ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Atlantic Championship series driver Carl Skerlong did something new on Friday, but it wasn’t anything he’s happy about.
Skerlong, of Mukilteo, Wash., will start outside the top-four positions for the first time all season, after turning a best lap of 2:00.486 (120.950 mph) in qualifying for Saturday’s Race #1 of the Road Race Showcase doubleheader at Road America.
Skerlong’s will start ninth after turning a best lap time of 2 minutes, .486 seconds in the No. 14 King Taco entry from Pacific Coast Motorsports.
I’m pretty disappointed with my qualifying results today,” Skerlong said. “I was hoping to be in the top five, but instead I ended up ninth. I think we are getting on the right track with the car, but we still have a lot of work to do for (Saturday’s) race if we want to finish on the podium.”
Rookie driver Dane Cameron scored his first career Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda pole position, clocking a best lap of 1:59.190 (122.265 mph) in the No. 19 MAZDASPEED/Finlay Motorsports/Lynx Racing car for Genoa Racing,
As he also did for Race #1 of the Edmonton doubleheader last month—which he went on to win—American Jonathan Bomarito will start second for Race #1 at Road America tomorrow thanks to a best qualifying lap at 1:59.576 (121.871 mph) in the No. 26 Del Taco/Stone Brewing/Discount Tire/RLM Investments entry for Mathiasen Motorsports. Bomarito heads into Saturday’s race having finished inside the top six in four of the season’s five races, and he earned his first career Atlantic victory at Road America two years ago.
Points leader James Hinchcliffe will start third in the No. 3 Indeck/Tire Rack/NOCO machine for Forsythe/Pettit Racing with a best qualifying lap at 1:59.871 (121.571 mph). It is the Canadian’s fifth top-five starting spot of the year and he has finished all five races this far inside the top-10. He heads into Saturday’s race looking for his second victory of the season.
Simona De Silvestro joins Hinchcliffe on Row 2 in the No. 34 Nuclear Clean Air Energy/NEI/Entergy machine for Newman Wachs Racing. De Silvestro turned a best lap at 1:59.889 (121.552 mph) to secure her best starting spot since she qualified second for the season-opening race at Long Beach, which she won.
De Silvestro’s Newman Wachs teammate, Jonathan Summerton, completed the top five with a lap at 1:59.907 (121.534 mph) in the No. 36 Newman Wachs Racing entry. The American goes into Saturday’s race carrying the momentum of his first career victory in Atlantic competition, which he scored in Race #2 of the Edmonton doubleheader two weeks ago.
Skerlong’s Pacific Coast Motorsports teammate, former actor Frankie Muniz, qualified 16th.
“Today wasn’t a very good day for me. I felt like it was going well, but I’m disappointed with my result,” Muniz said. “Drafting is important on this track, and I was running by myself for most of the time. I am disappointed with 16th and my goal is to break into the top-ten, but at least we have another shot
(Saturday).”
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