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| July 14, 2002 – Jonathan Macri Clinches 7th at Cleveland For residents of Cleveland living in or around the perimeter of Burke Lakefront Airport, sleeping-in this Sunday morning may not have been the greatest of ideas. The warm, sunny weather that graced Cleveland was too idyllic for anyone to sleep through. If the sunshine could not induce them to rise early and enjoy some summer outdoor activities, than the high-pitched screams emanating from the CART Toyota Atlantic Swift 014.a cars going through their paces in their 9 a.m. early-morning warm-up surely would have done the job. Jonathan Macri was one of the 24 Atlantic drivers pressing hard on the pedal to assess improvements in performance. However, 12th place confirmed the story for Macri and P-1 Racing – NTN Bearings/Miller Genuine Draft/Battlefield Equipment Rentals. Finding the right set-up for the car has been elusive. According to Jonathan, “It’s been one of those weekends. You know, the kind that you want to be done with. We didn’t run that well the whole weekend. We did all we could to get it right, but it just didn’t happen. At a certain point, you know that it’s just not your weekend so you try to salvage what you can. You then focus on surviving it, getting some points and moving on.” “Surviving and “moving on” is just what Jonathan did. He left Cleveland with nine points for 7th place, and just as importantly, he left with a car fully intact. Racing in survival mode, however, Macri still showed some of his magic, as he catapulted to 5th place from an 11th place starting position. “We had an incredible start. For myself, and I’m sure, for every other driver in the field, the race was all about the start and getting a good one. We managed to get into 5th spot at the Green going into Turn 1, but we didn’t have the speed to protect the spot, so I fell back a few places to 7th, and that’s where I finished. It was a decent finish for a difficult weekend.” Ryan hunter-Reay took the win for Hylton Motorsports. The Dorricott duo of Jon Fogarty and Luis Diaz finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Michael Valiante (Lynx Racing) and Rocky Moran Jr. (Sigma Autosport) rounded off the top five. Jonathan Macri currently sits in 6th place after his 7th-place showing in Cleveland, with 72 points, 29 points behind Championship leader Michael Valiante (101 points). Ryan Hunter-Reay’s win puts him into 3rd spot in the Standings, followed by Alex Gurney and Luis Diaz in 4th and 5th, respectively. The CART Toyota Atlantic Championship heads back to Canada for the 9th leg of the 12-race season at Trois-Rivieres. However, Jonathan will be track-side a week before racing Trois Rivieres, when he travels to Vancouver for the Champ car race to participate with a Champ team as part of the CART Development Program. “Following the Champ team through its paces will be a great learning experience,” Jonathan said. It’s a good way to increase visibility, both my own as an Atlantic driver trying to eventually move into CART, and that of the Atlantic Series. I’m really happy to have been given the opportunity to participate and I’m looking forward to being able to observe, first hand, what happens during a CART race.” Race Report by Fedele Fortino |
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