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 Earlier today, it was announced that Mathiasen Motorsports has withdrawn from the Atlantic Championship for the remainder of the season due to economic woes.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.
I’m looking at some new options for race coverage in 2009. Obviously there are plenty of sources out there offering race results, most of which have better resources available than I do, and most of the series have their own live timing available as well. Your typical Internet race report provides you with the winner (rightly so), but you don’t always get the details of who had a great weekend. So, in an effort to separate the coverage at Junior Open Wheel Talent from that of several other racing websites and to help promote drivers showing improvement, I’ve decided to try a weekly “hard charger” section featuring the driver/s who advanced the most positions over the race weekend.
We will kick off this segment with the “hard-charger” or most improved drivers from Sebring. I sifted through these results fairly quickly, so feel free to correct me if I missed something, but here are the numbers I came up with….
Most Improved Driver/s: (Positions Improved in Parenthesis)
Skip Barber National
Race 1: Mike Vincec (5), Sage Karam (5)
–Race Winner: Connor De Phillippi
Race 2: Felipe Polehtto (8), Mike Vincec (8)
– Race Winner: Connor De Phillippi
Formula BMW
Race 1: Joao Victor Horto (4) — Race Winner: Gabriel Chaves
Race 2: Gianmarco Raimondo (5) — Race Winner: Gabriel Chaves
Star Mazda
Conor Daly (13) **Hard Charger of the Week**
– Race Winner: Adam Christodoulou
Atlantic Championship
James Winslow (5) — Race Winner: John Edwards
In a last minute deal, Jonathan Summerton has signed with Genoa Racing and will partner Frederic Vervisch. One would assume that the signing of Summerton came together rather quickly after Alexander Rossi decided to (atleast temporarily) pursue other opportunities.
The signing for Genoa looks to be a promising one as Summerton is currently sitting P1 in the first of two qualifying sessions at Sebring International Raceway. Summerton was followed closely by his teammate, Vervisch, who will be sitting off-pole alongside Jonathan for the start of the Friday afternoon race.
It’s nice to see Summerton back in the Atlantic Championship, even if it’s only for a one-off, his presence substantially deepens the talent pool of the series. The 20-year-old race driver finished the 2008 championship in 3rd place, with 2 wins and 5 podiums.
(photo: www.jonathansummerton.com)
Atlantic Championship
After a successful test at Palm Beach, Frédéric Vervisch has signed with Genoa Racing for the Sebring International Raceway season opener. Vervisch was actually looking for a World Series by Renault ride, but decided the Atlantic Championship was a better bang for his buck. At this time, he will only run the opening round at Sebring. In 2008, the 22-year-old race driver won both the German and the Asian Formula 3 Championships. As stated earlier, he looked very impressive in his first test with Genoa at PBIR.
British standout James Winslow has signed with Conquest Racing to run the full 2009 Atlantic Championship. He will partner Harald Schlegelmilch at Sebring. Winslow won the Australian Formula 3 Championship last season with 5 wins and 9 podiums. His average finish in the championship was 3.56, including one DNF. That said, the competition he will face this season looks to be much stiffer.
Star Mazda
Former Team USA Scholarship winner Joe D’Agostino has signed with Andersen Racing to contest the opening race at Sebring International Raceway in the Star Mazda Championship. As part of the Team USA Scholarship in 2004, Joe spent several years in the European ranks, competing in British Formula Ford, Formula Renault, as well as running in the historic Formula Ford Festival. He finished fourth in the 2004 Formula Ford Festival and 3rd in the 2005 British Formula Ford Championship. It will be nice to see Joe back in a car, even if it is only for one race. I know he is still working on putting together the funding for a full season, so if he puts up some decent results in Sebring, …I wouldn’t be surprised to see him back for a few more races in 2009.
Formula 3 Euro Series
Christian Vietoris has re-signed with Mucke Motorsport to run the 2009 Formula 3 Euro Series. Vietoris has shown flashes of speed in his past endeavors which include winning an A1GP race for Team Germany as well as winning the Formula BMW ADAC Championship in 2006. Last season, in the Formula 3 Euro Series, he had some real solid results in his first ten races. At the midpoint of the season, his luck seemed to turn around as he logged 4 DNF’s in his final 10 races. He was also DQ’d during the final weekend at Hockenheim. If the 19-year-old is able to put together a consistent season, he should do quite well in the overall championship.
