FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, Texas - May 1, 2024 – British racer Liam McNeilly exits Barber Motorsports Park's USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire rounds in a solid third position in the championship standings.

The two-day event started last Thursday with two test sessions, followed by one practice. For qualifying, the 27 cars field was split into two separate groups; McNeilly qualified in group two, obtaining a commendable 4th position with a time of 1:25.8797, which positioned him 7th for the start of Race 1 the next day.

McNeilly showed a strong paced for Friday’s early warm-up session, placing him 1st in the time tables. For Race 1, he continued displaying pace and consistent laps which quickly moved him from 7th to 6th within only 2 laps. By lap 5, he was up to 5th position and closing in on 4th. Unfortunately, the second half of the race was peppered with incidents, including a big crash soon after a restart with 17 laps in the books when 3rd and 4th place had a contact while fighting for position. Thankfully, the state-of-the-art safety systems of the Tatuus JR-23 ensured no one was hurt. The race was flagged shortly after with 19 of the 20 laps completed; McNeilly finished 4th.

The grid for Race 2 was set according to each driver’s second-fastest lap during Thursday’s qualifying, which put McNeilly starting 4th. Unfortunately an early contact took McNeilly out of the race.

Liam McNeilly said, “A solid Weekend at Barber. We struggled with a bit of pace in qualifying but managed to dial the car in for warmup on Friday morning, and set the fastest lap over the 2 days. So the pace was there. We picked up some good points in race 1 finishing P4 but had an unfortunate DNF in race 2. Big thanks to Jay Howard Driver Development they worked so hard to get the car in the window throughout the 2 days. A couple months off now, we reset and go again at VIR.”

Provisional championship points after five of 16 races:

1. Sebastian Wheldon, 130

2. Ariel Elkin, 123

3. Liam McNeilly, 101

4. Max Taylor, 92

5. Augusto Soto-Schirripa, 78

6. Jack Jeffers, 74

7. Leandro Juncos, 58

8. Ayden Ingratta, 48

9. Evan Cooley, 47

10. Joao Vergara, 47

Next on the schedule for Liam McNeilly is an open test at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on May 15-16, followed by a tripleheader race event at VIRginia International Raceway on June 14-16. For more information on this upcoming event, click here.

Photo credits: Speed Group  / Gavin Baker Photography