Niemela Completes Successful First Test - Next Up; Sebring

Jupiter Fla. March 14, 2009: 2008 Atlantic Champion Markus Niemela completed a successful test last week with Newman Wachs Racing, running at the Palm Beach International Speedway. The young Finn, who blitzed last years Championship by winning two events outright, in addition to taking three additional podiums, showed good pace during the initial two-day test in preparation for the 2009 season.

"We struggled with oversteer (throughout) and (I was) over-driving in a few corners at the end. It (also) took me some time to get (comfortable) with my new engineer Don Halliday, who is used to running the car very differently from my approach to many corners. But Don is a good engineer, so I'm confident that we'll be able to work out any kinks quickly and move on."

Niemela finished fifth on the first day at a best time of 1:09.060. The next day showed a marked improvement, however, jumping to third on the charts with a fastest lap of 1:07.881, only 6/10th behind leader Condor rookie Borja Garcia.

Next up Sebring, America's premier sports car racing facility, and the oldest permanent road racing track in North America.

To learn more about Markus and his effort to win back-to-back Atlantic Championships go to http://markusniemela.com

To learn more about the Championship itself go to http://atlantic-championship.com