Scuderia Corsa slid home fourth after a two hour and 40-minute sprint race at Road America ended in a massive deluge of rain, causing chaos through the checkered flag.
Ferrari Factory Driver Toni Vilander relied on strategy and MICHELIN rain tires to maneuver up the field when the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship experienced a cloudburst. Heavy rain and inclement weather took the field from yellow to red before restarting under yellow in less than ideal conditions. Green flag racing resumed with seven minutes remaining, giving Vilander a front-row seat to the mayhem that luckily didn’t include him.
WeatherTech Racing Driver Cooper MacNeil positioned the Ferrari in fifth to start the race after a final flying lap in qualifying. MacNeil avoided prototype drama on track early on nearly being hit as one spun off course. Levelheaded as ever, MacNeil focused on chasing the leaders keeping the remaining competition behind him proving home-field advantage does exist. He pushed the No. 63 WeatherTech Ferrari to its limits to pass the car off to Vilander in a competitive position before the rain.
For MacNeil, a race car in one piece after a hectic end is nearly as good as a podium.
“I was lucky; I got the laps in the dry,” MacNeil said. “The start was clean, the only real moment I had was going side-by-side through the Kink, which is the most dangerous part of the track, but it turned out ok. When Toni got in, all hell broke loose. The rain came, and we were able to get the WeatherTech Ferrari into the pits for Michelin rain tires. That was a huge call by the Scuderia Corsa team. When the race went green, it was just too crazy to try for any late-race heroics. Fourth is as good as we could have hoped for this weekend. We will go onto VIR in two weeks for the next one with a car in one piece.”
For Vilander, the conditions played as much of a role in his closing laps as the team.
“It was an exciting race. We were not super-fast in the dry conditions, but we tried to optimize everything we had. This one manufacturer in our category is in a league of their own. The rain made it exciting in the end; our final pit stop was perfect. Unfortunately, there was just too much water on the track. I couldn’t risk, with the low visibility, I couldn’t risk damage to the car. Instead of fighting like crazy for the podium, I kept my speed, and we closed fourth in the end. I take responsibility for not going for the win, but it just felt too risky.
With the condition, sometimes we go a little bit too extreme by waiting to see cars in the wall before we see a yellow. I would love to race in the rain with a bit better visibility and less water on the track. I think the last two laps were a bit too much. I think finishing the race fourth was pretty good considering how we started the weekend; we weren’t on the pace, but we improved. The guys on the engineering side and the mechanics did an awesome job. The timing of the last pit stop was perfect. The guys read the radar perfectly. When we put the rain tires on the rain came. So, thank you to the team, let’s go into the next one.”
For Team Owner Giacomo Mattioli, the patients of his drivers proved most valuable.
“This race was not an easy one, but our team pulled together and executed extremely well,” Mattioli said. “The drivers had to let the race come to them in a sense. Cooper pushed as hard as he could in the dry, he made no mistakes. The call made to pit for rain tires was the point that changed our race; it gave us an advantage. Toni stayed calm and made the right call to take points and not risk anything. We’re in a good position heading forward.”
Scuderia Corsa gets back to racing in two weeks at VIRginia International Raceway for a GT only sprint race. The event weekend will not include fan participation at the track, the first event to run without fans for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series. The four IMSA classes reunite at MICHELIN Raceway Road Atlanta for a six-hour endurance race after IMSA announced this weekend that due to COVID-19, the scheduled Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen would not be possible.