Scuderia Corsa is headed to Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut July 19-20 with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship aiming for its third podium of the season. Experience will be on the team’s side as Lime Rock is the place it clenched its first championship in 2013.
Round 8 of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship takes place on the shortest circuit the team will see this season at 1.5-miles and seven turns. Drivers Cooper MacNeil and Toni Vilander will undoubtedly see rough racing from behind the wheel of the No. 63 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3 due to tight battles taking place amongst constant traffic. The team’s goal is to keep the car away from on-track chaos while aggressively attacking for position for the duration of the two hour and 40-minute sprint race.
Lime Rock Park is located in the heart of the New England countryside yet still a short drive from metropolitan capital, New York City. The Northeast Grand Prix is the first of two GT-only feature races for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series.
For MacNeil Lime Rock is like an endurance race due to the constant attention it takes.
“Lime Rock is a fast and tight bull ring,” MacNeil said. “The key for us with the WeatherTech Ferrari will be to have a confident handling car coming down the hill through the last two turns. Running sub 60-second lap times gives you no time to rest. Our Ferrari shines through high-speed corners, so I am looking forward to this weekend. We need to have a mistake free run on the track and in the pits to get a positive result this Saturday.”
For Vilander Lime Rock provides a healthy amount of work and enjoyment.
“Lime Rock is a small and interesting race track,” Vilander said. “We race without the prototypes, so the only traffic will be the GTLM cars. It was nice to get a weekend off and recharge as well as spend some time with the family. Lime Rock was my first ever race in the U.S. in 2006. I’ve always been very competitive there. It is a physical track, no time to rest. Some drivers like it, some don’t, I like it. We will need to work hard on the set-up with the team to get the car handling and get a result for the 63 WeatherTech Racing Ferrari.”
Official practice takes place this Friday, July 19, with qualifying and the Northeast Grand Prix one day later on Saturday, July 20. The race begins at 3:10 p.m. ET and can be viewed on IMSA.tv or with the NBC Sports app., and a delayed broadcast airs Saturday, July 20 at 10 p.m. on NBCSN.
