Cart Toyota Atlantic drivers descended onto the 2.238-mile permanent race course at Laguna Seca today to qualify for tomorrow’s Honda Grand Prix of Monterey. Although both the Driver and Rookie-of-the-Year Championships have been decided, the desire and intensity of drivers to win at the famed Laguna Seca track remains undiminished.
In the final race of his rookie season, nineteen-year old Gormley, Ontario driver Jonathan Macri echoed this view after piloting his P1-Racing/NTN Bearings Swift to a 6th place provisional qualifier, .596 seconds off the time set by pace leader Hoover Orsi.
“There’s something really special about racing at Laguna,” Jonathan said. “There’s racing history here and you can feel it. Also, being the last race of the year adds to the excitement. Today didn’t go as well as we hoped. The car was loose and had a lot of over steer, but we found the problem and we’ll be ready for qualifying tomorrow. I’m looking forward to racing here at Laguna. The team has done a great job this year and I couldn’t think of a better way to end the season than with really good results, maybe even a win.”
Joey Hand qualified second. Rocky Moran Jr., David Rutledge, and Jonathan’s P1-Racing team-mate Tony Ave qualified 3rd, 4th and 5th, respectively.
The second qualifying session starts early tomorrow morning, with the race commencing in the afternoon.
Report by Fedele Fortino
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