Junior Open Wheel Talent

After being away from the computer for a few days due to a mini-vacation, it’s time to catch up on all the racing news and results. Rather than put all the news into individual posts, which are already dated, I decided to just put everything in one spot via a ‘Linkage‘ post.

Skip Barber
Skip Barber National standout Connor De Phillippi won Round 7 by going from 3rd to 1st in the final lap.
Round 7: Complete Results

Skip Barber Karting Scholarship winner Court Vernon won his first Skip Barber National race over the weekend at Barber Motorsports Park.
Round 8: Complete Results

Formula BMW-Americas
Gabby Chaves won the first race of the weekend at Lime Rock Park in dominant fashion. The win moves the Colombian driver back into the points lead.
Round 8: Complete Results

Australian driver James Kovacic celebrated his 16th birthday in style by claiming his first Formula BMW victory in Race 2 at LRP. Not only did Kovacic win, he became the first driver to win from a spot other than pole position, so far this season. He started the race in 5th. Honorable mention should go to Alex Ellis who led most of the race only to see the victory slip away in the closing laps.
Round 9: Complete Results

F2000 Championship
Matthew Inge ran a solid race to take his second win of the season in the F2000 Championship, while racing at Summit Point Motorsports Park. Championship leader Chris Miller finished the race in second place. Alegra Motorsports driver Fabio Orslon continues to develop as he finished the race in 3rd.
Race 1: Complete Results

Tim Minor found his way to the top spot of the podium in the second race of the weekend at his home track (SPMP). Championship leader Chris Miller continued his renowned podium streak by finishing 2nd. Ben Searcy found his way to the podium after being DQ’d from a fifth place finish in Race 1—due to missing the minimum weight requirement by a mere 3lbs.
Race 2: Complete Results

You can read the F2000 Championship weekend notebook here>>.

Atlantic Championship
Simona De Silvestro made history this weekend by becoming the winningest female driver in the 36-year history of the Atlantic Championship. Simona claimed her fourth career Atlantic victory at Lime Rock Park. The previous record was held by Katherine Legge, who had 3 career Atlantic victories. John Edwards had a great run to finish 2nd after starting 5th. His performance earned him the hard charger award. Borja Garcia put in another solid performance to finish 3rd in Round 5. The result marked his second podium of the season.
Round 5- Complete Results

Formula 3 Euro Series
Jules Bianchi dominated the competition at Zandvoort this weekend for Rounds 7 & 8 of the 2009 championship. The 19-year-old driver has won four races this season and leads the championship by 17 points.

The Hard Charger of Round 7 was Atte Mustonen who improved 11 positions– 20th to 9th.
Round 7- Zandvoort Complete Results

The Hard Charger of Round 8 was Stefano Coletti who improved 12 positions– 24th to 12th.
Round 8- Zandvoort Complete Results

World Series by Renault
Bertrand Baguette dominated the weekend by winning both races at Le Mans. Baguette leads the championship by 19 points over Marcos Martinez (2nd) and James Walker (3rd).

The Hard Charger of Round 10 was Dani Clos who improved 10 positions–20th to 10th.
Round 10: Le Mans Complete Results

The Hard Charger of Round 11 was Edoardo Mortara, who improved 15 positions–21st to 6th. Honorable mention should go to Miguel Molina who improved 8 positions–10th to 2nd.
Round 11: Le Mans Complete Results

After struggling to find financial support and subsequently losing his ride at Newman-Wachs Racing to American Jonathan Summerton, …Markus Niemela is scheduled to complete the remainder of the 2009 season with Jensen Motorsport.

Niemela, who won the 2008 Atlantic Championship, has been ill-funded this season, but managed to work out a contract with Eric Jensen that will see him back in the car this weekend for the Lime Rock Park race. Jensen Motorsport intends to field a car for the Finnish driver for the remainder of the 2009 season.

After crashing in the opening race at Sebring, Markus has finished three consecutive events inside the top-ten.

Matt Lee will return to Atlantic Championship competition this weekend with Conquest Racing. The 19-year-old New York resident signed a deal with the team to compete at this weekend’s Lime Rock Park event. Lee drove for Jensen Motorsport in the season opener at Sebring, where he finished ninth.

Jonathan Summerton has had a busy summer driving in both the Indy Lights series and the Atlantic Championship. Both drives were on a race-by-race basis as the 21-year-old Florida resident struggled to find the necessary funding. It was announced today that he will be able to put all his focus on the Atlantic Championship for the remainder of 2009.

After a few weeks of rumors regarding the departure of Markus Niemela from Newman-Wachs Racing…. it was announced today that Niemela is out with Jonathan Summerton taking over the duties for the remainder of 2009. Summerton will partner fellow American John Edwards under the team tent.

Summerton spent the first part of the 2009 Atlantic Championship with Genoa Racing. With Summerton’s departure from Genoa, the team will have an open seat heading into the Lime Rock Park race. I was planning on starting a rumor about who will fill the seat, but decided against it, stay tuned for future announcements.

