CART Toyota Atlantic Championship series newcomer Akihiro Asai let the World Speed contingent at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve today by virtue of his 11th place finish. Teammate Pete Mercier’s day ended on lap 19 after contact with an outside retaining wall resulted in 25th overall.
“I’m real happy about today,” said Asai, who started from the 19th spot. “I enjoyed the race and had a lot of fun passing. Our times were much better today, we had more speed and the car was better. I found some of the tricks of the track and feel much more comfortable now. At one point after the re-start, I was going into the hairpin and everyone started going off. I ended up driving into the gravel pit, but luckily it wasn’t that deep. I knew if I stopped I wouldn’t be able to get back into the race. Once I got around the pack, I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed the race. We moved up a lot of positions and passed a lot of people. Cleveland will be another critical course for me to learn, especially since a lot of the drivers already have experience there.”
Unfortunately for Mercier, his day was quite the opposite. “It just didn’t go my way today,” said Mercier, who began the race from the 15th starting position. “I got in the car. I hit the wall. The race was over. That pretty much summarizes my race today. I feel terrible for the team. I’m looking forward to Cleveland.”
Asai picked up his first two Atlantic championship points by virtue of his finish today. David Rutledge won the race followed by Andrew Bordin and Dan Wheldon.
Today’s race will be televised via espn2 on Saturday, June 24, at 2:30 pm Eastern. Round six of the 12-race 2000 CART Toyota Atlantic season continues on Sunday, July 2, at the Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland in Cleveland, Ohio, part of the CART FedEx Championship weekend.