Atlantic Championship Set To Conclude One Day Earlier

Apr 30, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS – The 2008 Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda schedule will end one day earlier than originally announced as series officials today confirmed that the season finale slated for Road Atlanta will be contested on Friday, October 3. The reason for the change was to put a bit more space between the Atlantic Championship event and the 10-hour American Le Mans Series Petit Le Mans, which will begin at 11:15 a.m. ET on Saturday, October 4.

The fact that the Atlantic Championship is racing at Road Atlanta at all is thanks to the spirit of cooperation between series partner Mazda and the BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda series, which was originally scheduled to conclude its season on the same weekend at Road Atlanta. Skip Barber National will instead wrap up its 2008 campaign on October 3-5 at Virginia International Raceway alongside the Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series. Both the Atlantic Championship and Skip Barber National are rungs on the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development Ladder.

“I can’t thank Skip Barber National enough for agreeing to move their season finale for us,” said Atlantic Championship managing director Vicki O’Connor. “This is just another example of how motorsports is truly a big family and we are proud of our association with Mazda and the Skip Barber organization. Likewise, I must also extend my gratitude to both Road Atlanta and Virginia International Raceway for helping us to make this work as well.”

Road Atlanta is a fitting site for the finale of the 35th Anniversary season of the Atlantic Championship. This year’s race marks the return of Atlantic to the historic, 2.54-mile, 12-turn road course for the first time since 1993, when eventual Formula 1, IndyCar and Indianapolis 500 champion Jacques Villeneuve claimed the victory after starting from the pole position. Ironically, his father, Canadian racing legend Gilles Villeneuve, won from the pole in the first Atlantic visit to Road Atlanta in 1976. There have been a total of seven Atlantic Championship events held at Road Atlanta.

Next up for the 2008 Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda is Round 2 of the 11-race championship, the Monterey Festival of Speed at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Sunday, May 18.

The Atlantic Championship is the longest-running open-wheel driver development series in North America and celebrates its 35th Anniversary season in 2008. The series is noted for its long history of graduating its drivers into the top levels of motorsport throughout the world, including IndyCar champions such as Bobby Rahal, Danny Sullivan, Michael Andretti, Jacques Villeneuve, Jimmy Vasser, Greg Ray, Sam Hornish Jr. and Dan Wheldon, Indy 500 winners such as Sullivan, Rahal, Villeneuve, Buddy Rice, Wheldon and Hornish, and Formula One world champions such as Villeneuve and Keke Rosberg. In 2008, Atlantic graduates will battle for race victories and championships in top North American series such as the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series in addition to various other series all over the world.