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15.05.2008
LAGUNA SECA : Monterey Festival of Speed Pre-race notebook COOPER TIRES PRESENTS THE ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP POWERED BY MAZDA MONTEREY FESTIVAL OF SPEED
• 35 Years and Counting: The 35th Anniversary celebration for the Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda kicks off with this weekend’s season-opening Imperial Capital Bank Atlantic Challenge of Long Beach. Over the years, the Atlantic series has seen more than its share of legendary drivers pass through the series on their way to greatness, from Formula 1 superstars such as Gilles Villeneuve, Keke Rosberg and Jacques Villeneuve to IndyCar racing heroes such as Bobby Rahal, Jimmy Vasser, Michael Andretti, Danny Sullivan, Sam Hornish Jr., Dan Wheldon and Buddy Rice. This year, Atlantic graduates will compete for race victories and championships in top-tier North American series such as the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the American Le Mans Series and the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. Atlantic has earned the distinction of being North America’s longest-running driver development series, and also one of the best. • California Connections: The Monterey Festival of Speed will feature four drivers who make their homes in the Golden State, including one from Monterey and another one from Northern California. Jonathan Bomarito (No. 26 Del Taco/RLM Investments/Stone Brewing) will sleep in his own bed throughout the weekend, as he hails from Monterey, while Dane Cameron (No. 19 MAZDASPEED/Finlay Motorsports/Lynx Racing) will likely drive his own car to and from the track since he makes his home in Sonoma. Frankie Muniz, driver of the No. 41 PCM/USRT machine for Pacific Coast Motorsports resides in Los Angeles, while No. 17 Genoa Racing driver Imran Husain makes his home in Santa Monica. • International Flair: This weekend’s race will feature drivers representing 12 different countries. The United States is best represented with a total of five drivers; followed by Canada with three; Finland, England and The Netherlands with two each; and one each from Mexico, Brazil, India, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Germany. • Rookies Aplenty: This weekend’s field will include 11 rookies, including one driver who will be making his first career start in the Atlantic Championship. That driver is Christopher Zoechling in the No. 45 Paladin Motorsports entry. The other rookies entered are Henri Karjalainen (No. 2 Jensen MotorSport), Greg Mansell (No. 5 Sunseeker), Markus Niemela (No. 8 Mr. Jones Bar & Kitchen/Rauma Town/Turku Karting), Dominick Muermans (No. 9 Hugenholtz Property Group/Jumbo Supermarkten/Muermans Group), Douglas Soares (No. 11 Banco BMG), Leo Mansell (No. 15 Sunseeker), Cameron, Jonathan Summerton (No. 34 Nuclear Clean Air Energy), Luis Schiavo (No. 46 Constructora Iriaca/Astaltatora Maracay/Transporte Jumbo/Energy Freight System) and Daniel Morad (No. 70 Metro Directories of Georgia).
• Past Winners: Chances are good that the driver who wins the Monterey Festival of Speed will be visiting Victory Circle for the first time in his Atlantic career. Only five drivers in the field have previously won Atlantic events: James Hinchcliffe (No. 3 Indeck/TireRack.com), Bomarito, Kevin Lacroix (No. 25 Uni-Select/Deans Knight/Wasteco), Simona De Silvestro (No. 34 Nuclear Clean Air Energy/NEI/Entergy) and Andreas Wirth (No. 88 Wirth Energy/Sueba). De Silvestro earned her first career Atlantic victory in the Long Beach season-opener last month.
- Nate Siebens -
Author: maggy (admin2)
Last modified: Thursday, 15.05.2008 - 12:35 More reports from this category all copyright automobilsport.com.
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