WeatherTech Racing to Start Sebring 12 Hours Fifth in GTD

WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.), Leh Keen (Charleston, S.C.) and Gunnar Jeannette (Salt Lake City, Utah) will start the 64th running of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida from the third row in GTD.

The trio worked tirelessly with the team all day Thursday and into the evening on the setup of the No. 22 WeatherTech Racing Porsche. The Alex Job Racing crew put in a long night to sort a brake issue just in time for the 15-minute qualifying session this afternoon. On his fifth lap of the 3.7-mile, 17-turn central Florida circuit, Keen posted a lap time of 2:03.241. The time will have him starting in the third row behind the No. 23 team car. With a possibility of rain in the forecast for tomorrow afternoon, the team is poised to give Alex Job Racing, who was inducted into the Sebring Hall of Fame this afternoon, their 11th Sebring win.

"We struggled quite a bit yesterday with the car," Keen said. "The Alex Job guys took the front of the car off last night, rebuilt it and it was a lot better this morning. I am happy with fifth from where we were yesterday. Our team car is just ahead of us. We are the top qualifying Porsches. I am pretty happy from where we come from yesterday to this afternoon. If it rains that will be great. It mixes things up, Cooper, Gunnar and I like the rain. Alex and his team are always strong in this race, so I am looking forward to tomorrow."

MacNeil has a comfortable Porsche to drive.

"I ran some good laps this morning, I spent about 30-minutes in the car," MacNeil said. "The car was comfortable and fun to drive. It looks like there will be some rain tomorrow afternoon. The Porsche is a good car in the rain and our team knows how to setup the GT3R for those conditions so we are all good."

Jeannette is ready for some rain.

"I have not done as many laps as I would have liked, but that is always the case here," Jeannette said. "We had some issues yesterday, but I think Leh just proved in qualifying that we solved them, so I am happy about that aspect. The Alex Job cars qualified fourth and fifth, which is a good start for Sebring. We will keep it clean and see what happens when night falls. When this place gets wet, it can be a pretty messy affair. If it does rain, let's hope it isn't too terrible. This track is very challenging in the wet."

"We had to work through some issues yesterday and last night," Team Owner Alex Job said. "This morning the car was confidence inspiring and Leh did a nice job in qualifying. There is rain in the forecast for Saturday afternoon, so we are planning on a mix of weather conditions. It would be nice to cap off a good weekend of celebrating the team being inducted into the Sebring Hall of Fame with our 11th win."

Follow the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship from Sebring, Florida on IMSA.com, IMSA Radio and on television on March 16 at 7 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 2, on March 17 at 12 a.m. on FOX Sports 1 continuing at 2 p.m. on FOX Sports 1.

Contact:

kyle@kcapr.com

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