Monterey, California (May 17, 2008) - Previous experience at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca track has paid off for Walker Racing in final qualifying today. The three drivers, Canadian Kevin Lacroix, and Englishmen Greg and Leo Mansell, who had previously tested at the Monterey, California circuit, had a successful second day.

Lacroix carried his momentum from Long Beach, where he finished on the podium with third place, into this weekend. The Canadian clocked a time of 1:16.364 seconds, putting him third on the grid for tomorrow's Monterey Festival of Speed.

Following Lacroix's lead was his teammate Greg Mansell. The rookie enters his second start in Atlantics with measured improvement. Greg proved seat time is what he needed as he qualified sixth for tomorrow's race after posting a time of 116.660 seconds.

Experience also paid off for Leo Mansell, who continues to gain confidence each time he gets behind the wheel. This will also be his second Atlantic start. The Englishman qualified 16th today with a time of 117.650 seconds.

The green flag will drop tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. PST for the Monterey Festival of Speed.

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What they had to say...

Greg Mansell (#5 Sunseeker): "We had a solid qualifying session. I think finishing up P6, you really can't be disappointed with it, because it's a position that you can have a good start and be up there straight away. Our quickest lap was our last lap and then unfortunately it got red flagged and I think we had some more time in the car. Overall, I have a great race car and I'm looking forward to the race."

Leo Mansell (#15 Sunseeker): "I'm a bit disappointed where we ended up. We just missed the setup a bit with the change in the track conditions, but I think we will have a good car for the race tomorrow and make up some positions."

Kevin Lacroix (#25 Uni-Select/ Deans Knight Capital Management Ltd/ Wasteco): "I think we made great progress compared to this morning, because it didn't go as well as we had expected, but overall the day went very well and third place is great. Some of the drivers did a better job and I'm happy with third. The Walker Racing Uni-Select, Deans Knight Capital Management / Wasteco car handled nicely and now we just need to bring a podium home tomorrow."

Derrick Walker, Walker Racing owner: "It was a solid performance for Kevin today. Consistency always counts in this championship and I think another good weekend with another strong qualifying session. I hope we will have a good race tomorrow and get some good points. Slowly but surely, we are getting the car better for Greg, and he is getting more comfortable with an Atlantic car and what it needs and I think the boys are making some good progress, good solid performance from him. For Leo, the car is pretty good, we need to keep working on optimizing it for him and concentrate on getting more laps and building his confidence up in the car. Overall we were right there with all three car setups and I think it's a good position to start for tomorrow."