Thick fog continued to blanket the 1.968-mile temporary street circuit in Long Beach, California, for the 32-lap Cart Toyota Atlantic Grand Prix of Long Beach. With the extensive entanglement of cars that ensued in Turn 1 after the Green Flag was waved, lack of visibility due to fog might well have explained away the melee. Not so. Racers were fortunate that the fog lay overhead far enough that their visibility was not impeded. Instead, it would appear that in the second leg of the series and the 20th running of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, Atlantic drivers blazoned the famed track with an unbridled competitive spirit, perhaps a few RPM’s too many. While luck helped to propel some drivers into podium contention as they avoided the pile-up, for others, luck, or more accurately, a lack thereof, ended their race or chance at a podium finish.
For Jonathan Macri, anxious to pilot his new P-1 Racing-NTN Bearings/Miller Genuine Draft Swift 014.a in its maiden race, luck was nowhere to be had as he found himself right in the thick of the melee. The pile-up began after Joey Hand, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Jon Fogarty made contact as they raced three abreast into the first corner, eventually ending up alongside the tire barrier on the outside corner of Turn 1. The rest of the field geared down into avoidance mode, as a result. The #31 car of Gormley, Ontario native Jonathan Macri, was pushed from behind, it would appear, by Rodolfo Lavin, forcing Jonathan to make contact with Ryan Dalziel, who would subsequently go airborne and land on Luis Diaz. Macri would spin out as a result of the incident and make his way to the pit area for repairs, re-entering the race over one minute, and one full lap behind race leader Alex Gurney. He would move up to 19th spot from 25th, where he would finish his day.
“We were looking for some good results here at Long Beach,” Jonathan said. The car ran fairly well in practice, and we were pretty close to getting the set-up dead on. We managed to qualify 7th and I was hoping to push hard for a podium finish. Unfortunately, I was caught in the first corner pile-up and that basically ended our chances. The team really worked well in putting the car back in order. They straightened out my front toe-link and I was on my way. But I had lost too much time to be able to mount any kind of challenge. Almost half the race was run under yellow and there weren’t a lot of passing opportunities. It’s unfortunate, but that’s racing. Sometimes, there isn’t much you can do to avoid getting hit or hitting someone else. That’s why it’s really important, especially on road circuits like Long Beach, to qualify really well, because the chances for pile-ups are pretty high so that the closer you are to the front, the more likely you are to avoid being part of them.”
It’s difficult to find any constellation to Macri’s misfortune at Long Beach. However, the fact that he turned the third quickest time during the race should provide some. No doubt, it is evidence enough to suggest that Jonathan could have run with the fastest and challenge for the podium at Long Beach. Well, “could haves” mean little in open-wheel racing just as they do in most everything else. However, what is meaningful is that speed and skill is transferable from one track to the next. Jonathan has both. Now all he has to do is leave the hard luck behind.
Michael Valiante (Lynx Racing) took the checkered flag for his first career Atlantic victory. Dorricott Racing’s Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty took second and third, respectively. Grant Ryley (Lynx Racing) and Rocky Moran Jr. (Sigma Autosport) rounded out the top five.
In preparation for the Milwaukee Mile (June 02), the 3rd leg of the Series, Macri and Team P-1 Racing-NTN Bearings/Miller Genuine Draft Swift 014.a will be testing in Portland, Oregon, on May 1st, and at Phoenix, Arizona, the following week.
Race Report by Fedele Fortino
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