2010 Indy Lights / Atlantics

[Atle Gulbrandsen]

I also think the Atlantic will dissapear, and that's both sad (because of the history), but mainly good news.

What you have in the US now is a clear ladder from karting, through Skip Barber, to F2000, Star Mazda, Indy Lights and IndyCar.

That would be something for Europe as well...

[RichardRenes]

Yelmer Buurman will be testing for Sam Schmidt Motorsports at Barber Motorsports Park.

[courageous]

Atlantics should be pitching itself at the F3 level - a stepping stone to the main European junior championships (give the champion a prize drive in F2 and/or a test with USF1 if they actually materialise).

The road to indy has been given official approval & atlantics is not a part of it, so they need to think of something else.

[JOWT Blog]

Originally Posted by RichardRenes

Yelmer Buurman will be testing for Sam Schmidt Motorsports at Barber Motorsports Park.

I hadn't heard that he will be running at Barber, but he is testing with SSM today at Homestead-Miami Speedway (along with Jean-Karl Vernay and Philip Major). He is also scheduled to test with Philip, Pippa, and Vernay on February 11-13 at Palm Beach International Raceway. Here are a few more testing updates.

Buurman and Vernay would both be excellent additions to the Indy Lights field. Esteban Guerrieri has also completed a couple tests with Sam. It will be interesting to see who sticks around.

[runshaw]

Why is there one thread discussing both Atlantics and Indy Lights? I was reading one post about Atlantics and then another which I thought was discussing Atlantics, but turned out to be Indy Lights. I'm sure they had separate threads last year, given they are separate race series.

[NaBUru38]

Runshaw, it was me who decided it. Sorry if you don't like it, but the Atlantics is gatting thinner each month and I thought it was a waste to dediate one whole thread to it.

courageous, Atlantics authorities are actually doing what you say. Moreover, they are aiming a little higher than F3 - cars are more powerful and aero-loaded than them (more or less GP3-level) and drivers can easily jump directly to WSR, F2 or GP2.

Guerrieri raced at International F3000, WSR and Superleague, so he doesn't need to step back to four-cylinder formulas (Atlantics). If he has money, he will certainly do Indy Lights to gain oval experience and try to make it to the IndyCar in 2011 or 2012.

[jondownunder]

I agree with runshaw, Indy Lights and Atlantics really should have separate threads to avoid confusion.

[Morris Dancer]

Originally Posted by jondownunder

I agree with runshaw, Indy Lights and Atlantics really should have separate threads to avoid confusion.

Or consign Atlantics to a thread for A1GP, Grand Prix Masters and other moribund series.

[jondownunder]

Indeed!

[JOWT Blog]

I just received news that Team Moore Racing has cancelled their contract with Junior Strous for the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights season. At this point, I don't have any details.

[Marcel ten Caat]

Or maybe it is the other way around and Strous has cancelled his contract...and will move to another team with more status?

[dbar]

Junior Strous will be replaced in #2 Team Moore Racing by canadian James Hinchcliffe.

http://www.indycar.com/indylights/news/?story_id=15777

[NaBUru38]

This is a strange press release:

Originally Posted by Atlantic Championship, February 25, 2010

[...] the grid for the season-opening race at Sebring International Raceway has already eclipsed ten committed drivers. Teams committed to the race include Swan Racing, Jensen Motorsports, Veach Racing, Condor Motorsports, Paladin Motorsports, U.S. Racetronics, Comprent Motorsport, Polestar Racing and Team Tonis. This increased enthusiasm from drivers and teams comes from the announcement of several key programs aimed at giving back to the drivers and encouraging their future growth and development. Interest continues to build [...]

[HJJ]

Atlantics toast for 2010.

http://www.auto123.com/en/racing-new...d?artid=116648

[Mystery]

http://www.atlantic-championship.com...-news&Itemid=1

The official word on the subject

[Fogelhund]

Very sad to hear about this, though it isn't a surprise. Nearly 40 years isn't a bad run, and I am proud to say my Father was involved in the creation of this once great series.

[Morris Dancer]

For "go on Haitus", read: "sink without trace".

Like Ken Anderson's belated admission that USF1 won't contest this year's F1 season, Ben Johnston's announcement will come as no surprise to anyone who's been keeping an eye on the category.

The alarm bells started ringing late last year after reports started circulating that the 2009 Atlantic series winner hadn't received his prizemoney, so it's a wonder that any circuits, teams, drivers put their hands up for 2010.

Johnston should accept the reality that Atlantic has had its day. He should bow out gracefully instead of giving more false hope to his staff and the circuit promoters, teams and drivers who believed his blind optimism.

Economic downturns like the GFC perform a brutal but necessary role in culling ailing overcrowded motorsport categories.

Atlantic looked shaky after a meagre 2009 competing for entries against other openwheeler 'development' category formulas such as Star Mazda, F2000, FBMW, Barber, etc.

Now that Atlantic is gone, Star Mazda is its logical successor as the prime US 'feeder' formula into 'intermediate' formulas like Indy Lights, GP2, F2, FR3.5, Formula Superleague, etc.

The only pity is that Atlantic's wonderfully raucus reciprocating bark will be replaced by Star Mazda's awful rotary drone !

[NaBUru38]

Too sad. No thread splitting, then.

The Star Mazda weekends at Autobahn and New Jersey will be much weaker without the Atlantics. I doubt that the Autobahn race will survive, unless the Skip Barber National and some SCCA series join forces. We could expect the Star Mazda to support the Grand-Am at New Jersey for 2011, although the IRL may prefer to add more IndyCar / Indy Lights races (short ovals!). Also, no matter how short Barber straights are, showcasing open-wheel racing to Southerns could boost their fandom.

