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| June 2, 2002- Podium Finish for Macri at Milwaukee Mile Today, overcast skies and the threat of rain forced Atlantic officials to wave the green for the 10th running of the fabled Milwaukee Mile 20 minutes ahead of schedule. There were no complaints by teams and drivers who, surely, felt anticipation building throughout the Miller Lite 250 race weekend. So too were Jonathan Macri and P-1 Racing/NTN Bearings Miller Genuine Draft Swift 0.14a eager to start the Milwaukee Mile as they raced for redemption after Jonathan’s unlucky run at Long Beach. The 20 year old Gormley, Ontario racing ace and P-1 Racing were looking to turn a sharp bend towards that straightaway that would put them back on the path for Championship contention. And so it was. Macri ran flawlessly at Milwaukee, protecting his 4th place start position and overtaking Alex Gurney for 3rd spot before the end of the 3rd lap. For the next 40 or so laps, Macri was content to keep pace with the Hylton Motorsports duo of Ryan Hunter-Reay and Roger Yasukawa, all three front-runners creating space between themselves and the rest of the field. The first and only yellow came on lap 44 after race-leader Ryan Hunter-Reay was sidelined by mechanical failure. Macri lost one spot in the confusing re-start to Rodolfo Lavin (Michael Shank Racing), pushing him into 4th from 3rd. However, both Lavin and Macri, being all-too willing beneficiaries of a slowing Alex Gurney passed him – Lavin on the 68th and Macri on the last lap. The chequered flag waved, Macri would finish with a podium position and, Yasukawa would walk away with the first place finish of his rookie career. Rodolfo Lavin would finish 2nd. Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty would round up the top 5 for Dorricott Racing. “Our objective at Milwaukee was simple”, Jonathan said. “We were looking to race clean and, hopefully, to walk away with a top-five finish. We wanted to set ourselves on the right track in preparation for the tight schedule we would be facing in June with 3 more races, two of which are back-to-back. We bettered our expectations with a 3rd place finish and have definitely built a solid foundation for the remainder of the season.” It’s very much a turning point for Macri and P-1 Racing. In 2002, the podium finish came early, in only the third race; whereas in 2001, Macri would have to wait until the 9th race at Road America before he could stand on the podium. “We are really happy with our progress up to this point. The new car was delivered to us just prior to the second race of the year and we’ve been able to achieve success with it in only two races. P-1 Racing has done excellent work on the car and I’m really grateful to them. I am also grateful to my sponsors NTN Bearings, Miller Genuine Draft and my other sponsors. It’s going to be a long, competitive season, so I’m happy to be running at the top this soon. If we want to seriously mount a challenge for the Championship, we’ve got to accumulate points at every race.” Capturing 3rd place at Milwaukee catapults Macri back into the running for the Championship from 14th and only 8 points to 9th and 22 points. Round 4 of the Atlantic Championship Series moves to Laguna Seca June 6. Report by Fedele Fortino |
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