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Walker Racing proved they were ready to learn and go racing this weekend in Long Beach. All three drivers, Canadian Kevin Lacroix, Greg and Leo Mansell, sons of former Formula One World Champion and IndyCar Champion, Nigel Mansell, were itching to get strapped in the car and put the pedal to the metal this weekend for the Imperial Capital Bank Atlantic Challenge of Long Beach.

Long Beach marks the first time for all three Walker Racing pilots. Greg and Leo Mansell are entering their rookie season in Atlantics. As for Lacroix, this will be his first full season in the series, making this his ninth start. The Canadian contested his first race last year in Portland, taking home the win in just his first race.

Today was a learning day for everyone. This morning’s practice was a matter of learning the track and gaining experience, and that’s exactly what all three did.

Lacroix (No.25 Uni-Select/ Deans Knight Capital Management Ltd.), had a solid morning, posting the third quickest time of the session of 1:17.137 seconds. Unfortunately, it was a different story for qualifying. Traffic and red flags are what held up the Canadian from getting higher up on the grid. The 19 year old recorded a time of 1:17.938 seconds, placing him in 12th provisional position.

Greg Mansell (No. 5 Sunseeker) came to grips with the track, and he too, had a strong morning. The 20 year old clocked the 12th fastest time of 1:18.182 seconds. As the afternoon rolled around and the track gripped up, provisional qualifying went a different direction. Greg posted the 18th quickest time of 1:18.383 seconds.

Miles and laps are what Leo Mansell (No.15 Sunseeker) was trying to accomplish, and did. The 23 year old posted the 22nd fastest time of 1:19.338 seconds and clocked the 21st quickest time of 1:18.848 seconds in qualifying.

Walker Racing will be back out on track for official Atlantic practice, which gets underway at 8:35 a.m. local time. For more information on the team please visit www.walkerracing.com.

What they had to say….

Greg Mansell, (#5 Sunseeker): "Our overall first session was a good learning curve just getting up to speed with street tracks, seeing how it works, and seeing how to get the car to go quick. The second session was a bit disappointing. We went the wrong way with the car setup and the track changed fast, so it was a bit of a double whammy there. We are evolving the car in the right direction now and getting used to the track more and more every time."

Leo Mansell, (#15 Sunseeker): "It was interesting our first time on a real street course here in Long Beach. It’s been a great experience. You just have to be so confident in your braking and where the track goes to position your car inches away from the wall. We just need to get more and more miles on the track and to find some time. The guys with the most experience are up at front so we have some catching up to do."

Kevin Lacroix, (#25 Uni-Select/ Deans Knight Capital Management Ltd.): "The session wasn’t that great for us. There was a lot of traffic and we made some changes on the car that didn’t help it. Then we wanted to come back and make some changes, but there was a red flag, so we just didn’t get the time to improve the car on the track. The team professionally did a great job, they just didn’t get the time they needed to work on it. There is still tomorrow."

Derrick Walker, Walker Racing Owner: "Overall we are not that far away. I think we are probably went a little bit too much the wrong way and as the track changed it turned out to not be the best direction to go in. We just need to back up and tweak it back the way we were and I think we will be okay. It doesn’t take much to be off by a little bit, but we know what direction to go in now."

-Elizabeth Cannon -

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