2009 Atlantic Championship

2009 Atlantic Championship season
2009 Atlantic Championship season
Cooper Tires Presents the Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda
Season
Races	12
Start date	March 20
End date	October 11
Awards
Drivers' champion	John Edwards

The 2009 IMSA Cooper Tires Atlantic Championship season was the thirty-sixth Atlantic Championship season. It was the first full season of the Championship under the sanctioning of the International Motor Sports Association. After a three-way title battle into the final round at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, John Edwards became the series' youngest champion, beating Jonathan Summerton on a tie-breaker, after both drivers finished on 182 points. They also finished tied on four victories, but Edwards broke the tie with four second-place finishes compared to Summerton's three.

Drivers and teams

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2009 Atlantic Championship. All teams are using the Swift 016.a chassis powered by a Mazda-Cosworth MZR 2.3-litre inline-4 engine and Cooper tires. C2 Class teams use the Swift 014.a chassis.

Team	No	Drivers	Rounds
Newman Wachs Racing	1	Markus Niemelä	1–4
	34	Jonathan Summerton	5–12
	36	John Edwards	All
Jensen MotorSport	1	Markus Niemela	6–12
	2	Matt Lee	1
		James Winslow	2
		David Garza	3–4
		Barrett Mertins	12
	3	Michael Nacol	1–7
	3	Eric Jensen	9–10
	13	Eric Jensen	7
Condor Motorsports	6	Borja García	1–10
	6	Frédéric Vervisch	12
	7	Max Lefèvre	All
Conquest Racing	12	James Winslow	1
	12	Matt Lee	5
	21	Harald Schlegelmilch	1
Genoa Racing	17	Frédéric Vervisch	All
	18	Tõnis Kasemets	2
		Robert Wickens	10
		Greg Mansell	11
		James Winslow	3–4, 9–10
	19	James Winslow	5–7, 11
	19	Jonathan Summerton	1–4
Mathiasen Motorsports	26	Jonathan Bomarito	1
Polestar Motor Racing	35	Tõnis Kasemets	1, 3–12
Polestar Motor Racing	66	Richard Zober	3–5
Paladin Motorsports	45	James Winslow	12
Team Stargate Worlds	77	Frankie Muniz	1-9
	77	Jonathan Bomarito	11–12
	78	Simona de Silvestro	All
C2 Class
Swan Racing	29	Ahsen Yelkin	1
	68	Chris Lee	1
	71	Michael Mällinen	1–4, 8
	75	Sadat Yelkin	1
	80	Hans Peter	8
	88	Mirl Swan	1, 8

Schedule

Round	Race date	Race name	Circuit	City/Location
1	March 20	Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring^[1]	Sebring International Raceway	Sebring, Florida
2	May 17	Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix^[2]	Miller Motorsports Park	Tooele, Utah
3	June 13	Mazda Formula X^[1]	New Jersey Motorsports Park	Millville, New Jersey
4	June 14	Mazda Formula X^[1]	New Jersey Motorsports Park	Millville, New Jersey
5	July 18	Northeast Grand Prix	Lime Rock Park	Lakeville, Connecticut
6	July 25	Autobahn Grand Prix^[1]	Autobahn Country Club	Joliet, Illinois
7	July 26	Autobahn Grand Prix^[1]	Autobahn Country Club	Joliet, Illinois
8	August 8	Acura Sports Car Challenge of Mid-Ohio	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio
9	August 16	Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières^[3]	Circuit Trois-Rivières	Trois-Rivières, Quebec
10	August 30	Grand Prix of Mosport^[1]	Mosport International Raceway	Bowmanville, Ontario
11	September 26	Petit Le Mans^[1]	Road Atlanta	Braselton, Georgia
12	October 11	Monterey Sports Car Championships^[4]	Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca	Monterey, California

Seven rounds are held jointly with the American Le Mans Series: Sebring, Miller, Lime Rock, Mid-Ohio, Mosport, Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca.

