MacNeil and Aitken Top for Race 2 at Watkins Glen

Clouds rolled in to Watkins Glen International for the morning qualifying action, presaging a wet and windy afternoon of racing, but thankfully all five classes enjoyed dry conditions to set their final qualifying times for the weekend.  Once again, it was Cooper MacNeil at the top of the Trofeo Pirelli class, and by some margin, while Chris Aitken made his return to the pole sitter position in the Coppa Shell category.  Racing action will resume at 1:20 p.m. (all times Eastern), and the first green flag will fall at 1:35 p.m.

Trofeo Pirelli. Cooper MacNeil (Ferrari of Westlake) again secured pole position in the Trofeo Pirelli category and overall with a 1:46.983, besting his nearest competitor by just over a second and certainly setting himself up for a straight forward race from pole later on in the afternoon. 

Trofeo Pirelli AM1. Martin Burrowes (Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale) took pole in the Trofeo Pirelli AM1 category after a storming drive in yesterday’s race.  Today’s qualifying time of 1:47.987 set him ahead of Jason McCarthy (Wide World Ferrari) who was two tenths further back.  McCarthy gave the absolute maximum in pursuit of Burrowes, but ultimately lost several of his attempts due to track limits violations.   Aaron Weiss (Continental Autosports) rounded out the top three in the category with a 1:49.630.

Trofeo Pirelli AM2. Yesterday’s winner has become today’s pole sitter as Keysin Chen (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) again secured pole at Watkins Glen International, slotting in just behind Jason McCarthy for fourth overall with a 1:48.343.  He leads Brad Horstmann (Foreign Cars Italia) by four tenths and third place qualifier Brian Davis (Ferrari of Palm Beach) by a further tenth. 

Coppa Shell. Chris Aitken (Ferrari of Houston) returned to pole position with an excellent 1:49.964, besting Todd Coleman (Ferrari of Denver) by just under half a second at the conclusion of the 15-minute qualifying session.  John Viskup (Boardwalk Ferrari) rounded out the top three, but only just, besting yesterday’s winner Dave Musial Jr. (Ferrari of Lake Forest) by only eight-thousandths of a second to secure the third spot on the grid. 

Coppa Shell AM. John Cervini (Ferrari of Ontario) continued his excellent run of form at Watkins Glen International with pole position in the Coppa Shell AM category with a 1:51.430.   He led the category by just over a second leading Roy Carroll (Foreign Cars Italia) who crossed the line with a 1:52.441.  Franck Ruimy (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) rounded out the top three in the category, just two tenths off of Carroll’s time.