IMSA - Squadra Corse Garage Italia Sixth for Ferrari at WeatherTech Raceway

Monterey, Calif. (9 Sept. 2018) – Ozz Negri and Francesco Piovanetti combined to take a sixth-place finish in Sunday’s America’s Tire 250 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, leading the three-car Ferrari entry in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event.   Squadra Corse Garage Italia Piovanetti qualified 13th in the GT Daytona class in the No. 51 Squadra Corse Garage Italia. He turned the car over to Negri on lap 25 at the 48-minute mark. Running 12th at the one-hour mark, Negri worked up to the top five shortly before the two-hour mark and ran third with 38 minutes remaining. Coming out of the pits in ninth following his final fuel stop, Negri worked his way through the tight GTD pack and took the sixth position with only four laps remaining.   “Francesco did a good job at the start, and then the pressures were higher than we expected with our first set of tires, so we made an adjustment and the car was really balanced from there,” said Negri. “It was some tough racing out there-no one gives anything away so it was very competitive and a lot of fun. The team did a great job with strategy and it was good to come home with a solid result.”   Scuderia Corsa Scuderia Corsa brought two cars to the America’s Tire 250, with the cars battling side-by-side for position in the closing laps.   Cooper MacNeil and Gunnar Jeannette combined to finish eighth in the No. 63 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3, one position ahead of teammates Frank Montecalvo and Townsend Bell in the No. 64 Ferrari. Jeannette prevailed in the battle of the two Scuderia Corsa cars when he passed Bell with six minutes remaining in heavy traffic.   “That was an up and down race,” Jeannette said. “We were in good position for a while and then made the wrong call on tire strategy. We got passed by almost everybody. Then, the last thing you want to happen, we have contact with our teammate. All in all, it wasn’t a very good day for the WeatherTech Racing team. We will be looking to finish the season on a high-note at Petit next month.”   MacNeil remains fourth in the GTD standings, trailing third by 16 points.   Season Finale Next up for the IMSA WeatherTech Championship competitors will be the final race of the season, the Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on Saturday, Oct. 13.