Fifth Row Start for Ferrari at Road America

After severe weather curtailed the session, Cooper MacNeil was forced to park the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari two-thirds of the way through Saturday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona qualifying at Road America. MacNeil managed a best lap of two minutes, 6.537 seconds in the No. 63 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3 co-driven by Toni Vilander on the historic 14-turn, 4.048-mile circuit.  However, the red flag was waved after 10 minutes of the scheduled 15-minute session due to a severe weather warning for lightning in the area. The time will slot him on the fifth row of the GTD class starting grid for Sunday’s IMSA Road Racing Showcase. sprint race at the high speed Wisconsin circuit. “It was an okay qualifying session,” MacNeil said. “We’re starting tenth, which is not ideal. On my second flyer, I pushed too hard in Turn 7 and went four wheels off in the grass. I gathered it back up for another lap that was showing faster when unfortunately, the red flag came out.” MacNeil did not get another opportunity, as the GTD session did not resume due to the lightning. But racing at a track where he has lots of history and success, he is optimistic about his team’s chances for Sunday’s two-hour, 40-minute race. “We found some more speed in the car over the last few days, so thanks to the Scuderia Corsa crew for the effort,” MacNeil said. “Thankfully, tomorrow is not a 30-minute race, it’s almost three hours, so we have time and we’ll be pushing hard.” Sunday’s IMSA Road Race Showcase begins at 1:35 p.m. CT. The race will be televised on a same-day delay on NBCSN, from 6-9 p.m. ET.