Scuderia Corsa finished ninth at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park immediately following the team’s podium success at Watkins Glen International as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship switches from endurance to sprint racing across the border.
The No. 63 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 duo of WeatherTech Racing Driver Cooper MacNeil and Ferrari Factory Driver Toni Vilander pushed the Ferrari to the limits throughout the two hour and 40-minute race. Both MacNeil and Vilander fought consistently for positions, MacNeil handing the car off in sixth place after starting ninth then Vilander advanced to fourth place in the GT Daytona Class. Vilander’s progression was halted when a late caution, turned red flag was issued due to a heavy debris from an incident. The course would go green, albeit with very little time remaining in the race forcing the Finn to take the checkered in ninth.
For MacNeil, smooth driving handed the team a clean car for the next race.
“It was a tough day today; we struggled a little bit with the pace of our car compared to the others,” MacNeil said. “I tried to drive the wheels off the thing in a smooth manner and managed to be within a few tenths of the leaders, but just couldn’t keep up. Toni got in and had some issues with the switches of the steering wheel, but he stuck with it and in the end, we finished where we started, ninth. Not ideal, but the car is in one piece and we will work with the team to get more speed out of it for the Bull Ring that is Lime Rock in two weeks.”
For Vilander his focus was on optimizing track time.
“When I got in the car, I was having some trouble with some of the steering wheel switches,” Vilander said. “Instead of pitting and trying to fix it, we just kept going. The race got crazy at the end with the yellow and then the red flag with just 17-minutes to go. We just held on for a top ten finish. On to Lime Rock.”
For Team Owner Giacomo Mattioli his focus remained on the larger picture.
“Cooper and Toni did a good job fighting for position all day. Unfortunately, the current Balance of Performance doesn’t allow us to fight for a win which can be frustrating in day like this. Team will just keep working hard to maximize opportunities like we did at Watkins Glen with the podium finish. We are looking forward to the next race in Lime Rock.”
Scuderia Corsa next heads to Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut for the Northeast Grand Prix, a GT only weekend. The GT Le Mans Class and GTD Class take to the 7 turn, 1.5-mile circuit July 19-20. The race is broadcast in its entirety on NBC Sports and IMSA.tv with additional coverage provided by IMSA Radio.
