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| June 29, 2002 (Chicago, Ill) – Macri Qualifies 10th at Chicago CART Toyota Atlantic drivers took to Chicago Motor Speedway’s one-mile oval to qualify for Round 6 of the Championship at the CART Grand Prix of Chicago. The 3rd straight year that the city has hosted the race, Chicago marks the mid-point of the 2002 Atlantic season. And how are things stacking-up in the land of open-wheel racing? It has been competitive – very competitive. Jon Fogarty’s hold on the Championship is far from commanding as he leads with 61 points, a mere 2 points more than Michael Valiante. And the rest of the Atlantic field is not far behind at all. In fact, only 23 points separate first and tenth place drivers in the Series. The Championship is wide-open. Drivers know that and will surely race hard tomorrow to move into serious Championship contender-status. Under sunny skies and warm temperatures, Atlantic drivers qualified late afternoon today. For P-1 Racing’s Jonathan Macri, qualifying did not go quite as desired, having piloted his #31 blue NTN Bearings/Miller Genuine Draft/Battlefield Rentals Swift to a 10th place start-grid-finish, after placing 3rd in Friday’s practice session and 6th in this morning’s practice session. Lap times were significantly lower during practice sessions and higher temperatures during qualifying seemed unable to account fully for his performance. “We’ve been struggling with the set-up,” Jonathan said. “We were a lot quicker in practice, but I guess the changes we made to the car didn’t go far in bringing out that extra bit of performance. Instead, we actually lost several spots. But we are all optimistic about our chances. It’s definitely time to refocus on the car’s set-up. We’ll need to get the car as well balanced as we can. We’ll have to take full advantage of warm-up tomorrow morning and get it right. One thing is for sure, we had it configured really well for the practice sessions, so we’ll just have to re-configure the set up to previous specs. Come race time, starting 10th will just mean that I will need to really get a good start and use all the track opportunities to move past traffic. It won’t be easy but at least Chicago provides a lot of passing potential.” Last year, an electrical problem put an end to Jonathan’s Chicago visit. A race that should have ended with a well-deserved visit to the podium finished abruptly on lap 54, with only 11 laps remaining. This year, Macri’s task at Chicago will be more daunting. Starting 10th, he will need to get a good jump off the start and use all the opportunities possible to slice through traffic. Of course, he will need a car that will allow for competitive duelling on Chicago’s oval. Last, Macri will need to have lady luck on his side to stave off any impending threats, mechanical or accidental. Jonathan will be in tough at Chicago. But it’s probably all the better anyway. He has demonstrated the ability to perform well under pressure. Chicago will, no doubt, provide loads of that. Now, Macri will need to ply his trademark grit, controlled aggression and patient skill. Lady luck on his side, it should be exciting to follow the blue #31 car around Chicago’s oval tomorrow. Jonathan currently sits in 10th, tied with Ryan Hunter-Reay (Hylton Motorsports) in the Championship Standings with 38 points apiece. Sunday will see drivers enter onto the track for a 15-minute warm-up at 9:45 AM local time with the 70-lap race beginning at 12:00 PM local time. Report by Fedele Fortino |
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