Mathiasen And Bomarito Re-set For 2009 Atlantic Chase

ENCINO, Calif. – March 4, 2009: Last season’s dominant team-driver combination has once again teamed up to chase the 2009 Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda.

American Jonathan Bomarito once again joins forces with Ray and Leslie Mathiasen—who won the 2008 Team Owners of the Year Award in the Atlantic Championship—and the Mathiasen Motorsports team that took Bomarito to a series high for race wins, poles and laps led on their way to a close runner-up position in the 2008 championship standings.

The team returns with the full squad intact from last year and race engineer/technical director Alain Clarinval looks forward to getting off to a fast start in the series testing at Palm Beach and Sebring in preparation for the season opener March 20, 2009 at Sebring, Fla. during the 12 Hours of Sebring weekend of racing.

“This is a fantastic chance for us to go back with our well-oiled machine of a team and an outstandingly talented driver that we know how to support and provide for him to be the very best,” stated Clarinval. “It’s like wearing old shoes that are so comfortable but that got polished to a mirror and with new laces to tighten them well.”

"We are extremely grateful to Jonathan that he has agreed to return and drive for us once again in 2009,” said Ray and Leslie Mathiasen. “The team we have assembled for the most part will be identical to the one that came so close to winning the Atlantic Championship in 2008 and now also includes a full time data support engineer to assist Alain Clarinval.”

“We definitely have some unfinished business to take care of and with the added incentive of a substantial improvement in the prize fund structure provided by the Atlantic series, everyone on the team is totally committed to achieving our mission of winning the 2009 Atlantic Championship. It's been a long off season and we can hardly wait for the first race of the season in Sebring this month. This is a great series and we are proud to once again be part of it."

Bomarito shared the other’s enthusiasm for the upcoming season stating, “I am really looking forward to being back with Mathiasen Motorsports. To say we have some unfinished business is an understatement. I want to thank Ray and Leslie Mathiasen for giving me another opportunity to keep racing and further my career in motorsports.”