US RaceTronics starts off first day at Mont Tremblant on a good note
On the heals of an exciting weekend at the Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by LaSalle Bank at Burke Lakefront Airport which saw US RaceTronics (USRT) driver David Garza (#4 Axtel/Tecate/Madisa/USRT) continue his race by race improvement when he garnered an eighth-place finish and Carl Skerlong (#24 King Taco/USRT) steal a twelfth-place finish from Junior Strous (#16 Shell/Best Box/HTP/Red, White & Bluezz USA) by 0.010 seconds, the USRT squad is ready to tackle on the new challenges of the famed Mont Tremblant circuit.
The USRT duo started off this morning's practice session cautiously as both drivers used the time to learn about the difficult and winding track. The crew used the valuable time to obtain the optimal setup package for the qualifying session later that day. The practice session would end with no incidents to report and Garza would finish in the fourteenth spot with a best lap of 1:29.419 while Skerlong would better him with a best lap time of 1:29.174 putting him in the ninth spot.
Qualifying brought with it mixed results as both drivers weren't able to completely capitalize on the lessons learned from the morning practice session. Traffic plagued the duo and they simply were not able to put their perfect laps together. Skerlong entered the qualifying timesheets strong, and managed to stay in the top-ten position throughout the session. At the sixteen minute mark Skerlong pitted to take on new tires and make some minor tweaks to the car. The changes worked and Skerlong was able to vault to the sixth spot but his forward momentum was immediately halted by a Red Flag. The Red was caused Simona De Silvestro (#5 Miauton). Skerlong would not be able to improve on his sixth place time and as the session wore on and times began to improve Skerlong would see his times slip down to the eleventh-spot where he would eventually end up at the end of the session.
For Garza the session was a positive step forward as it represented one of his best qualifying efforts. Garza too would enter the time sheets in the top-10 spot and hang around there for much of the session. The youngster from Monterrey, Mexico would pit at the fifteen minute mark and again during the Red Flag period. Garza's session would be an eventful affair. Towards the closing minutes of the session he saw his time dip below the top-10 spot and looked to be locked but as the last seconds clicked away Garza would put on a last lap effort that saw his time jump to the ninth spot, which is where he would finish.
Carl Skerlong: "I know we had a top 5 car we just couldn't put the perfect lap together. I'm pretty confident with the setup and the car's performance but we'll have to wait for tomorrow to show our potential. I'm confident we'll be there tomorrow; ready to show what we have"
David Garza - "I'm happy with our efforts. The team did a great job and I am happy that the weekend started off this way. I think we will improve on the car for tomorrow and hopefully improve our qualifying spot"
About US RaceTronics: 2007 marks the third year of competition in the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Series for US RaceTronics. Led by former Dorricott Racing Team Manager Shane Seneviratne, US RaceTronics enters the 2007 season with Monterrey Mexico native David Garza and American Carl Skerlong. US RaceTronics is part of Pacific Coast Motorsports Jr. Team program
For more information on US RaceTronics and its partners, visit www.usracetronics.com. You can visit David Garza's website at www.david-garza.com and Carl Skerlong's website at www.cskerlong.com
