Star Mazda - Horto Qualifies P2 At GP3R

TROIS-RIVIERES, August 6, 2011: J.V. Horto, driver of the No. 7 Juncos Racing / Programa Leiloes car, qualified second for the first of two races this weekend at the Grand-Prix Trois Rivieres. The Brazilian driver kicked off the weekend by topping this morning's official practice session with a best lap time of 1:01.968 and was just .248 shy of claiming his first career pole this afternoon. Today's qualifying result for Horto matched his best this season; he also qualified second at Barber Motorsports Park in April.

J.V. Horto on qualifying: "Today was very good for me. We were fastest this morning, and we qualified on the front row which is very important on this track, especially since it's such a tight track and difficult to pass on. I want to thank God for today, and thank Juncos Racing for the good momentum we have had the last two races and for giving me a good car for this weekend. Now, we want to keep the momentum going and get back up in the championships points; two wins in the two races this weekend would help a lot! I also want to say thanks to my teammates, Tatiana (Calderon) and Gustavo (Menezes) because we are always learning from each other. We miss Martin (Scuncio) and hope he is doing well back home."

Starting tomorrow's race in sixth is rookie Gustavo Menezes who scored his fastest lap time on his final running lap. On row five will be teammate Tatiana Calderon who will start tomorrow's race in ninth.

Gustavo Menezes on qualifying: "It's definitely been a good day, especially for my first day on the track. This street course is challenging, so I'm really happy with my results today. In practice, I was solidly in the top five positions throughout the session and sometimes even in the top three, so I was pretty confident going into qualifying. In qualifying, we went out on old tires to set up the car, got it set up to where we wanted, and I landed in the top five again. Then, I put on new tires and I was pretty happy with that, too, but unfortunately the track changed for me because of those new tires, so the result wasn't exactly what I wanted. We still pulled out a solid lap at the end which was great. Sixth position is a good place to start, and we will be working hard tomorrow to put it on podium!"

Tatiana Calderon on qualifying: "It wasn't my day today. I don't think I drove as well as I could have in the first practice session today. I was not able to get any of my data from the first practice session which was a shame going into qualifying because I didn't have any information to go off of. I think I was overdriving the car a little bit in qualifying, but at least I have the data from that session, so I'm going to look over that tonight and try to fix everything I can for tomorrow's race. I am going to stay positive, try to gain some positions in the race, and try to get a good lap time in so I will be in a good starting position for Sunday's race."