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| Today, at Chicago Motor Speedway, the 7th round of the Cart Toyota Atlantic Championship kicked off with two test sessions. Jonathan Macri, piloting his NTN Bearings Swift made an early exit with 30 or so minutes remaining in this morning’s two-hour test session after his motor gave way in turn 1 of the one-mile oval, having managed to post the 4th-5th fastest lap times before the unwelcome incident. The P-1 Racing/NTN Bearings team wasted no time refitting the Swift with a fresh motor, managing to finish just in time for the afternoon test session, which witnessed Jonathan place 8th fastest overall, but finishing only 4 tenths of a second off the pace of leader Hoover Orsi (Hylton Motorsports/U.S. Print Swift), who clocked a time of 27.402 seconds. “Lap times were fast,” said Jonathan. We are definitely close to being on pace with the front-runners. The NTN car ran well this morning. We were lapping as high as 4th fastest; unfortunately, my motor blew. The crew did an excellent job installing another engine, and re-setting the car for the afternoon session, but we need to make some more changes, especially to the spring and height set-ups.” Prior to today’s testing, in addition to the adjustments typically made to the car, Jonathan’s team installed a Hand and Neck System (HANS), a devise designed to hold the head and neck in place in the event of a crash. In turn, seat adjustments were made to accommodate Jonathan to the new device. Hoover Orsi was followed in second and third by Jonathan’s team-mates Tony Ave and Stephan C. Roy, with times of 27.490 and 27.548 seconds respectively. Tomorrow, Atlantic drivers will be back on Chicago’s oval to run two practice sessions in preparation for qualifying on Saturday. Report by Fedele Fortino |
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