The series planned to open its season on a road course on Hutchinson Island in Savannah, Georgia, on March 15. The race was postponed until 2010, as further work on the track was required before it could be homologated for professional open wheel racing. A second race at New Jersey Motorsports Park and Autobahn Country Club were added instead.^[5]

Race results

Rd	Race track	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Most Laps Led	Race winner
Rd	Race track	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Most Laps Led	Driver	Team
1	Sebring International Raceway	Jonathan Summerton	John Edwards	John Edwards	John Edwards	Newman Wachs Racing
2	Miller Motorsports Park	Simona de Silvestro	Simona de Silvestro	Simona de Silvestro	Simona de Silvestro	Team Stargate Worlds
3	New Jersey Motorsports Park	Jonathan Summerton	Jonathan Summerton	Jonathan Summerton	Jonathan Summerton	Genoa Racing
4	New Jersey Motorsports Park	Simona de Silvestro	Markus Niemelä	Simona de Silvestro	Simona de Silvestro	Team Stargate Worlds
5	Lime Rock Park	Simona de Silvestro	John Edwards	Simona de Silvestro	Simona de Silvestro	Team Stargate Worlds
6	Autobahn Country Club	John Edwards	Jonathan Summerton	John Edwards	John Edwards	Newman Wachs Racing
7	Autobahn Country Club	John Edwards	John Edwards	John Edwards	John Edwards	Newman Wachs Racing
8	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Jonathan Summerton	Jonathan Summerton	Jonathan Summerton	Jonathan Summerton	Newman Wachs Racing
9	Circuit Trois-Rivières	Simona de Silvestro	Jonathan Summerton	Simona de Silvestro	Simona de Silvestro	Team Stargate Worlds
10	Mosport International Raceway	Jonathan Summerton	John Edwards	Jonathan Summerton	Jonathan Summerton	Newman Wachs Racing
11	Road Atlanta	Jonathan Summerton	Jonathan Summerton	Jonathan Summerton	Jonathan Summerton	Newman Wachs Racing
12	Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca	John Edwards	Jonathan Summerton	John Edwards	John Edwards	Newman Wachs Racing

Championship Standings

The point system was modified from previous years for the 2009 season.^[6] Points are awarded as follows:

Pos	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Points	20	16	14	12	10	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

Bonus points will also be awarded for the fastest driver in a qualifying session (10 races will have two sessions), and most places gained during the race.
This means the maximum a driver can score is 21, as a driver cannot earn the most places gained point, if they've started from pole.
Only the driver's best eleven scores will count towards the championship.

Atlantic Class

Pos	Driver	SEB	MIL	NJ1	NJ2	LRP	ACC1	ACC2	MID	CTR	MOS	ATL	LAG	Points
1	John Edwards	1	2	5	6	2	1	1	9	2	2	3	1	182
2	Jonathan Summerton	3	6	1	2	4	2	11	1	3	1	1	2	182
3	Simona de Silvestro	5	1	2	1	1	3	2	2	1	10	2	10	176
4	Frédéric Vervisch	2	3	7	3	6	4	4	5	9	3	6	3	131
5	Tõnis Kasemets	7	5	6	7	5	5	3	10	4	6	9	4	103
6	Markus Niemelä	12	9	4	4	9	10	6	4	5	5	5	5	98
7	Borja García	6	DSQ	3	5	3	6	5	3	11	7			88
8	James Winslow	8	8	9	9	7	8	9	6	7		7	7	72
9	Frankie Muniz	10	4	8	8	10	7	7	8	6				62
10	Max Lefèvre	DNS	7	11	11	8	9	8	7	10	8	8	9	58
11	Jonathan Bomarito	13										4	8	19
12	Eric Jensen							10		8	9			16
13	Harald Schlegelmilch	4												12
14	Robert Wickens										4			12
15	Michael Nacol	11	10	13	13	12	DNS	DNS						11
16	Barrett Mertins												6	8
17	David Garza			10	10									8
18	Richard Zober			12	12	11								7
19	Matt Lee	9				13								6
20	Greg Mansell											10		4
Pos	Driver	SEB	MIL	NJ1	NJ2	LRP	ACC1	ACC2	MID	CTR	MOS	ATL	LAG	Points

