last month the duo of Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.) and Leh Keen (Charleston, SC) will be dealing with a slightly down on power Porsche at the 2.2-mile, 11-turn undulating road course located on the Monterey Peninsula. The TUDOR Championship balance of performance (BOP) committee put more restriction on the Porsche flat-six engine last week.
“Laguna Seca is a fantastic track and one of my favorites,” MacNeil said. “The elevation change makes it both challenging and interesting to drive. You have the long run uphill and then the sudden downhill from the Corkscrew as the track ascends down to Turn 11. I’ve raced many times at Laguna and I’ve had a lot of success there in the WeatherTech, Alex Job Racing Porsche. I’m looking forward to a fantastic weekend in one of my favorite parts of this country.”
Keen likes Mazda Racway Laguna Seca and has won there in the past.
“It’s always nice to get out to the west coast and race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca,” Keen said. “In 2011 I won the Rolex GT race there in a Porsche, so the Porsche can be very strong at Laguna. The WeatherTech Porsche is always strong, so it should be a good fight for the win. It’s a very historic track and the area around the circuit is very beautiful. There is always a good vibe throughout the paddock and the weather is always nice. The track itself has a nice flow to it and it’s always fun to go down through the Corkscrew. My favorite corners are right before and right after the Corkscrew, they are very fast left handers and very challenging. At Laguna the smaller restrictor probably won’t hurt as bad as the races down the road. But, we really need everything we can get so it is unfortunate we now have such a big change with the much smaller restrictor.”
Alex Job, team owner, will have his team ready for Laguna.
“Cooper and Leh have a lot of miles around Laguna Seca,” Job said. “They have both won races there in the past. We have had some top speed taken away from the Porsche as a result of the most recent BOP. You can’t engineer horsepower in, we will do the best we can to maximize handling and race strategy this weekend.”
The TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Continental Tire Grand Prix powered by Mazda will be televised on Fox Sports 1, Sunday, May 3, starting at 4 p.m. ET. Qualifying can be viewed, May 2 at IMSA.com at 7:15 p.m. ET.
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.
Alex Job Racing is one of the most successful teams in sports car racing with 70 wins (since 1995); including two Rolex 24 GT Class wins in 1999 and 2013. This record is supported by 48 pole positions and 106 podium finishes. The team has won five championships (GTC 2013, 2012, GT in 2004, 2003 and 2002) complimented by their two GT class wins at Le Mans. The team also boasts nine Sebring 12-hour wins.
WeatherTech: WeatherTech, headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois, has long been recognized by the discerning automotive enthusiast as a supplier of accessories of unparalleled quality. In addition to the WeatherTech brand, the company supplies products to many automobile manufacturers (OEM) as an original equipment supplier. In fact, WeatherTech currently supplies accessories to all four German manufacturers of luxury automobiles as well as a host of other automobile manufacturers worldwide! More information can be viewed at www.weathertech.com.
For more information about AJR, visit www.alexjobracing.com, or visit our fan page on Facebook by searching WeatherTech Racing. Further inquiries, please contact Kyle Chura at kyle@kcapr.com or (248) 821-0468.
From: Kyle Chura // kyle@kcapr.com
{fcomment}
Discussion about this post