Laguna Seca: Hinchcliffe secures top spot in 2nd Qualifying

Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe, proving yesterday's qualifying session wasn't a fluke, served notice to his competition by taking the pole position in today's 2nd qualifying session for Sunday’s second round of the 2008 Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. This will first time since Round 9 of the 2007 Atlantic Championship at Edmonton that Hinch will start from the pole.

Already guaranteed a front-row starting position by capturing the provisional pole on Friday, Hinchcliffe took it a step further on Saturday by setting a new Atlantic track record with a lap at 1:16.189 (105.748 mph) around the 2.238-mile permanent road circuit.

“It’s been since Edmonton since we’ve been on the front row and it was a poor end to last season and a poor start to this one, so it’s kind of nice to finally be back up here,” Hinchcliffe said. “We didn’t really test well here, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect and obviously, Long Beach didn’t go well, so I think the whole team was thinking that, for us, the season really starts here. Long Beach was just a test that they gave points away for some reason. This is us getting back on track now and we’re really looking forward to it. The team has done such a good job and the guys did so much work between the first race and here to get us back up to speed. I feel bad for David (Garza), because he didn’t really get a good lap on the new tires, but he was really quick as well. The team did a great job. I’m just really looking forward to tomorrow now.”

In a reversal of fortunes, Pacific Coast Motorsports driver Carl Skerlong came back from a horrible Friday qualifying session where he was unable to post any time, to qualifying second for Sunday's race, bringing the #14 King Taco entry across the line with a time of 1:16.356 (105.516 mph)

“I definitely hit both ends of the spectrum this weekend,” Skerlong said. “I went from last on the sheet to almost the top, but some Canadian had to get in the way, but that’s all right. We were quick here in testing and to come back and be able to start on the front row is where we want to be. It’s not first, but it’s definitely a lot better than where we were yesterday. I have to thank everybody at Pacific Coast and King Taco and everybody who helped us get this far throughout last year and this year. It’s looking like it’s going to be a good season.”

Quebec’s Kevin Lacroix, who was second in yesterday's session, will start on the second row, posting a best qualifying lap of 1:16.364 (105.505 mph) run. Lacroix enjoyed a third-place finish in the season-opener at Long Beach last month and is hoping to keep that momentum going.

“For sure, being third twice, it means the car is good and I’m very happy with what the Walker Racing team is doing,” Lacroix said. “I don’t want to be third again. I want to move up on the podium, but it’s still good. James (Hinchcliffe) and Carl (Skerlong) are doing a great job, so I’m quite happy with third, but I’m sure I’ll move up in the race. I’m very happy. Thank you to Walker Racing, Deans Knight and Uni-Select for helping me be here. I’m quite lucky compared to last year. I’m here for the first race and second race instead of waiting until the fourth race.”

Dutchman Junior Strous posted a blistering lap in the morning practice (the first to post a sub 1:16 time) but was only able to come up with a fast lap of 1:16.447 (105.391 mph) in this afternoons session. Finnish racer Markus Niemela rounds out the top five with a best lap of 1:16.633 (105.135 mph).

The car's take to the track Sunday from 9:15am – 9:30am for warm up. Race time is 1pm local time.