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Three-Way Atlantic Title Fight Moves To Road Atlanta


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BROWNSBURG, September 23, 2009: One year ago, a three-driver battle for the Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda title was decided in a thrilling race at Road Atlanta, which was the 2008 season finale. While there is one more round following this year’s Atlantic Championship race at Road Atlanta, there is once again a three-driver battle, and Friday’s race could go a long way in determining who will win the 2009 championship.

Simona De Silvestro leads the championship into the penultimate round by eight points, 160-152, over John Edwards, with Edwards’ Newman Wachs Racing teammate Jonathan Summerton another four points back. There are a handful of scenarios in which De Silvestro could feasibly clinch the title on Friday afternoon. If De Silvestro were to win the race and take a bonus point for either starting from the pole position or by improving the most positions in the race, she would clinch the title if Summerton finished fifth or worse and Edwards came home sixth or worse.

A De Silvestro victory without a bonus point would require Edwards to finish fifth or better without a bonus point of his own or sixth with a bonus, while Summerton would need to finish fourth without a bonus or fifth with a bonus point to stay alive. The final championship-clinching scenario for De Silvestro requires her to finish second with a bonus point, Edwards to finish ninth with a bonus point or eighth without and Summerton to finish seventh with a bonus or sixth without. All that being said, it seems much more likely that the title fight will come down to the final race of the season at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Sunday, October 11 based on the performance of all three drivers throughout the season.

Driving the No. 78 Stargate Worlds/Maakoa/Cheyenne Mountain Games/FireSky/Cardinal Technologies machine, De Silvestro has had an outstanding season with a series-leading four victories, four pole positions, nine consecutive podiums from Round 2 at Miller Motorsports Park through Round 9 at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres and top-five results in nine of her 10 starts this season. The lone blemish on her otherwise sparkling season came last time out at Mosport International Raceway, where she crashed and wound up 10th in the final race standings.

That crash opened the door for both Edwards and Summerton, who took full advantage of the situation. After starting from the pole position in the No. 34 Nuclear Clean Air Energy/Entergy/NEI machine, Summerton led every lap at Mosport en route to his third victory of the season and his sixth podium of the year. He was followed closely by Edwards, who also earned his sixth podium result of the season with a second-place performance in the No. 36 MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development/Nuclear Clean Air Energy/NEI/Entergy entry.

While the title fight takes center stage, Friday’s race will include a number of other intriguing drivers and storylines. Chief among them is the return of Jonathan Bomarito to Atlantic Championship competition as a teammate to De Silvestro with Team Stargate Worlds. The American racer will be making his first Atlantic start since the 2009 season opener at Sebring in the No. 77 Stargate Worlds/Maakoa/Cheyenne Mountain Games/FireSky/Cardinal Technologies ride filling in for regular driver Frankie Muniz, who had season-ending wrist surgery last month. Bomarito is a five-time winner in Atlantic competition and appears sure to be a front-runner.

Another one to watch will be defending series champion Markus Niemela in the No. 1 Jensen MotorSport machine. The Finnish driver wrapped up his 2008 series title in dramatic fashion at Road Atlanta last year by taking the lead late in the race and going on to score the second victory of his Atlantic career. Niemela has also finished inside the top five in each of his last three Atlantic starts.

Also not to be overlooked this week is the three-car entry from Genoa Racing. Leading the charge for the team is Belgian driver Frederic Vervisch, who currently tops the Rookie of the Year standings by 25 points over Borja Garcia, 113-88. Vervisch owns four podium results from the season, including a third-place run last time out at Mosport last month. Vervisch will once again drive the No. 17 Quartier/Isomo/Shinokki machine this week at Road Atlanta.

Joining the Genoa Racing squad at Road Atlanta is Englishman Greg Mansell, who is making his first Atlantic appearance since the 2008 season finale, in which he finished an Atlantic career best of fifth. The son of 1992 Formula 1 World Champion and 1993 IndyCar World Series champion Nigel Mansell is entered in the No. 18 Genoa Racing machine.

Completing Genoa’s three-driver lineup is rookie James Winslow in the No. 19 C.A.R.S./E.T.T./D.H.S. entry. Winslow is returning to Atlantic competition this week after sitting out the race at Mosport. His best result of the season came last month at Mid-Ohio, when he finished sixth, and he was one of the only drivers in the series to have completed every lap of the season before missing the Mosport round.

Another one to watch this weekend is Tonis Kasemets in the No. 35 Fatburner entry from Polestar Motor Racing. Kasemets is currently fifth in the championship standings and has finished inside the top five in five of 10 races thus far in 2009. He seems to thrive on high-speed permanent road circuits like Road Atlanta.

Also on the entry list are a pair of machines from Condor Motorsports, including the No. 6 Celebfilms.co.uk/CJConsulting.us ride for Garcia and the No. 7 DOTMOBIL entry for French rookie Max Lefevre, as well as owner/driver Eric Jensen, who is entered in the No. 3 Jensen MotorSport machine.

All Atlantic racecars this weekend will utilize Swift 016.a Atlantic chassis powered by 300-horsepower Mazda-Cosworth MZR engines capable of speeds in excess of 175 mph. Each entry will ride on Cooper Atlantic racing slicks and rain tires throughout the weekend.

Official on-track actvities for the Atlantic Championship get underway on Wednesday with a pair of practice sessions, the first from 10:30 to 11:00 a.m. and the second scheduled to run from 5:00 to 5:30 p.m. ET. Thursday’s lone on-track session for the Atlantic Championship is qualifying from 1:35 to 2:05 p.m. and Friday’s race-day schedule calls for an all-driver autograph session from 11:15 to 11:45 a.m., followed by the 45-minute timed race, which rolls off from a standing start at 1:25 p.m.