[Jay]

Johnston kept the series going for one more year than it otherwise would have, so I have no ill-will against him. He also is not to blame for the majority of the winner's prize money not being payed out - that was the teams. He tried, but it wasn't salvageable...mostly due to forces outside of his control.

Atlantic never competed with Star Mazda, FBMW, etc - they were always different rungs on the ladder supporting each other, with the Star Mazda champion receiving funding to compete in the Atlantic Championship. The only series Atlantic competed with...really..was Indylights, which stays alive by virtue of it being the official feeder to the IRL, and various "incentives" to indycar teams to run in that series.

The way the economy is, Atlantic is just the latest casualty... there will be more, bigger collapses in North America, perhaps even before this year ends. Motorsports requires people to have cash to blow...and I don't see those days returning for many years.

It's very sad, and I feel especially bad for those that worked with in the Atlantic series - some of the kindest and most enthusiastic people you would ever meet at a race track. They were a small bunch, but they made sure everything went off without a hitch. I wish them all of the best for the future.

[gomick]

I was an Atlantics fan, but it with all the talk lately i guess it was on the cards, beats having a series struggling with 10 cars per round... See what happens in the future!

[Morris Dancer]

Originally Posted by Jay

Johnston kept the series going for one more year than it otherwise would have, so I have no ill-will against him. He also is not to blame for the majority of the winner's prize money not being payed out - that was the teams. He tried, but it wasn't salvageable...mostly due to forces outside of his control.

Atlantic never competed with Star Mazda, FBMW, etc - they were always different rungs on the ladder supporting each other, with the Star Mazda champion receiving funding to compete in the Atlantic Championship. The only series Atlantic competed with...really..was Indylights, which stays alive by virtue of it being the official feeder to the IRL, and various "incentives" to indycar teams to run in that series.

The way the economy is, Atlantic is just the latest casualty... there will be more, bigger collapses in North America, perhaps even before this year ends. Motorsports requires people to have cash to blow...and I don't see those days returning for many years.

It's very sad, and I feel especially bad for those that worked with in the Atlantic series - some of the kindest and most enthusiastic people you would ever meet at a race track. They were a small bunch, but they made sure everything went off without a hitch. I wish them all of the best for the future.

I bear no malice towards Ben Johnston either, but it was the promoter's responsibility to ensure that the teams contributed to the end-of-season prize fund. The 2009 Atlantic championship must have been on shaky ground for Johnston not to enforce that commitment.

As for Star Mazda not competing with Atlantic, the two formulas' specifications and power:weight ratios are so similar that few motorsport fans could pick the performance difference between them.

Atlantic's promoters seemed to assume that their formula 's greater longevity gave it precedence over comparative newcomers like Star Mazda. Obviously they were mistaken.

[Jay]

I saw the $1million dollar (aka $50k/team) prize fund scheme as trying something, though it clearly didn't work. I'm not sure what Johnson could have done to get the teams to payout..beyond paying with his own personal funds, and understandably, he wasn't willing to do it. I don't expect him to lose his shirt on the series.

You're mistaken though if you think Star Mazda and Atlantic ever competed with each other - quite the opposite, they helped each other. Atlantic was the official next step after Star Mazda, and Star Mazda was the official feeder to Atlantic. They shared events, and even staff and other resources sometimes. As an example, John Edwards, who was out of his depth in Atlantic in 2007 went back down to Star Mazda to get some experience so that he could come back to Atlantic to win in 2009.

I don't know the spec numbers on Star Mazda and Atlantic, but I don't think anyone would have trouble seeing a performance difference between them. As a photographer who shot both series, I know that the Atlantic cars were quite a bit faster through the same corners compared to Star Mazda. I just looked up the 2009 qualifying times for Trois Rivieres - Atlantics were 58.662sec compared to 1:15.406sec, so there's a decent difference between them.

Atlantic was the victim of circumstance, and unfortunately they're not the only ones in trouble. Star Mazda has been helped by being taken in by the IRL's 'Road to Indy', but even that entire venture is spiralling downward. I think the only series in North America that probably isn't knocking on death's door is Nascar.

[jondownunder]

Back to Indy Lights, I hadn't noticed before but there seem to be a few more drivers confirmed (Barbosa, Kent, Heylen, Jorda, Yacaman):
http://www.indycar.com/drivers/56-fi...e-indy-lights/

I didn't see any news articles announcing them.

Field so far:

AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport - Martin Plowman
AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport - Charlie Kimball
Andersen Racing - Carmen Jorda
Bryan Herta Autosport - Sebastian Saavedra
Bryan Herta Autosport - Stefan Wilson
Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing - Gustavo Yacaman
Team E - Jan Heylen
Genoa - Richard Kent
PDM Racing - Rodrigo Barbosa
Sam Schmidt Motorsports - Pippa Mann
Sam Schmidt Motorsports - Philip Major
Sam Schmidt Motorsports - Jean-Karl Vernay
Team Moore Racing - James Hinchcliffe
Team Moore Racing - Adrian Campos Jr

Meanwhile James Winslow was testing for Schmidt and plans to enter:
http://www.crash.net/indycar/news/15..._campaign.html

[F1 Prospects]

Originally Posted by Jay

Atlantic was the victim of circumstance, and unfortunately they're not the only ones in trouble. Star Mazda has been helped by being taken in by the IRL's 'Road to Indy', but even that entire venture is spiralling downward. I think the only series in North America that probably isn't knocking on death's door is Nascar.

While it would be foolish to deny the overwhelming popularity of NASCAR, can you expand on how the Road to Indy program is "spiralling downward" when it has only just begun?

Thanks.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Kimball the only American so far... Anyone waiting in thw wings, now that it seems Dane Cameron, Bomarito and Edwards won't be in single seaters this year? Summerton, Herrington perhaps? Also, anything on James Davison yet?