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Skerlong qualifies 3rd for Edmonton opener
Posted
at
7:25 pm
by Scott Whitmore
I pieced the following together from a bunch of press releases I received:
"EDMONTON, Alberta — Four for four.
Atlantic Championship driver Carl Skerlong of Mukilteo, Wash., kept his streak of strong qualifying runs alive Thursday with a lap of 1 minute, 6.302 seconds, good enough for third-place starting spot in the first race of a Cooper Tires Presents the Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda doubleheader at the Rexall Edmonton Indy.
Skerlong has started from a fourth-or-better position for all four Atlantic races this season. He heads into Friday’s race looking for his third straight podium finish and his first career series victory.
“Being back at Edmonton, first of all, is awesome,” Skerlong said. “It’s a great place to race. It’s really an unusual track. To come back after another month-long break and be in the top three is definitely a good feeling.”
Just as he did last year, Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe will start from the pole position for the first race of the doubleheader. He clocked a best lap at 1:05.910 to score his second pole of the season in Thursday afternoon’s qualifying session at the 1.973-mile Rexall Speedway.
Hinchcliffe is joined on the front row by American Jonathan Bomarito, who recorded a lap of 1:06.053. The Californian started April’s season-opener at Long Beach from the pole position and has finished inside the top six in two of his three starts this season.
Starting next to Skerlong will be rookie Dane Cameron, who also picked up a series-best starting position with a lap at 1:06.327. Cameron’s previous best starting spot was eighth at Mont-Tremblant.
Frankie Muniz, Skerlong’s Pacific Coast Motorsports teammate, qualified an Atlantic career-best 14th with a lap of 1:07.453.
“I felt good in this morning’s practice. I was relaxed and handled the car really well, finishing P9,” Muniz said. “I pushed really hard in (the afternoon) qualifying session and overdrove the car when I should have been relaxing, but it was hard for me to do that when I am trying so hard.”
Skerlong also felt that his morning practice run may have led to a higher qualifying spot, but he maintained a focus on the big picture.
“It’s not exactly where we wanted to be after this morning’s practice. I definitely thought we had a car to be on top,” Skerlong said. “But you’ve got to take what you can get. If I can get top threes all year, fine. You can definitely win a championship with top threes all year.”
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