Trio of U.S.-related Le Mans notes revealed

April 19, 2018

Trio of U.S.-related Le Mans notes revealed

April 19, 2018

As the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has a couple weeks off until its next race, the Acura Sports Car Challenge at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on May 6, a few teams have made announcements of their plans for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

MACNEIL, WEATHERTECH BACK AT LE MANS

Cooper MacNeil will return to Le Mans for his fifth attempt (fourth start) at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, sharing the No. 84 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE with past Le Mans GTE-Am class winner Jeff Segal and Liam Griffin.

MacNeil stood on the podium for the first time at Le Mans last year, co-driving in the GTE-Am class with Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell driving for Scuderia Corsa. Now, they’ll join the JMW team which won the race in class last year.

“I’m excited about heading back to Le Mans, especially after being on the podium there last year,” MacNeil said. “We definitely have some unfinished business over in France. We came close [to winning] last year with a third place finish. But, the JMW Ferrari was too quick for us to catch, as was the second place car. So, we settled for third, which was a great result for us.”

Segal raced alongside MacNeil at Daytona this year in Scuderia Corsa’s No. 63 Ferrari 488 GT3, and they finished 10th in the GT Daytona class.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back to Le Mans,” Segal said. “I have some really good memories from there. I got a podium in the first try and a win in the second [try]. It was great to be a part of the WeatherTech Racing effort last year and to help get the team on the podium. We’re looking for good things. I’m excited to be with last year’s race-winning team JMW and back in a Ferrari. I’m excited to see what it brings this year.”

RISI, KEATING REVEAL LIVERY

Risi Competizione is unsure of its next start in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition, but it will be back at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans in partnership with Keating Motorsports.

Jeroen Bleekemolen, Ben Keating and Luca Stolz will share the No. 85 Ferrari 488 GTE in the GTE-Am class. Like the JMW Ferrari, it also has WeatherTech support and signage. The same trio raced together in Keating’s No. 33 Mercedes-AMG GT3 in GTD at Daytona and Sebring this year, finishing fourth and third in the GT Daytona class.

CORVETTE CONFIRMS THIRD DRIVERS

Mike Rockenfeller (No. 63) and Marcel Fassler (No. 64) reprise their roles as third drivers with Corvette Racing to round out that team’s lineup at Le Mans. This also completes the full entry list in GTE-Pro. It was close to complete a couple weeks ago when Ferrari named its extra drivers to the trio of AF Corse 488 GTEs.

This ends a streak of six consecutive Le Mans that Jordan Taylor will race in for Corvette Racing. The younger Taylor brother won the GTE-Pro class in 2015, co-driving with Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner.

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