Ominous clouds hovered over Road America threatening to wash out today’s official Cart Toyota Atlantic qualifying session. The rain fell, but late in the session; lucky for Atlantic drivers looking to improve upon yesterday’s provisional qualifying results. No doubt, Gormley, Ontario rookie Jonathan Macri thanked the heavens. Finishing 8th at yesterday’s qualifier, Macri needed today’s session to post the quicker qualifier he knew he was capable of in his NTN Bearings/P-1 Racing Swift. And so he did, qualifying in 4th position, with a lap time of 2:02.624, only 2 tenths of a second slower than the number two sitter, David Rutledge, and one second off Atlantic Championship leader Hoover Orsi, who captured the pole.
“We showed very well here today,” Jonathan said. I wasn’t happy with yesterday’s results, and I knew that we could clock significantly faster times. The possibility of rain worried me; I didn’t want the official qualifier cancelled. Luckily, everything panned out. The weather held and I was given a car that ran really well. I just want to thank the members of my NTN Bearings/P-1 Racing team for their excellent effort: Willy Opplinger, my engineer, Kenny Wilden, my driver coach, and my mechanics, otherwise known in the Atlantic circuit as ‘The French Connection’, Alex, Jacques, and Hubert. We did well today and look forward to tomorrow’s race. Road America is a lot of fun to drive. It provides many great passing opportunities, and cars can virtually run three-wide in the straights. It’s definitely an exciting track to drive.”
P-1 Racing team mate Tony Ave finished 6th, exiting early with engine problems and rookie newcomer Kasey Kahne, who replaced Stephan C. Roy, qualified 14th.
Going into Road America, Jonathan currently holds 6th position in the Championship standings and sits in 3rd place in the Rookie-of-the-Year standings.
When asked about his strategy for tomorrow’s race, Jonathan answered simply: “To start well, get into a good racing rhythm, and rack up as many points as possible.”
The long, daunting track awaits Atlantic drivers tomorrow. Jonathan’s crackling 4th place qualifying position might well spring him onto the podium, a place he well deserves to make his first of many visits to.
Report by Fedele Fortino
|
 |