As far as Markus Niemela’s situation goes, I’m still waiting on some information from a few inside sources. I will post an update, when the information becomes available.

**update** According to inside sources, Markus Niemela’s departure from NWR is funding related… as speculated. He will join Jensen Motorsport for the remainder of the 2009 season.

The Atlantic Championship was the headline class of the weekend at the Mazda Formula-X event at New Jersey Motorsports Park. The series completed Round 3 & 4 of the 12-race championship over the weekend. The double-header weekend was broadcast live on HDNet…which was great to see (especially with a junior formula series as the headline event).

The weekend produced some great results–unfortunately there wasn’t a lot of passing—hence the title above. The ground effects on these cars produce so much downforce that it makes passing tough, especially on a circuit like Thunderbolt Raceway where there aren’t a lot of good spots for overtaking.

The hard charger of Round 3 was John Edwards who finished 5th after starting back in 8th. He improved the most positions of any Atlantic competitor on the weekend–a mere 3. The first race of the weekend (Round 3) was won by American Jonathan Summerton. It was a nice win that was likely overdue for the 21-year-old race driver, as he has qualified on the front row of every Atlantics race (to date) in 2009. The win marked his first Atlantics victory in 2009 and his 3rd career victory in the series. It was also the first Atlantics victory for Genoa since the 1994 season. Simona De Silvestro continued to showcase her speed and finished 2nd. Borja Garcia finished the race in 3rd, which marked his best finish of the year. The 26-year-old Spaniard has been impressive all season and only seems to be getting quicker.

The hard charger of Round 4 was James Winslow who improved a mere 1 position. Winslow started the race in 10th and finished 9th. Despite the lack of an impressive # next to the hard charger title… Winslow did have a great race with Frankie Muniz throughout the 38-lap event. Richard Zober also improved one spot, finishing 12th after starting 13th. The big story of the day was Simona De Silvestro. The Swiss race driver was quick all weekend and claimed Sunday’s win by 0.910 seconds over Jonathan Summerton. With the win, Simona becomes the second female to lead the Atlantic Championship (Danica Patrick also led the championship for a short time in 2004). The final result also marked Simona’s 3rd career Atlantic Championship win–which ties Katherine Legge’s record for the most career Atlantic Championship victories by a female driver. Frederic Vervisch ran another impressive race to finish 3rd. The 22-year-old race driver has finished on the podium in all but one Atlantic race this season.

After a pre-race penalty, for qualifying interference, Frederic Vervisch was docked two starting spots. After the penalty was assessed, he started the race in fifth—which means— Vervisch was technically the hard charger of Round 4 for improving two spots. (see comment section below).
(photo: Atlantic Championship)

Atlantic Championship
New Jersey Motorsports Park
Round 3 Results
Round 4 Results

Simona De Silvestro claimed her second career Atlantic Championship victory on Sunday afternoon in Utah. The 20-year-old of Thun, Switzerland completed a near-perfect weekend in Tooele, Utah by winning Round 2 of the Atlantic Championship at Miller Motorsports Park. The win marked her second career Atlantic victory as she won the opening round of 2008 at Long Beach. The only other female driver to win more Atlantic Championship races is Katherine Legge (DTM)—who has 3 wins to her name.

Her teammate at Team Stargate Worlds, Frankie Muniz, did a fine job as well by earning the Co-Hard Charger of the Day title by improving 3 positions. Frankie started the race in 7th and finished 4th–which marks a career best finish for the former actor. Frankie shares the hard charger title with Max Lefevre, who also improved three positions (10th-7th).

John Edwards showcased his speed, yet again, by finishing 2nd in his Newman Wachs Racing entry. Atlantic rookie Frederic Vervisch took the final spot on the podium by finishing 3rd, 13.357 seconds back from De Silvestro.

Atlantic Championship
Full Results: Round 2- Miller Motorsports Park

I’d like to think that my rant earlier today, regarding the status of the Atlantic Championship website, had something to do with the new site going live– but in reality, I’m probably not that important.

Kudos to Nate Siebens and the Atlantic crew for getting the new site up. You can view it here.

Primetime Race Group of the ALMS has decided to enter the Atlantic Championship after purchasing the Brooks Associates race cars. It’s a shame to see Brooks Associates selling their equipment after winning the championship last season, but it’s nice to have a quality group like PRG step-up with plans to field a team. Stay tuned for more information.

I can think of one driver looking for a ride….

It appears the world economy is beginning to affect the racing industry more and more everyday. Earlier today, it was announced that Mathiasen Motorsports has withdrawn from the Atlantic Championship for the remainder of the season due to economic woes. This is truly unfortunate news and I hope to see them back in the near future.

I’m sure the opening round incident between Jonathan Bomarito and Markus Niemela had a major impact on the team’s decision to withdraw for the season.

In case you missed it, further reading on how the world economy is affecting racing.