The Atlantic Championship drivers had their first official test over the last two-days at Palm Beach International Raceway. The combined results from both days are listed below. I have also added a few notes on the test at the bottom of this post…
1. Borja Garcia– Condor Motorsports – 1:07.286
2. John Edwards — Newman-Wachs – 1:07.556
3. Markus Niemela — Newman-Wachs – 1:07.881
4. Frankie Muniz — Team Stargate Worlds – 1:07.919
5. Harald Schlegelmilch — Conquest Racing – 1:08.116
6. Frederic Vervisch– Genoa Racing – 1:08.155
7. Jonathan Bomarito — Mathiasen Motorsports – 1:08.268
8. Matt Lee — Jensen Motorsports – 1:08.322
9. Simona De Silvestro — Team Stargate Worlds – 1:08.344
10. Alexander Rossi– Genoa Racing – 1:08.366
11. Max Lafevre — Condor Motorsports – 1:08.600
12. Michael Nacol — Jensen Motorsports – 1:11.124
A few notes on the test…
- 2009 appears to be the “Year of Rookies” when looking at the entry lists across the various junior formula series here in North America. The first official Atlantic Championship test saw 6 series rookies take to the track…making up 50% of the drivers involved.
- Borja Garcia appears to be the class of the field and the early favorite for a Sebring victory. He signed with Condor Motorsports earlier today. Did I already mention that he is a series rookie? Garcia was absolutely dominant, setting the pace both days. After doing a little research, here is what the internet turns up on him… Garcia is a 26-year-old race driver hailing from Valencia, Spain. His early career began in the Spanish karting ranks, where he won his first championship at the age of nine. He continued his developement in the karting ranks until 1999, when he first began to sample car racing. He moved into cars full-time in 2000, at the age of 17, winning the Spanish Formula Toyota 1300 Championship. In 2001, he ran 15 races in the World Series by Nissan with limited success. He returned to his winning ways in 2002, placing third in both the Spanish F3 and the Formula Nissan 2000 Championships. He won eight races that year, and it has been termed his break-out year. He continued his development in the Spanish F3 ranks for the next two seasons (2003-2004), claiming the overall championship in 2004 with 9 wins, 10. podiums. In 2005, he ran 22 races in the GP2 Championship and also did some testing for the Toyota Formula One team. In 2006, he took a small step back (if you would consider it that?)…by committing to run a full season in the World Series by Renault with RC Motorsport. He finished 2nd overall in the season championship, winning once and claiming 7 podiums. He returned to GP2 in 2007 by signing with Durango, a season that didn’t showcase his talents, where he ran 21 races but finished the season in 10th place. Last year, 2008, he returned to the World Series by Renault running five races with RC Motorsport. He also ran 12 Superleague Formula Races for Panoz, finishing 10th in the overall series. Bring us up to date…. Just looking at his resume, it would appear that he is a very quick driver who has had trouble finding the necessary funding to make the jump to the next level. The Atlantic Championship prize fund for 2009 is obviously attracting quite a few drivers who are in the same position. This looks to be an extremely exciting year. Watch for a very strong showing from Borja and Condor Motorsports.
- Harold Schlegelmilch appears to be the “Most Improved Driver” of the test, based strictly on lap-times.
- In late February, I wrote that this should be Frankie Muniz’s best year to date, so far he is proving me right. His times in the first test are very impressive.
- John Edwards looks to be finding his groove after returning to the Atlantic Championship.
- I’m surprised to only see 12 entries in the first official test, but insider’s are forecasting about 17-18 cars in the field for Sebring. Let’s hope for more.
Latvian driver Harald Schlegelmilch has signed with Conquest Racing for a one-off race in the Atlantic Championship season-opener. The opening race will be run March 20th at Sebring International Raceway.
Harald will also be testing with Conquest this week at the first official series test, which will be held at Palm Beach International Raceway.
Last season, the 21-year-old driver competed in the International Formula Master series where he scored 1 win and 2 podiums enroute to a solid 4th place finish in the overall championship.
Matt Lee will be testing with Jensen Motorsport this week in the team’s #22 Atlantic Championship car at Palm Beach International Raceway. The 19-year-old tested with the team last month at the same venue and according to the team, he performed quite well.
