MacNeil, Sweedler and Bell drive to plan
Le Mans, France (June 14, 2017) – WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.), Bill Sweedler (Westport, Ct.) and Townsend Bell (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) worked through the team program this evening at Le Mans to complete the first official practice of the race weekend at the Circuit de le Sarthe.
Bell had the first outing in the No. 62 WeatherTech Racing Ferrari 488 GTE-Am car prepared by Scuderia Corsa at 4 p.m. CET. He was followed by Sweedler and MacNeil. The car ran flawlessly for the entire six-hours of practice. The drivers got reacquainted with the circuit and the car and ended the day sixth in GTE-Am with a time of 3:58.511.
“We were getting the car sorted today,” Sweedler said. “We were fine tuning the set-up and getting our compulsory night laps. We are where we were last year and we won the race last year. We are jelling as a team. Cooper is new, but he fits right in and has a lot of confidence in the car. We will do the same tomorrow and be as prepared as we can be for the race on Saturday.”
“The first day was good,” MacNeil said. “All three of us kept the car clean, away from contact and on the track. It is always good when you have a nice clean day of practice. That saves the car and saves the work for the crew. They work hard and don’t need any unnecessary effort going into 24 hours of racing. All three of us ran solid quick laps. I am looking forward to tomorrow.”
“We were getting acclimated to running this new car at night,” Bell said. “I forgot to turn on the cock-pit lights and then shut the headlights off on the Mulsanne going into the first chicane. It is good to thrash through it and get those things out of the way. This place is intimidating at night, it is a completely different world out there when it gets dark. The balance of the Ferrari is terrific. It is a good race car. Just to have the time to make the little mistakes now is helpful.”
