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| Gormley, Ontario, Canada. The CART-Toyota Atlantic series moves to Milwaukee this May 31-June 2 weekend for the 2001 running of the Milwaukee Mile. Gormley Ontario’s Jonathan Macri, the 2000 Canadian Formula Ford Champion, is gunning for a podium finish at Milwaukee. The third stage in his rookie season in the CART-Toyota Atlantic series, Jonathan, piloting the NTN Bearings Swift, has been steadily improving on his results, finishing a respectable 8th place at Long Beach and 4th place at Nazareth. “Our goal at Long Beach was to simply finish. At Nazareth, we pushed for a top five finish, which we accomplished. This weekend at Milwaukee, though, we are looking for our first podium finish”, the 19 year-old Canadian racing ace said. In fact, both races gave Jonathan the opportunity to display his acute racing prowess. At Long Beach, after qualifying 9th on the starting grid, Jonathan raced wheel to wheel with Rodolfo Lavin and Rocky Moran, passing Moran with just 4 laps remaining. At Nazareth, Jonathan continued demonstrating his keen racing abilities by overtaking Joey Hand for 5th place right at the start, and Stephan Roy at the first re-start, just a few laps into the race. According to Jonathan, the car is performing well, and testing at Buttonwillow Raceway Park, California, last week gave the team a chance to re-configure the car’s handling characteristics, resulting in a superior oval set-up. “We changed the suspension package,” Jonathan said. “The NTN car is handling better now and I think the crew has done a great job in improving the car’s performance.” We have a great base-line set-up, and feel we will be very competitive at Milwaukee.” This will be Jonathan’s first race at Milwaukee’s one-mile oval. However, having raced at Nazareth, Jonathan believes he has gained valuable experience racing ovals. In addition, unlike Nazareth where each corner is different, therefore forcing a driver to significantly adjust his approach, the corners at Milwaukee are very similar, Jonathan indicated. A new race track, a new prediction. A podium finish? I think so. Give him the car and Jonathan will do the rest. Watch for Macri at Milwaukee. |
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