MacNeil, Vilander Finish Second at Sebring

Ferrari scored a solid second-place finish in Saturday evening’s Grand Prix of Sebring, the third IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race of the 2020 season. Coming off a pair of seventh-place finishes at Daytona in 2020 competition, Scuderia Corsa had standout performances from both Cooper MacNeil and Toni Vilander in the No. 63 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO 2020. Vilander set the stage by leading the one-hour practice session on Saturday morning. Then, MacNeil qualified third to start the race on the second row. Falling to fourth at the start, MacNeil soon moved up to third and maintained a podium position for the remainder of his one-hour stint. Vilander needed only 16 minutes to gain the lead after the driver exchange, and led 15 laps before his final pit stop. Stopping before the other contenders in the class, the Ferrari spent extra time on pit road to ensure a full fuel load – while a short fill gave eventual winner Jack Hawksworth track position. "The WeatherTech Ferrari performed incredibly well today as you can see," Vilander said. "I was a bit unlucky in traffic after my pit stop, but I was able to get around the BMW. In the end I was very close to the Lexus. I think if we had a few more laps we would be on the top of the podium. But second place is encouraging. I think we can build on this moving forward." The Ferrari with Vilander behind the wheel took second from Bill Auberlen with 15 minutes remaining, and gained ground on Hawksworth before coming up 1.51-seconds shy of victory. "It was a really good day for our WeatherTech Ferrari prepared by Scuderia Corsa," MacNeil said. "It honestly felt like a win with as fast as the Lexus was today. It did not deter us from pushing hard. I gave everything I had in my stint and Toni did as well. It is nice to be back up on the podium. P2 is a great reward for the team in the never-ending fight for wins. We are going to my home track at Road America in two weeks. Looking forward to that weekend. We'll get back to the drawing board and see how we can make the WeatherTech Ferrari faster." While the race did not count for WeatherTech Championship season points, it served as the second round of the Sprint Cup competition. Next up for Scuderia Corsa is the Road America 120, set for Sunday, August 2, in Elkhart Lake, Wis.