Redemption For Niemela As He Turns Fastest Lap At NJMP On His Way To 4th; Edwards 6th

Millville, June 14, 2009: It was another tough battle today at New Jersey Motorsports Park as the Atlantic Championship Series held the 2nd of a double-header weekend at the Mazda Formula X event. NWR drivers Markus Niemela and John Edwards finished the day in 4th, and 6th, respectively after a challenging weekend.

Niemela started 3rd after Frederic Vervisch was penalized two positions for blocking during yesterday’s qualification. Niemela got a great start and followed 2nd place Jonathan Summerton and leader Simona De Silvestro closely into turn one. He was able to stay close but Vervisch got around him to claim 3rd, passing him in turn three. After everyone settled in, the reminder of the race was pretty un-eventful. The young Finn did not give up without a fight; he turned the fastest lap of the race with just eight laps remaining.

Markus Niemela #1 Mr. Jones/ Nuclear Clean Air Energy/ Entergy/ Newman Wachs Racing: (P4)

“It’s too bad we missed the podium again, but I was just too slow during the first part of the race. In the beginning I was struggling to get used to the new set-up of the car. I did get a really good start but then fell back to 4th on the first lap. In the end I was really fast when I got used to the car and it feels nice to have a fastest lap! At the end I was consistently fastest, which is quite positive, so we’ll take that away from this weekend."

Edwards fought for 5th place for the entire race with Borja Garcia, but wasn’t able to make the pass. He had to settle for 6th, which drops him to 3rd in Championship standings. We are not even to the halfway point in the season yet, with a lot more racing to go, so don’t count out Edwards.

John Edwards, #36 MAZDASPEED/ Nuclear Clean Air Energy/ Entergy/ Newman Wachs Racing: (P6)

“We were just struggling for pace all weekend. I was just following Borja (Garcia) and couldn’t get close enough to pass…but some of that is just the nature of the track. It’s really too bad for us. Everyone is going to have their off-weekends, but ours just happened to be on a weekend where there were double points available. We’ll come back from this and I’m sure everyone else will have their “off-moments” as well, putting us right back in the mix of things.”