The Scuderia Corsa WeatherTech Ferrari will be on its home turf this weekend, racing at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Sunday’s Monterey SportsCar Championship.
Cooper MacNeil and Toni Vilander return to the wheel of the white No. 63 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3 for the two-hour, 40-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race, tackling the signature Corkscrew turn on the demanding 11-turn, 2.238-mile circuit.
“We consider WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca a home race,” MacNeil said. “We’ve been strong there in the past, and I’m looking forward to going back.”
After a season that has seen a wide range of racing luck for the Scuderia Corsa squad, the visit to the Monterey peninsula comes at a great time as the drivers carry the momentum of their third podium finish of the 2019 IMSA season, placing third in the recent event at Virginia International Raceway.
“I have a lot of laps around WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca,”
MacNeil said. “It has a great combination of fast and slow turns. The Corkscrew is one of the best combination of corners in the world, a four story drop that takes you downhill to Turn 11. Once you negotiate that final turn that leads onto the longest straight on the track it is literally a drag race from to the entry of Turn 1. We had a good run at VIR, but we want to put a win in the record books this year. Hopefully we can get that done this weekend and head to Petit Le Mans with even more momentum to close the season.”
MacNeil and Vilander are eighth in the GTD standings with two races remaining, and are also eighth entering the seventh and final round of the inaugural Sprint Cup, for the non-endurance races on the schedule. MacNeil isn’t the only pilot with a fresh round of strong results, as Vilander is also riding a wave of momentum from competing in the recent Blancpain GT World Challenge America event at Road America, where he won a pair of races in the R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 to gain ground on a second-consecutive title in that series. Vilander finished second in GTLM at Laguna Seca in 2017, also winning the class pole driving the Risi Competizione Ferrari.
“We have some good momentum after our podium run at VIR,” Vilander said. “We also did some testing at Road Atlanta right after VIR, so we are feeling good about the car. WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is an awesome track with a lot of sportscar history. It has some cool corners and some good flow so we will need our WeatherTech Racing Ferrari to really handle this weekend. We will have to balance the set-up with the typical tire degradation that comes over the course of a stint. So, fuel and tire strategy will be key as well as a good starting position for the race as it can be difficult to pass there as well.”
The team also has a strong record at the track, as the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 won at Laguna Seca in 2017, driven by Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen. The two drivers posted a third-place for the team in 2016.
Following the Monterey SportsCar Championships, the lone remaining race will be the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on Saturday, Oct. 12. Sunday’s two-hour, 40-minute race will be televised live on NBC, beginning at 3 p.m. ET.