Madison, IL (May 29, 1999) — Nicolas Rondet, in only his second race event on an oval, captured the fifth position in today’s 50-lap Kool/Toyota Atlantic race at Gateway International Raceway, part of the Motorola 300 CART FedEx Championship weekend.
This is Rondet’s best finish so far for the season, “I am very pleased with fifth because I am on the verge of a podium finish. This is my second oval race and I feel very comfortable running ovals. We tested at Phoenix last week, which really helped us prepare for this weekend. It also gave me some more seat time on an oval, so I feel like I can contribute much more to setting up the car,” said Rondet.
Rondet was conservative coming out of the box, which caused him to fall back for awhile, but on lap 34 he started running with Buddy Rice and Andrew Bordin. Rondet soon advanced and made his way into the fifth position. “Nicolas did a great job. We have another oval down and we learned a couple more lessons and gained more experience. We are ready for Milwaukee and then on to Montreal,” said Team Owner, Chuck West.
If you missed the chance to see Rondet live on track at Gateway, you can catch him on espn2, Saturday June 5 at 5:30 p.m. EST, with repeat broadcasts on Tuesday, June 8 at 5:00 p.m., and Friday, June 11 at 4:00 a.m. Round four of the Kool/Toyota Atlantic series is scheduled Saturday, June 5, at the Milwaukee Mile, part of the Miller Lite 200 CART FedEx Championship weekend.