2008 Atlantic Championship season

The 2008 Atlantic Championship season is the thirty-fifth Atlantic Championship season. It began on April 20, 2008 and will end on October 4, 2008. Despite the merger of Champ Car's premier series with the Indy Racing League, the Champ Car owners will continue to own and operate the series under a new legal entity, Atlantic Racing Series, LLC. [ [http://atlantic-championship.com/News/Article.asp?ID=3378 Champ Car Atlantic News ] ] Champ Car continued to sanction the first two events of the season at Long Beach and Laguna Seca with the remainder of the season running under IMSA sanction. [ [http://atlantic-championship.com/News/Article.asp?ID=3377 Champ Car Atlantic News ] ]

Events

The original 2008 Altantic season of 12 races which featured many supporting runs during Champ Car World Series events had to be scrapped as a result of the 2008 open-wheen reunification announcement. The Long Beach, Monterey, Edmonton, Road America, and Mont-Tremblant races had been part of the Champ Car schedule before reunification. The Road America races were changed, as the American Le Mans Series' Generac 500 weekend meet was changed from one to two races (a Saturday and Sunday race). The Edmonton race, now part of the Indy Racing League, will also switch to a two-race format. The original races at Trois-Rivieres, Quebec and Miller Motorsports Park were not affected. The Quebec race is part of the Grand Prix of Trois-Rivieres (which also features the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series), and the Utah race is conducted as part of the Grand American Road Racing Association Sunchaser 1000 weekend. Neither race was affected by the reunification. cite news | url =http://www.champcaratlantic.com/News/Article.asp?ID=3301 | title ="Set For 35th Anniversary Season" | publisher =champcaratlantic.com| date = 2007-02-27 | accessdate =2008-02-27] On April 3rd a revised post reunification schedule was released featuring 11 races including the seven weekends that were kept (with two races at Edmonton and Road America), and two new races, one at New Jersey Motorsports Park and Road Atlanta. The series, in addition to running as the featured race in Mont Tremblant and New Jersey, will run with the Champ Car World Series final event at the Long Beach Grand Prix, as well as the Indy Racing League's IndyCar Series presented by DirecTV HD, American LeMans Series, Rolex Sports Car Series, and NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

Race summaries

=Round 1: Imperial Capital Bank Atlantic Challenge of Long Beach=

*Sunday April 20, 2008 - 1:30 p.m. EDT
*Streets of Long Beach - Long Beach, California (1.968 mile street circuit)
*Time: 50 minutes
*Distance: 38 laps / 74.784 miles
*Race weather: 60° F, Sunny skies
*Television: Speed (November 9, 2008 - 5:00 p.m. EDT)
*Pole position winner: #26 Jonathan Bomarito, 93.286 mph (150.125 km/h)
*Race Summary:The 2008 Imperial Capital Bank Atlantic Challenge of Long Beach was won by the young Swiss driver Simona de Silvestro making her only the second female driver to ever win an Atlantic Championship race after Katherine Legge.

=Round 4: Rexall Edmonton Indy Twin Races - Race 1=

*Friday July 25, 2008 - 5:15 p.m. MDT
*Rexall Speedway - Edmonton, Alberta (1.973 mile temporary airport circuit)
*Time: 50 minutes
*Distance: 38 laps / 74.974 miles
*Race weather: 80° F, Partly cloudy skies
*Television: Speed (November 16, 2008 - 5:30 p.m. EDT)
*Pole position winner: #3 James Hinchcliffe, 1:05.910 (107.765 mph)
*Race Summary:Polesitter James Hinchcliffe led from the green flag but was closely stalked by Jonathan Bomarito, who finally made the pass in Turn 1 on lap 31. A late race caution set up a one lap sprint to the finish with Bomarito holding off Markus Niemela to become the fourth race winner in as many races this season. The win was Bomarito's third Atlantic victory and the first victory for his team, Mathiasen Motorsports, in 36 starts. In the points chase, Niemela leads Hinchcliffe 94-93.

=Round 7: Road Race Showcase/Road America - Race 2=

*Sunday August 9, 2008 - 1:30 p.m. CDT
*Road America - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin (4.048 mile permanent road circuit)
*Time: 50 minutes
*Distance: 20 laps / 80.960 miles
*Race weather: 75° F, Partly cloudy skies
*Television: Speed (December 21, 2008 - 5:00 p.m. EDT)
*Pole position winner: #26 Jonathan Bomarito, 1:59.564 (121.883 mph)
*Race Summary:Race 1's winner Jonathan Bomarito led away from the pole, while behind him Jonathan Summerton was charging up through the field from ninth place on the grid. On lap 18, Summerton passed Bomarito in Turn 1, leading only the final two laps home to the checkered flag. Even with the second place finish Bomarito jumped to the top of the points chase. He leads with 157, three in front of the previous leader James Hinchcliffe and six in front of Markus Niemela.

=Round 10: SunRichGourmet.com 1000=

*Sunday September 21, 2008 - 2:30 p.m. MDT
*Miller Motorsports Park - Tooele, Utah (4.486 mile permanent road circuit)
*Time: 50 minutes
*Distance: 20 laps / 89.720 miles
*Race weather: 71° F, Mostly Cloudy
*Television: Speed (December 28, 2008 - 5:00 p.m. EDT)
*Pole position winner: #8 Markus Niemela, 2:28.915 (108.448 mph)
*Race Summary:Markus Niemela followed up his first Atlantic series pole position with his first series victory, leading every lap in the race. Three drivers are still alive for the series championship going into the final round of the season. Jonathan Bomarito, who finished sixth, now leads with 224 points. He has an eight point advantage over Jonathan Summerton and a 10 point lead over Niemela.

=Round 11: Atlanta Atlantic Challenge=

*Friday October 3, 2008 - 2:10 p.m. EDT
*Road Atlanta - Braselton, Georgia (2.540 mile permanent road circuit)
*Time: 50 minutes
*Distance: 35 laps / 88.900 miles
*Race weather: 72° F, Clear
*Television: Speed (December 28, 2008 - 5:30 p.m. EDT)
*Pole position winner: #36 Jonathan Summerton, 1:14.137 (123.339 mph)
*Race Summary:Markus Niemela won the race and cliched the series championship on an eventful day at Road Atlanta. At the start Dane Cameron took the race lead from the standing start while Niemela got around the pole sitter Jonathan Summerton for second place. Jonathan Bomarito, the points leader going into the race, dropped out of the race with mechanical troubles after only 10 laps. Going into a restart on lap 33, Niemela was in second and Summerton was in third, but Summerton was in line to clinch the championship. On the restart, Niemela got around Cameron to take the lead on the track and Kevin Lacroix passed Summerton for third, which put Niemela in position to take the championship. Summerton attempted to pass Cameron to put himself back into the championship position but they made contact and both cars were knocked out of the race. Niemela cruised the final laps under yellow. Niemela finished the season with 245 points followed by Bomarito at 228 and Summerton with 224.

References

ee also

*2008 Champ Car World Series Season
*2008 IndyCar Series season

succession box
title = 2008 Atlantic Championship season
years =
before = 2007 Champ Car Atlantic season
after = 2009 Atlantic Championship season