Lee developed his craft in the karting ranks, prior to making the move to Formula BMW in 2005. He spent two years in Formula BMW, finishing 2nd in the 2006 Formula BMW-Americas series. In 2007, he moved into the Atlantic Championship where he ran 12 fairly uneventful races with Conquest Racing. In 2008, he joined Guthrie Racing for two Indy Lights races at Watkins Glen. He finished 8th in his second race, after starting 16th on the grid. Without the necessary funding to continue, he decided to focus on his karting efforts in order to stay sharp while pursuing the financial support for a run in 2009.
(photo: http://www.mattleemotorsports.com)
Finnish driver Markus Niemela has signed with Newman Wachs to run the 2009 Atlantic Championship. According to Newman Wach’s press release, he will be the second driver in history to return to the Atlantic Championship full-time after winning the previous year’s title. Lee Bentham won the Atlantic Championship in 1998 and returned to the series in 1999, unfortunately that was his final year of professional competition, he finished sixth overall.
I am impressed to see Markus return to the championship, amid all the controversy between him and Brooks Associates Racing. There was some speculation that he would join Sam Schmidt Motorsports in the Indy Lights series for 2009. He also completed a GP2 test in Europe and considered a move to the DTM world. I would assume that the Atlantic Championship offered him the best opportunity in prize funds for 2009, something that he apparently missed out on in 2008. Regardless, it is great to see him return for another year of competition…adding to the depth of this year’s championship.
Niemela completed his 2008 Atlantic Championship campaign with 2 wins and 5 podiums. He finished inside the top-ten in 91% of his 2008 race starts. He was remarkably consistent, finishing inside the top-five in 54.5% of his races, failing to finish only once. Watch for the combo of John Michael Edwards and Markus Niemela to be a potent mix in the 2009 championship.
(photo: www.markusniemela.com)
American stand-out Jonathan Bomarito has re-signed with Mathiasen Motorsports for the 2009 Atlantic Championship.
Jonathan Bomarito enters the 2009 Atlantic Championship season as an early favorite, …the 27-year-old entered the 2008 season finale with an eight point lead over 2nd place, after 10 laps, he retired from the final race due to a mechanical failure. This wasn’t the first time Bomarito had retired from a race due to a mechanical issue in 2008,… in fact it wasn’t the second time either. The Monterey, California resident proved to be one of the fastest drivers last year,… with the worst luck. He finished inside the top-5 in 75% of the races he completed last year. Despite the bad luck, he ended the season 2nd in the overall title hunt with 3 wins, 4 podiums, and 3 pole positions.
If Mathiasen and Bomarito can get rid of their gremlins in 2009,… watch out! I have a feeling that both the driver and team have some unfinished business in the series.
(photo courtesy of: Candace Elliott/Edmonton Journal)
Atlantic Championship team U.S. RaceTronics will field both Simona De Silvestro and Frankie Muniz under the banner Team Stargate Worlds. The two have landed sponsorship from the publisher and developer of popular videogame Stargate Worlds, hence the team name.
Reportedly, both drivers will soon be featured in the upcoming Stargate Worlds MMORPG (massively multi-player online role-playing game). You can view a trailer of Stargate Worlds here.
It’s nice to see Frankie return to the Atlantic Championship. In the past, I’ve been kind of hard on him for his one-year stop in Formula BMW prior to making the huge jump… straight to the top-tier Atlantic Championship. I like the fact that he is sticking with his Atlantic efforts and not just moving on. Frankie didn’t have the greatest year in 2008, his average finishing position was outside the top ten,… averaging a finishing spot of 11.82 at the season conclusion. That said, he did manage to improve his finishing position over his qualifying effort in 82% of his starts. I don’t expect Muniz to be a standout in 2009, but this should be his best year to date.
On a similar note, it will be great to see Simona De Silvestro back in the Atlantic Championship in 2009. She was extremely impressive last year, becoming the second woman in history to win an Atlantic Championship event (Katherine Legge was the first). Simona not only won the opening race of the 2008 Championship, she also managed to finish inside the top-ten in 73% of her race starts. She finished inside the top-five on four occasions. Judging by her performance last year, one would expect she could put up a title fight in 2009.
