With Friday producing mixed feelings, the US RaceTronics (USRT) team was hoping for better results for their drivers.

With hotter temperatures and high humidity, the track was sure to produce faster and more exciting racing.  But the question was can the day finish without a major incident?

The USRT duo of David Garza (#4 Axtel/Tecate/Madisa/USRT) and Carl Skerlong (#24 King Taco/USRT) took a cautious approach to the Saturday morning practice session.  With Skerlong only able to complete a handful of laps yesterday, the youngster used the 45 minute session to learn as much about the track and his car before the critical qualifying session later that day.  Garza, who had a successful qualifying session yesterday, used the morning session as another opportunity to learn and improve his times.  As the session started both Garza and Skerlong entered the charts in the top ten and consistently stayed there throughout the majority of the session.  Both USRT drivers clearly looked as though they were begninng to get comfortable with themselves and their cars.  On their fifth lap Skerlong and Garza were second and third on the time sheets respectively.  On their tenth lap both drivers decided to pit.  At that time Skerlong's speeds were only good to place him tenth and Garza eleventh.   On his pit out lap Garza's car was reported as having smoke emitting from the rear of his car and was ordered to come back and pit so the team could investigate.  After giving the car a look-over the team verified that there was no problem and Garza was released back on track.  As the minutes waned Skerlong hustled his car fifth in the charts and Garza slipped back to the thirteenth spot.

Qualifying would go down as one of the best thus far for the team.  The air was hotter and the humidity continued to rise as the cars prepared for the green flag to start the session.  The drivers wasted no time in showing their determination as both entered the time charts in the top ten spots.  Garza radioed that he was having some handling problems which became evident as his times began to fall, finally resting at seventeenth spot.  On their thirteenth lap Garza and Skerlong both came in for a tire change.  Skerlong was sixth on the charts while Garza followed in the seventeenth spot.  In the final closing minutes,  as the tires reached their maximum temperature,  Skerlong improved his time to forth best and Garza once again improved incredibly to the eleventh spot.

 

For the USRT team this represented the best combined qualifying session for the team.  The string of qualifying bad luck that has relentlessly plagued the team looks to hopefully be a thing of the past.  If anything Houston looks like a great opportunity to change the fortunes of this team.

Carl Skerlong - "I'm real happy with today after yesterday's dual accident day with no track time.  We got up to speed very fast during the practice sessions this morning and I am real happy at getting a second row starting" 

David Garza - "We struggled in the first part, of qualifying which I think we fixed on the new tire run but we got tied up behind slower traffic.  Our last lap was magic again but I don't think we had much of the magic left since I made a mistake on that run which probably cost me a better position.  Tomorrow I want to end top 10.  I'm racing for points and I'm going to race a smart race.

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.