Color	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	4th & 5th place
Light Blue	6th–10th place
Dark Blue	11th place or lower
Purple	Did not finish
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Brown	Withdrawn (Wth)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
Blank	Did not participate (DNP)
	Driver replacement (Rpl)
	Injured (Inj)
	No race held (NH)

C2 Class

Pos	Driver	SEB	MIL	NJ1	NJ2	LRP	ACC1	ACC2	MID	CTR	MOS	ATL	LAG	Points
1	Michael Mällinen	5	1	1	1				1					93
2	Mirl Swan	1							DNQ					21
3	Hans Peter								2					17
4	Sadat Yelkin	2												16
5	Ahsen Yelkin	3												14
6	Chris Lee	4												12
Pos	Driver	SEB	MIL	NJ1	NJ2	LRP	ACC1	ACC2	MID	CTR	MOS	ATL	LAG	Points

Polesitters are denoted in bold. Polesitters are determined by the fastest overall lap in qualifying, and one point is awarded at each round.
Driver in italics has gained the most places in a round. One point is awarded at each round.

Notes

At round one, no hard charger point was awarded in the C2 Class as no drivers changed positions over the 19-lap duration.^[7] This also occurred at rounds two, three and four, but on these occasions due to only one car taking part.

Television and other video

For the 2009 season, a new Atlantic Championship high-definition television package was announced on HDNet, which features live coverage of certain events, and replays of others.^[8]

Web video of events has also historically been available on the series website, and the series also has its own official YouTube channel under the username "AtlanticRacingSeries."

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Atlantic Championship Schedule Features New Look in 2009". November 6, 2008. Archived from the original on November 13, 2008. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
^ "Miller Motorsports Park Announces 2009 Racing Schedule". millermotorsportspark.com. October 29, 2008. Retrieved October 31, 2008.
^ "Star Mazda Announces 2009 Schedule" (PDF). starmazda.com. October 3, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 30, 2010. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
^ "Atlantic Series has new owner". montereyherald.com. November 5, 2008. Archived from the original on February 13, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
^ "Atlantic: Team Owners Meeting Details Revealed". 3 February 2009. Archived from the original on 8 February 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
^ "2009 Atlantic Championship Points Structure Reconfigured" (PDF). February 11, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 4, 2010. Retrieved March 20, 2009.
^ Nate Siebens (March 20, 2009). "2009 Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda, Round 1 – Sebring International Raceway Driver Performance Chart" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 19, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2009.
^ "Title Unknown". Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2009.

[newlook-1] "Atlantic Championship Schedule Features New Look in 2009". November 6, 2008. Archived from the original on November 13, 2008. Retrieved November 8, 2008.

[millermotorsportspark.com-2] "Miller Motorsports Park Announces 2009 Racing Schedule". millermotorsportspark.com. October 29, 2008. Retrieved October 31, 2008.

[Star_Mazda_Announces_2009_Schedule-3] "Star Mazda Announces 2009 Schedule" (PDF). starmazda.com. October 3, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 30, 2010. Retrieved October 5, 2008.

[Atlantic_Series_has_new_owner-4] "Atlantic Series has new owner". montereyherald.com. November 5, 2008. Archived from the original on February 13, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2008.

[5] "Atlantic: Team Owners Meeting Details Revealed". 3 February 2009. Archived from the original on 8 February 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2009.

[6] "2009 Atlantic Championship Points Structure Reconfigured" (PDF). February 11, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 4, 2010. Retrieved March 20, 2009.

[7] Nate Siebens (March 20, 2009). "2009 Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda, Round 1 – Sebring International Raceway Driver Performance Chart" (PDF). International Motor Sports Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 19, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2009.

[8] "Title Unknown". Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2009.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]