Canadian driver J.F. Veilleux, newcomer to the World Speed Motorsports team, qualified today in the first provisional session for round seven of the CART Toyota Atlantic Championship series in Toronto, Ontario, July 14 – July 16, part of the Molson Indy Toronto, CART FedEx Championship weekend.
Veilleux, of Boucherville, Quebec had his best provisional qualifying finish of his career despite the wet conditions of the track. Rain started falling ten minutes prior to the qualifying session putting a smile on Veilleux’s face. “I like driving in the rain. I’ve always been comfortable running in the wet. We had a great car, thanks to Mike Doyle and the crew. We were running 10th this morning in practice and we knew we had to make some improvements for the first qualifying session. But with the rain it’s such a gamble. At one point in the session we were running as high as 3rd,” said Veilluex, who turned a fast time of 1:22.989 positioning him in the 6th spot for the first provisional qualifying session. “Sixth is the best qualifying position I’ve ever had in my career.”
Veilleux, most recently finished ninth and tenth, respectively, in the first two rounds of the Atlantic series earlier this year at Homestead-Miami Speedway while driving for Michael Shank Racing. However, teammate Akihiro Asai did not make the qualifying session due to an incident that occurred this morning in practice, “I was coming out of the hairpin into Turn 5 and went too deep into the brakes. I slid on a concrete patch and hit the wall. That turn is really unforgiving,” said a disappointed Asai.
Veilleux and Asai set the 10th and 11th fastest times in practice this morning. Veilleux ran a 1:09.082 and Asai turned a time of 1:09.155.This weekend’s CART Toyota Atlantic activities begin Friday, July 14, with Atlantic practice at 9:30 a.m., followed by the first qualifying session at 1:45 p.m. Saturday, July 15 commences with Atlantic practice at 8:00 a.m. followed by the second qualifying session at 11:30 a.m. Race day, Sunday, July 16, begins with a 15 – minute warm-up session at 8:00 a.m., before the start of the 35-lap Atlantic race at noon.
The Toronto race will be televised on CTV Sportsnet Monday, July 24 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern and RDS, Saturday July 29 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. ESPN2 and ESPN International will also televise the race, Sunday, July 23 at 10:00 a.m.