BRM Joins Atlantic Championship As Official Timekeeper

BROWNSBURG, June 11, 2009: When the Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda swings back into action at New Jersey Motorsports Park this weekend, it will do so with a new Official Timekeeper, as officials Bernard Richards Manufacture (BRM) and the Atlantic Championship today announced that the French watchmaker has joined forces with the series.

“BRM watches are among the finest timepieces in the world, and we are delighted to welcome BRM to the Atlantic Championship,” said Atlantic Championship President Ben Johnston. “BRM has a close association with motorsports in Europe, and we are honored that the company chose Atlantic for its first foray into American motorsports. BRM is certainly a brand that fits well with the Atlantic lifestyle.”

The agreement between BRM and the Atlantic Championship makes BRM the Official Timekeeper of the Atlantic Championship. BRM decals will be featured on all Atlantic Championship racecars, as well as the official pace car and operations trailer, and BRM will also have a presence on the official series web site, www.atlantic-championship.com. BRM will also provide the top-three drivers in the championship with custom watches and will activate its relationship with Atlantic in a number of other ways at and away from the racetrack.

“Our timepieces have the racing spirit; they are designed and manufactured from the passion of mechanic sports,” said BRM U.S. President Frederic Gasser. “We are very involved in Europe in a lot of mechanic sporting events, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans and a lot of other events around Europe, and I thought it was a good fit to start this approach in the United States. I’m very happy to be a part of it.”

Next up for the 2009 Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda is the Mazda Formula X presented by Cooper Tires doubleheader at New Jersey Motorsports Park on June 13-14. John Edwards leads the championship standings by five points, 36-31, over Simona De Silvestro heading into the doubleheader, which will be Rounds 3 and 4 of the 12-race 2009 championship.

About The Atlantic Championship

The Atlantic Championship is in its 36th year of competition in 2009 and is noted for its long history of graduating its drivers into the top levels of motorsport throughout the world. Graduates include past and present IndyCar drivers such as Bobby Rahal, Danny Sullivan, Michael Andretti, Jimmy Vasser, Danica Patrick, Dan Wheldon, Graham Rahal and Raphael Matos, Formula One legends and champions such as Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques Villeneuve and Keke Rosberg, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Sam Hornish Jr. and A.J. Allmendinger and sports car stars li ke Jon Fogarty, Alex Gurney, Michael Valiante, Luis Diaz, Joey Hand and Simon Pagenaud.

Atlantic Championship graduates have won races and championships at the highest levels of motorsport, including Formula 1, IndyCar and Champ Car, and sports cars. In 2009, Atlantic graduates will again be top competitors in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series, the American Le Mans Series, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and even the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series among many others. Learn more about Atlantic at www.atlantic-championship.com.

About BRM

Bernard Richards Manufacture (BRM) is named after its founder. Born into a family of accomplished watchmakers and jewelers, Richards embraced his family’s rich heritage, mastering both disciplines while studying in Paris. Driven by an intense fascination for mechanical objects, he joined the family business in 1983 and began designing watches, clocks, pens and jewelry components. Three years later, he founded the Bernard Richards Company, a highly successful venture that specialized in machining precision parts used by popular luxury brands.

His experience creating sophisticated micromechanics for other led Richards to establish BRM in 2002. Filled with the latest machining tools and highly skilled technicians, the BRM workshop is a cutting-edge atelier that allows Richards to control every aspect of production for his handmade timepieces. Just as a sculpture begins as a formless block of stone, every BRM watch begins as a solid bar of metal, which is then cut expertly to exacting specifications. To maintain the meticulous level of quality that Richards demands BRM produces everything from screw and pushbuttons to crowns and lugs.

One of the watchmaker’s hallmarks is its exclusivity. Each month, BRM creates only 200 of its highly collectible, numbered timepieces. The BRM collection currently includes 23 timepieces, including the new Tourbillon, which is transparently designed to showcase the sophistication of its movement. The collection also includes the Birotor, the R50T and a pair of extraordinary chronographs, the GP40 and the SP model. Learn more about BRM at www.brm-manufacture.com.