Monterrey, Mexico (March 24, 2003) - Expectations for the first leg of the 2003 CART Toyota Atlantic season ran high this past Sunday in Monterrey, Mexico. Drama-filled qualifying sessions that took place Friday and Saturday laid the groundwork for what would be a race that delivered hard, fast, wheel-to-wheel excitement. By the time the checkered flag waved to signal the completion of his inaugural outing with Polestar Atlantic, LLC, Jonathan Macri would leave his tire-slicked imprint on Fundidora Park’s 2.1-mile racetrack as he piloted his #84 NTN/Toyota Swift home to a second-place finish.
Slotting himself in sixth spot on the starting grid after posting a second session qualifying time of 1:25.596 seconds (142.407 Kph), the 20-year-old Gormley, Ontario native would need to call upon some magical maneuvering to join the front of the pack. However, contact between pole sitter Luis Diaz and third place starter A.J. Allmendinger would see Jonathan running up front in third position after passing Danica Patrick. The subsequent departure of second-place holder Joey Hand on Lap 8 due to mechanical problems would further clear the way for Macri to race for first. Now in second place, however, Jonathan would need to stave off Danica who was making a charge throughout the middle portion of the race. Macri managed to put to rest the threat eventually building a three-second cushion between himself and Patrick by the latter stage of the race. His focus throughout the final 10 laps, however, would rest squarely on bringing down the five-second gap between himself and Michael Valiante, running in first. With each lap, Macri’s consistency in laying down fast laps would see him cut into Valiante’s 5.5-second lead. He put down his fastest lap of the race on lap 30 with a blistering time of 1:25.114 seconds, moving him within two seconds of Valiante. Throttle fully pressed, lap 31 saw Macri further narrow the gap to one second. He crossed the line at a mere .448 seconds behind Valiante, and 4.826 seconds ahead of Patrick.
“It’s an extremely good feeling to start off the year on a high note. Qualifying didn’t go as well as we would have liked, so we were looking to move up from our sixth-place start during the race,” Jonathan said. “Being the first race of the year, drivers were really anxious. The initial delay in the race, as a result of the contact, just added to the anxiety. So, at the start I was looking to make it through the first corner without incident. I managed to get past Danica going into the first hairpin. I started moving on Joey, who seemed to be experiencing some gearbox problem and got past him two laps down. The car handled really well and just seemed to be getting better with each lap. This allowed me to really cut the gap between Michael and myself. We needed a few more laps, unfortunately, to challenge Michael for the lead. But, it feels good finishing second, especially considering that the team came together late. The hard work that we put into the race paid off and we’ll be looking to build on our success. We’re a new team with a lot more speed to show. I owe a lot to Polestar for giving me a great car to drive. Team owner Paul Kiebler, co-owner and engineer Jim Griffith, engineer Bruce Potter, team manager Pam Griffith and crew members Jason Robb, Constantin Gheorghe and Mike Johnson did an excellent job. Coming second is great confirmation for the team and myself that we’re on track. It’s also a nice way to reward my sponsor NTN Bearings for all their support. There are fewer cars than last year, but there are a good number of drivers, at least eight, who could come out a winner in any given race. This season will definitely be a real challenge, but we’re up to it. We’ll be testing at Buttonwillow April 7 and are looking forward to racing at Long Beach April 13.”
A couple of observations can be easily deduced from the first-leg of the 2003 season, the Tecate/Telmex Monterrey Grand Prix in Fundidora Park. First, considering the tight competition fielded this year, predicting who will capture the Championship will be tough. Second, Jonathan Macri and Polestar Atlantic have proven their racing potency. A perfect combination of team and driver, open-wheel fans and experts should delight in having had the opportunity to see this newly formed team lay down their challenge to all teams and drivers alike. |
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