Scuderia Corsa Pulls Out of Mid-Ohio; Focus on Ferrari Challenge

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Scuderia Corsa is the latest team to withdraw from this weekend’s Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio, with Cooper MacNeil set to instead prioritize his Ferrari Challenge North America program.

MacNeil, fresh off last weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, currently leads the Ferrari Challenge championship, which visits WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca this weekend.

It will mark the first WeatherTech Championship event MacNeil has missed since 2016.

MacNeil and co-driver Toni Vilander currently sit ninth in the GT Daytona points standings, 31 points behind leaders Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry.

Scuderia Corsa will have seven Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo 2020 cars entered this weekend for the fifth round of the North American championship.

“We were hoping this conflict would be one of the changes we saw to the calendar, but unfortunately, it was not,” said team principal Giacomo Mattioli said.

“In the past, Cooper has done everything possible to put himself in two places at the same time, but this year, following travel back from Le Mans and with the two races being on different coasts, we felt it was better for him to pick one series for him to concentrate on.

“I know he will miss the competition in IMSA, but Cooper has the opportunity to win a third Ferrari Challenge championship, so he will be in California this weekend trying to continue his 2020 Ferrari Challenge winning streak.

“We will fight through this weekend and continue to compete wherever possible.”

The withdrawal of Scuderia Corsa’s lone Ferrari follows just hours after Porsche pulled both of its GT Le Mans class factory entries due to positive COVID-19 tests from several of its Le Mans team members.

It has reduced the grid for this weekend’s race to 24 cars.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John