Qualifying for the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin, saw Cart Toyota Atlantic drivers run full throttle around its 1.032-mile oval in preparation for the 70-lap, 72-mile race tomorrow. For Jonathan Macri, piloting his P-1 Racing/NTN Bearings Miller Genuine Draft Swift 014.a, qualifying would surely answer that question that must have nagged at his brain: “Do we have it right?” No doubt, it must have, and with good reason, as the three practice sessions held in the past two days left the team slightly off kilter as they were able to manage no better than 12th in the Friday morning and afternoon practice sessions and a humble 10th in the Saturday morning test session. Well, Jonathan’s 4th place qualifier Saturday afternoon put all doubt to rest. After struggling to find the proper set-up that seemed to have evaded them during the past two days of testing, P-1 Racing put it right. Jonathan lapped the Milwaukee Mile in a time of 25.233 seconds (147.236 mph), 0.471 seconds off race leader R. Hunter-Reay (Hylton Motorsports), and only 0.023 seconds behind third place qualifier R. Yasukawa (Dorricott Racing). Jonathan’s 4th place qualifier was as much a relief for him as it was for his team, to say nothing about feeling vindicated, which they did for all their effort.
“We really worked hard this weekend, but we didn’t get the results in testing,” Jonathan said. “Obviously, we felt a little frustrated when we saw that the changes made to the car weren’t being translated onto the track, but the team persisted. The times were tight between third and tenth, and my team-mate, Dave Cutler, was running in the top five consistently, so we knew we weren’t that far off and that we were moving in the right direction. The changes made to the car were not drastic. Only small adjustments were made to wing angles, ride height and shock setting among other things but they were enough to make a real improvement in lap times. The car felt good and I was comfortable running flat out. The team did an excellent job. We’ll make some changes to the car during the morning session tomorrow from the qualifying-session set-up. Racing at 152 mph on an oval, things happen extremely fast, so you’ve got to be aware of what’s happening around you at all times. We’ll be looking to run a clean race, to stay out of trouble, especially for the first few laps, until things open up.”
A 4th place start should see Macri race for a podium finish at Milwaukee tomorrow. After experiencing the hard luck that befell him at Long Beach, a podium position would be fitting for Macri and P-1 Racing.
The 10th running of the Milwaukee Mile for the Cart Toyota Atlantic Championship takes place tomorrow at 3:00p.m. EST.
Report by Fedele Fortino
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