Atlantic
Montreal: Josh Hunt race notes
Early Exit For Speedy Hunt Wright Patton Shakespeare supported driver Josh Hunt was amongst the fastest drivers during practice and warm up for last weekend's eleventh round of the Toyota Atlantic Championship in Montreal, Canada. The ...
Published: Aug 30, 2004, 2:11 PM
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Early Exit For Speedy Hunt
Wright Patton Shakespeare supported driver Josh Hunt was amongst the fastest drivers during practice and warm up for last weekend's eleventh round of the Toyota Atlantic Championship in Montreal, Canada.
The 19-year-old Queenslander sat on top of the time sheets during opening practice in wet conditions. He then continued this form to again qualify inside the top ten and be the fifth fastest driver during the race morning warm up.
"Everything was perfect during the sessions where I was up the front and I wasn't pushing too hard, there was still more left in the car," said Hunt.
"We missed the set up in one of the qualifying sessions a little but apart from that it was a great feeling to be so competitive, and had a lot of confidence entering the race" said Hunt.
After starting from the inside fifth row Hunt dropped outside the top ten during the opening lap in the largest field assembled so far during this year's Championship.
With the job ahead of him Hunt began to close the gap to recover the position he lost at the start by setting some impressive lap times as the tyres were still coming up to temperature.
In a matter of laps Hunt had began to move up the order but his joy was short lived when he ran wide exiting a turn forcing him into the concrete wall. While the impact wasn't large it was enough to end what appeared to be developing as very promising run for Hunt.
"I was pushing very hard as I was disappointed with myself that I had lost the position at the start, unfortunately I pushed a little too hard and ended up in the fence," said Hunt.
"Exiting the turn I ran wide skimming the wall and I couldn't straighten the car up before it gripped and forced the front end into the concrete, to say I was disappointed with the result is an understatement but I have learnt from it.
"The pace I showed during practice and warm up was great and I was confident that we would have been able to climb up the order significantly as the race progressed, however I have to now show what I can do at the final round in Laguna Seca."
The final round of the Championship will be held on September 12 at the famous Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca road course.
Jon Fogarty won the eleventh round of the Toyota Atlantic Championship leading from flag to flag ahead of Ryan Dalziel and Alex Figge.
Hunt is the first Australian to compete in the Toyota Atlantic Series since fellow Queenslander David Besnard in 1999 and has received major support from Wright Patton Shakespeare Financial Group, which is owned by Gold Coast businessman Craig Gore, and Champ Car World Series Co-Owner and Aussie Kevin Kalkhoven.
All Toyota Atlantic cars are manufactured by Swift Engineering and powered by a 1600cc Toyota engine 240 horsepower producing speeds in excess of 160 mph (260 kmh) while using a 15-inch diameter lightweight aluminium wheels mounted with Yokohama tyres.
Run in conjunction with the tenth round of the Champ Car World Series, this is the 31st year of competition for the Toyota Atlantic Championship and is regarded as the premier training ground for the future stars of the sport.
The Toyota Atlantic race at Montreal is the eleventh of 12 rounds in the Championship. All 12 scheduled races this year will be run in conjunction with Champ Car World Series events on tracks that include road courses and ovals, as well as street and airport circuits with eight rounds in America, one in Mexico and three in Canada.
-jhr-
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