It wasn t exactly an easy day at the beach, but it was a fun Sunday drive for Raphael Matos (#6 ProWorks) in the second round of the Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda. The 25-year-old Brazilian racer fought off a strong early challenge in the Imperial Capital Bank Atlantic Challenge at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and he held his competition at bay to secure his second straight win to open the 2007 season. The flag-to-flag victory represented his third career Atlantic win and, more importantly, it gives him a 65-point total in the series standings. He now leads his closest pursuer by 11 points in the early race for the championship and the $2 million bonus to compete in the Champ Car World Series in 2008.
The 50-minute race on the 1.968-mile classic Long Beach street circuit didn t start as smoothly as it finished. The car of J. R. Hildebrand (#36 Newman Wachs Racing) ran into trouble on the warm-up lap as the first attempt at a 30-car standing start was aborted. After Hildebrand s car was cleared off the track the rest of the Mazda-Cosworth/Swift/Cooper machines roared off the line from a standing start. As the cars approached Turn 1, Condor Motorsports Franck Perera (#11 CJ Motorsport) made a daring move to try and capture the lead of the race. Perera, starting second, tried to sneak by Matos as both drivers drifted toward the wall. After Perera edged his nose past Matos, the native of Belo Horizonte, Brazil was able to recover and push back in front to shut the door. The move cost Perera positions as he slipped back to fifth place after the first lap.
The challenge seemed to strengthen Matos resolve as he remained focused at the front of the field. The early action also opened the door for Jonathan Bomarito (#23 Miracle Sealants/Konica Minolta/Dynacor) who moved into second from his third-place starting position on the opening lap. The biggest mover at the outset, however, was Robert Wickens (#3 Red Bull/INDECK) of Red Bull Team Forsythe. Sensing an opening during the standing start, the 18-year-old Canadian zoomed from seventh into third place in the first few corners as he made the most of a slim opportunity. After a sloppy season opener one week earlier on the streets of Las Vegas that saw only five of 22 laps run under green-flag conditions, the young and aggressive Atlantic field enjoyed a much cleaner race on Sunday. The event included three yellow-flag caution periods for 10 laps, but the rookie-dominated lineup staged some strong racing while keeping it clean.
Matos was able to turn back each challenge from Bomarito on all three green-flag re-starts as he produced a 1.517-second victory. The second-year series racer also claimed the fastest lap of the race, turning a top time of 1:16.554 (92.546 mph) on the 22nd of 31 laps on the streets of Long Beach. The point earned for the fastest lap gave Matos 34 points earned on the weekend, the maximum haul available. Bomarito held second place from the opening lap until the checkered flag, scoring his second straight podium to start the season and his third straight dating back to last season for PR1 Motorsports. Wickens had a tough battle with his Red Bull Team Forsythe stablemate, John Edwards (#7 Red Bull/INDECK), and Perera for third place. But Wickens held on to claim his second straight podium to start his Atlantic career. Edwards claimed fourth for his top series finish while Perera equaled his output from the first round of racing with a fifth-place result.
Conquest Racing rookie Giacomo Ricci (#18 Banca Italease/Lotto/Global) of Italy also posted his best Atlantic result as he crossed the finish line sixth in his second series event. James Hinchcliffe (#9 NOCO/ProWorks) of Canada was seventh for the Sierra Sierra team, while Ronnie Bremer (#12 The RoomStore of Phoenix/Sealy/PRG) of Polestar Racing Group finished eighth for the second consecutive race.
Mukilteo, Washington driver Carl Skerlong (#24 King Taco/USRT) of US RaceTronics rallied from a 13th-place starting position to grab ninth place while Arleta, California native Justin Sofio (#26 Bare Elegance/Valley Ball/RLM Investments) celebrated his 28th birthday on Sunday with a season-best 10th place result for Mathiasen Motorsports.
ATLANTIC RACE NOTES
• Matos has now six podium finishes in his 14 career Atlantic starts
• Sofio s Mathiasen Motorsports entry won the first Sherwin-Williams Atlantic It s All in the Finish design award of the season. Representatives of Sherwin-Williams, the Official Automotive Finish of Atlantics, along with select Long Beach race fans, judged Sofio s car to have the best finish design this weekend. The team was awarded $7,000 for the honor.
• Despite a field that featured 21 rookies, Atlantic veterans owned the top two finishing positions in today s race and four of the top eight spots overall.
• After a strong qualifying performance that saw him claim fourth on the starting grid, Alan Sciuto (#20 The RoomStore of Phoenix) of nearby Orange, California saw his race end early as he suffered contact on the opening lap and was forced to retire early.
• Today s race was completed in 46:29.978 – a new series record for a 31-lap race at Long Beach Quotes from the top three drivers in today s race follow:
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