Niemela Still Confident After Late Qualifying Spin At Miller Motorsports Park

Tooele, May 16, 2009: Current Atlantic Champion Markus Niemela decided to take a long view regarding tomorrow's Larry H. Miller Dealerships Atlantic event, after spinning in the late stages of today's qualifying session.

"We still have more speed than what we showed today," Markus said. "In the first stint, I couldn't really get much out of the first set and I kept getting stuck in traffic. Then, after we changed to the second set the car was much more settled and I started picking up time. Toward the end of the session I was getting faster and faster, and my last lap would have allowed me to jump up to second behind Simona. But unfortunately, I made a little mistake and clipped the 2nd curb in the chicane too hard, and it put me in the gravel.

By the time I got the car back on the track the session was nearly over and I had to take care of the car for tomorrow. Regardless, we've got increasing pace, and the team is doing an excellent job. So, all in all, I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow, and getting a good result for my guys."

Tomorrow's race will begin at 11:40a MTN. The race will offer real-time timing and scoring. To follow the action go to: Larry H. Miller Dealerships Atlantic Championship.

About Markus

Markus Niemela was born and raised in Rauma Finland in 1984. His racing career started in Karts at the age of five. After winning several FIA-KF1 (formerly Formula A) Karting championships in Finland and in greater Europe, he moved up to Formula Ford in 2004, subsequently winning the Finnish Championship, the Swedish Championship, and the STCC Formula Ford championship, finishing the season second in total International Formula Ford points.In 2005, he moved up to the UK Formula Renault Winter Championship after an abortive run in Formula BMW-ADAC with Team Rosberg, averaging 3rd in qualifying for the season, with one win, and one pole

In 2006 he moved to Formula Renault UK with Mark Burdett Motorsports. There he produced one win, one fastest lap, one pole, won multiple “driver of the day” awards and finished 7th in the Championship.In 2007 he campaigned in GP2 with BCN Competition, Formula Renault Eurocup with BVM Minardi, and also ran in the Asian Formula Renault Championship with March 3 Racing. In 2008 he came to the U.S. to run in the Cooper Tire Atlantic Championship Powered By Mazda Series with Brooks Associated Racing, where he subsequently won the 2008 Atlantic Championship.

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About Our Sponsors

Markus' 2009 campaign is sponsored by: Nuclear Energy, Entergy, NEI, Mr. Jones, Kivikylanan, Proholma, Party Camp, Rauma, Turku Karting, and PRRACEwire.

To contact Markus Niemela Press Relations: business@prracewire.com