Today, CART Toyota Atlantic drivers descended on to Chicago Motor Speedway’s one-mile oval. The seventh of a twelve-race Atlantic Championship schedule, and the last oval race of the season, fans were treated to a 65-lap spectacle of open-wheel competition.
Having started in 4th position, Gormley, Ontario’s Jonathan Macri wasted no time in his NTN Bearings Swift, maintaining his position at the start of the race amidst much jockeying for position. Just into his second lap, Macri began his attack on 3rd place driver Rocky Moran Jr, vaulting past Rocky on the same lap. Firmly placed in 3rd position, it was now up to Jonathan to drive a consistent, flawless race, which he did to his credit. However, on lap 54, still in 3rd spot, hard luck hit Macri’s car in the shape of an electrical fault that caused the car to misfire. With teammate Stephan Roy behind him for the entirety of the 53 laps, Jonathan remained unphased. He could keep Stephan from passing since both cars were equally quick but once the electrical misfiring began, the car’s performance dropped significantly enough for Stephan to gain 3rd position. The electrical problem then allowed Martin Basso to pull up on the inside of Jonathan. Running wheel-to-wheel for an entire lap, race commentators and fans were in awe of the action. Jonathan kept his position until race-leader Hoover Orsi was in pursuit from behind, already a lap ahead. Macri decided to end the chase for 5th position and moved on to the inside of the track, to let Orsi by, ending up in 6th place just behind Basso where he would end his day.
“I think we ran a great race today. It hasn’t been the best of weekends for us. We blew an engine in practice this week and blew another engine this morning during warm-up. Luckily, my team really worked hard to replace the engine in time for the race. I can’t thank them enough. They did a fantastic job. The race itself went well. I could see a podium finish today. Running in third for 53 laps, I was feeling comfortable with the car and was under no real pressure from behind. Once the misfiring started, I knew it would be a real problem holding Stephan back because my car really slowed in the straights – same with Basso. Oh well, it’s a bad break, but on the upside, we gained a few points,” Jonathan said.
Gain a few points, he did. Enough in fact to put Jonathan just 5 points away from rookie leader Joey Hand in the Rookie-of-the-Year Standings and into 8th place in the Championship.
The race was won by Hoover Orsi. P-1 Racing team mates Tony Ave and Stephan Roy finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
No doubt, if ever there was an instance when race results failed to tell the whole story, today was that day. Jonathan ran a race worthy of a podium finish. He captured third and held it for the whole of 53 laps, and even with a car that began to under perform significantly because of a misfire, Jonathan still fought to keep his place. Though unsuccessful, he showed real racing grit. Oh yes a podium finish was his today. Hopefully Lady Hard Luck will steer clear of Trois Rivieres, the site of the next Atlantic race – for Jonathan’s sake, anyway.
Report by Fedele Fortino
|
 |