Atlantic
Toronto: Carl Skerlong race report
Contact Puts Skerlong Out in Toronto Toronto, Canada -- Carl Skerlong was forced to retire in Toronto on Sunday but he was still classified 15th at the finish as the Canadian city hosted a wet and wild Round 8 of the 2007 Cooper Tires Presents ...
Edited: Jul 9, 2007, 12:29 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Contact Puts Skerlong Out in Toronto
Toronto, Canada -- Carl Skerlong was forced to retire in Toronto on Sunday but he was still classified 15th at the finish as the Canadian city hosted a wet and wild Round 8 of the 2007 Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda.
A stop-start meeting with treacherous track conditions thanks to torrential rain ended in disappointment for the American rookie as he was taken out of the race under the second full course caution period, contact from behind sending the 18-year-old from Seattle crashing out from a promising ninth place run on the 1.75-mile temporary street circuit.
Skerlong had qualified his #24 King Taco/US RaceTronics Swift-Mazda Cosworth 13th on the grid for Sunday's 50-minute street sprint, his fastest lap a 1m06.451s (95.078mph) to pole-sitter Raphael Matos' 1m05.621s (96.280mph). The reigning Formula TR Pro Series 2000 Champion followed that up with an encouraging outing in Sunday morning's warm-up session, posting the fourth fastest lap time from the 23 car field -- Carl eager to claim his first top-ten finish since last month's fourth round in Portland when he took eighth at the flag.
While consistency has been key to Skerlong's solid season, with points scoring finishes in all but the season-opener placing him ninth overall in the Driver Standings heading into Sunday's race, the Canadian weather threw a curve ball into the proceedings with a downpour welcoming the field as they took the start armed with slick tires. Presented with a full-course caution almost immediately as track conditions caught some drivers out, Carl climbed two spots to 11th before the race was red flagged on lap three to allow the field to pit for rain tires.
At the re-start Skerlong was closing in on his US RaceTronics team-mate, Mexico's David Garza, the duo running in ninth and tenth respectively. Both drivers gained a slot courtesy of incidents further up the field but their running was short lived as a second full-course caution arrived on lap nine. What followed was unprecedented as the pack bunched up behind the safety car. Its deployment caught some off-guard, despite the track's 'yellow' status, with Carl collected violently from behind by Adrian Carrio -- the US RaceTronics racer forced out on the spot but eventually classified 15th overall collecting six more points.
France's Franck Perera won the chaotic 28-lap race, his second consecutive win, followed by America's Jon Edwards and series leader, Brazil's Raphael Matos in third.
"Well looking at the positives I scored points and still hold ninth in the standings," said Skerlong. "It was just nuts out there today. We run well in the wet and we would have been right up there at the end if we hadn't been taken out. It's just one of those things I guess but it's a shame as the team did a great job all weekend. The situation should have been avoided by the other party but it wasn't!"
Round 8 from Toronto will be broadcast on ESPN2 on Wednesday 11th July starting at 5pm EST.
Rounds 9 and 10 of the 2007 Champ Car Atlantic Championship will be hosted at Edmonton's 1.973-mile City Centre Airport, Alberta, Canada, Friday 20th -- Sunday 22nd July
-credit: cskerlong
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Toronto: Race results
Next article Toronto: Team Forsythe race report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Franck Perera
Lamborghini driver Perera joins GRT for Norisring DTM
DTM
DTM
Norisring
Lamborghini driver Perera joins GRT for Norisring DTM
How to overcome mental burnout after your F1 dream has died
GT
GT
How to overcome mental burnout after your F1 dream has died
Last-to-first win for Grasser Lamborghini “even more special”
IMSA
IMSA
Daytona 24
Last-to-first win for Grasser Lamborghini “even more special”
Latest news
Tom Cruise interested in racing ARCA car, per NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
42 min
Tom Cruise interested in racing ARCA car, per NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
3 h
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
4 h
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 4 h
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe