Montreal, Quebec, Canada (August 23, 2003) - Jonathan Macri, driver of the #84 NTN Bearings swift, made the best out of his weekend by continuing to fight for positions. Early in the weekend, Macri was plagued with car trouble causing him to take 9th place in the provisional qualifier. Fortunately, he and his team were able to iron out the difficulties and come back with a much better time on Sunday morning, pushing him into 8th position for Saturday afternoon’s Molson Indy Montreal.
When the green flag waved at 3:25 p.m. to start the race, Macri did what he does best by taking the outside of the track while the pack of cars moved to the inside. This maneuver allowed him to move up to the 5th position. Jonathan was able to hold there until five laps before the checkered flag when Joey Hand (#27 DSTP) was able to get a run on Macri. "I had an awesome start as I moved up from the 8th position to the 5th. It would have been nice to have finished there, but Joey (Hand) got me in the hairpin", Macri commented. "I had to fight to get back up today."
A rather uneventful race between the top three cars, racing fans were treated to dramatic moments as Macri, Joey Hand and Danica Patrick (#24 Team Rahal), alternating between 5th, 6th and 7th postions, remained close turn by turn. In the final lap of the race (lap 25), Patrick passed Macri heading into Turn 10. A true competitor, Macri reclaimed the 6th position from her heading down the stretch into Turn 12 with seconds left to the finish line. "Today’s finish is a result of our poor qualifying session which put us further back on the grid than what we would have liked. I am glad I was able to move up to where I did and I will I continue to just do my best and at the end of the day try and get the best of results", Macri stated.
With today’s finish, Macri holds the 3rd position with Michael Valiante of Burnaby, B.C., Canada with 124 overall points in the Toyota Atlantic Championship standings. Macri is currently 22 points behind second place Ryan Dalziel of Scotland.
The 27-lap race in Montreal, Quebec was televised with a 45 minute delay on the Speed Channel, with re-broadcasting occurring next week. Check your local listings for dates and times. Round 11 of the 2003 Toyota Atlantic Championship takes place in Colorado for the Grand Prix of Denver on Sunday, August 31.
To track Macri’s race results, log on to www.jonathanmacri.com. To schedule an interview with Jonathan, please contact Kate Unger of All Sports Publicity at 602-750-1720. For further information on the Toyota Atlantic series, go online to www.toyotaaatlantic.com.
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