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| Today, the historic 4.048-mile permanent road course at Road America hosted its 8th CART Toyota Atlantic race since 1990. The 10th leg of the 2002 Atlantic season, with several drivers still vying for the Championship, the intense open-wheel competition continued at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. As the result of a weak qualifying session Saturday, twenty-year-old Jonathan Macri, piloting the P-1 Racing-NTN Bearings/Miller Genuine Draft Swift 014.a, was relegated to starting Road America in 14th position. Jonathan, however, made a rapid advance on the first lap passing three cars on the outside of the first corner. Macri then captured 10th spot passing on the inside of corner three. By the end of the first lap, a full course yellow was waved. After the race went to green, it was not long before another full course yellow was shown once again. The flag emerged a total of four times throughout the race. Macri moved to 8th after two drivers made contact in front of him. He would end the race in 7th as a result of Rocky Moran’s (Sigma Autosport) early exit resulting from contact with Luis Diaz (Dorricott Racing). “The car drove pretty well,” Jonathan said. “It under steered exiting out of corners, but I was able to get by a few cars on the first lap. Unfortunately, I couldn’t gain much momentum with the number of full course yellows shown. Seventh isn’t bad, though, since we walked away with some points. We’re still struggling with the car’s set-up. We have been struggling with it all weekend. Hopefully, we’ll resolve the problems for Montreal.” It was a Dorricott sweep today at Road America with Luis Diaz capturing first while team mates Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney clinched 2nd and 3rd. Michael Valiante (Lynx Racing), who is still in the Championship lead with 135 points, and Joey Hand rounded off the top five. Jonathan retained his 7th place position in the Championshp Standings with 81 points. Second place driver Jon Fogarty (Dorricott Racing) decrased the gap between himself and leader Michael Valiante to 13 points. Alex Gurney and Luis Diaz hold third and fourth. Fifth in the Standings is Ryan-Hunter Reay for Hylton Motorsports. The CART Toyota Atlantic moves to Montreal this weekend to make its final stop in Canada. Race Report by Fedele Fortino |
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