RuSPORT was an auto racing team that competed in the Champ Car World Series . It was founded in September 2002 by Carl Russo .
61-596: Russo drove for the team then known as Performance Development and Racing (PDR) based in Fort Collins, Colorado (USA) which was owned by Steve Wulff. Russo competed in the Toyota Atlantic Series driving a car prepared by PDR in the 2002 season before he decided that team ownership suited him better than being a driver. Russo acquired the assets of PDR from Wulff in late 2002, which gave rise to RuSPORT. Wulff stayed on Operations Director and Gerald Tyler
122-588: A four-wide finish. In June 2013, it was announced that the series would be promoted by Andersen Promotions beginning in 2014 . with IndyCar sanctioning remaining. In August it was announced that Cooper Tire would replace Firestone as the official tire of the series in 2014. This resulted in all three levels of the Road to Indy leading up to the IndyCar Series being promoted by Andersen and feature Cooper tires, beginning in 2014. The Andersen team implemented
183-696: A long line of television celebrities to enter this series—starting with Dick Smothers at the very first race in 1968 —was Frankie Muniz of the Fox Network comedy Malcolm in the Middle , making his debut in 2007. Sharing the dream of many American open wheel racers, Muniz stated his intention to use Champ Car Atlantics as a direct path to racing in the Champ Car World Series . A few women have chosen to participate in Atlantic racing under
244-598: A modified 85B Formula 3000 chassis, renamed to Wildcat) from 1986 to 1992. In 1992 Lola became the primary chassis constructor to the series, using a modified F3000 chassis. In 1997, a newly updated and modern-looking chassis was introduced based on an F3000 design. It would remain through 2001. Buick V6 engines were used for its entire existence. The ARS/Indy Lights series' championship winners included two CART champions, two IndyCar Series champions, seven Champ Car World Series race-winners and two Formula One drivers. The Indy Lights schedule closely followed that of
305-446: A monetary pole position reward. Starting in 2006, the series has been run exclusively with Swift 016.a chassis powered by Mazda - Cosworth MZR 2300 cm (2.3 L) DOHC inline-4 engines producing 300 bhp (224 kW). The cars are capable of speeds in excess of 175 mph (280 km/h). The new formula has lowered the costs of running a full Atlantic season to around $ 500,000–$ 600,000. This reduction in costs, plus
366-409: A new high-definition television package was announced on HDNet , which features live coverage of certain events and replays of others. 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." Indy Lights Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights ,
427-536: A number of cost-reducing updates to the chassis and engine package in 2014 and introduced a new chassis and engine combination in 2015. On October 31, 2013, the series announced that Dallara would be the manufacturer of the fourth-generation Indy Lights chassis and it would be named the Dallara IL-15. On November 1, 2013 a new logo was unveiled for the Indy Lights series On November 26 it was announced that
488-558: A race in Toronto, Canada and finished eleventh in points. Stephen Simpson competed in three races with his best finish of fifth place in Monterrey, Mexico. Christal was also the owner of sponsor Roadblock Protective Systems and Team Manager for BMW of Sterling Motorsports. Simona de Silvestro was an Atlantic Championship contender who led a large portion 2009 Atlantic Championship season , ultimately finishing third. In three years in
549-533: A rival BP backed series appearing in 1973. 1974 saw the BP series changing sponsor to John Player and the Yellow Pages series becoming backed by John Webb's MCD organisation and Southern Organs. In practice most top drivers competed in both series and there were no date clashes. Only one series ran in 1975–76, in the final year taking the title ' Indylantic and adopting Indianapolis-style single-car qualifying. But
610-638: A season. In 2005, she became the first woman in history to win a professional open wheel race in North America, at Long Beach, California . She then amassed two more wins in the same season and finished third overall in season results. Christal Waddy was the first African American female Motorsport Director in the United States for a professional motorsport team. In 2006 Christal campaigned a two car entry for car owner Bob Gelles of Gelles Racing sponsored by Western Union. Driver Robbie Pecorari won
671-502: A series of professional races for Atlantic cars on the U.S. west coast, with Al Brizzard as Chief Steward. WCAR had originally sprung up with the FIA's "Formula Mondial" championship and when that folded prematurely, WCAR became Atlantic racing in the United States. On the east coast, Vicki O'Connor decided to establish a similar series. Thus, East Coast Atlantic Racing - ECAR - was born. Simultaneously, Vicki established Pro-Motion Agency Ltd as
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#1732791616720732-562: A small Atlantic Series team to a two-car Champ Car team with more than 40 employees. The rookie team placed Jourdain and Allmendinger in the top-five numerous time en route to Allmendinger winning Rookie-of-the-Year honors. This was only the second time in the history of the Champ Car Series that a rookie team with a rookie driver accomplished the feat. In 2005, Justin Wilson was signed as a replacement for 2005 for Jourdain, leading
793-580: A support race to a series other than CART. In 2001 Indy Lights ran at Road Atlanta the weekend of the Petit Le Mans , and ran at Kansas with the IRL . By the late 1990s and early 2000s, CART was suffering from financial problems. Meanwhile, in 1996, the rival Indy Racing League was formed. CART canceled the minor league outright after the 2001 season. By this time, the Toyota Atlantic series
854-470: Is an American open-wheel racing series with races throughout North America. It has previously been called Champ Car Atlantics , Toyota Atlantics (after its then engine supplier for sponsorship reasons), or just Atlantics . The series began in 1974 as a professional version of the Sports Car Club of America 's amateur Formula Atlantic classification and typically served as a stepping stone to
915-680: Is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar , currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Road to Indy , a program of racing series leading up to the IndyCar Series . A similar series named Indy Lights filled the developmental role for the CART series, and ran from 1986 to 1993 as the American Racing Series and Dayton Indy Lights from 1991 to 2001. The current IndyCar sanctioned series
976-857: The Canadian Automobile Sport Clubs (CASC) in Canada (now ASN Canada), drawing much attention and large fields due to its national CTV television coverage. IMSA in the United States took advantage of the large number of teams and organized its own series in 1976. During these years, the series attracted guest drivers from Europe, including Formula One, particularly at the Trois-Rivières street race in Quebec, Canada. Guest drivers included James Hunt , Jean-Pierre Jarier , Riccardo Patrese , Patrick Depailler , Jacques Laffite , Didier Pironi and Vittorio Brambilla . In 1977,
1037-582: The $ 2 million prize towards a Champ Car ride. However, he elected not to accept it as he felt that without other sponsorship, he would be driving for a non-competitive team. Matos instead accepted an offer from the Andretti Green Racing team in the developmental Firestone Indy Lights Series instead, where he was promised the chance to race in the Indy 500 and a future ride in the IndyCar Series . 2007 runner-up Franck Perera , who finished on
1098-510: The Atlantic Championship by extending an engine contract that covers the series through the year 2011. In early 2010, Atlantic Championship personnel publicized several features intended to attract new drivers and retain existing racers and teams. One was to brand the series as the "Road to F1", announcing that "at least one current European F1 team manager" would be in attendance to monitor a test for interested racers. Another
1159-461: The CART series, and typically had a gap of up to a month while the primary CART teams raced at the Indy 500 . The races were usually held the morning of the CART series races, as an undercard event. In early years, the Indy Lights series skipped superspeedway races such as Michigan , but eventually found its way to race there. In some rare occasions, the Indy Lights ran at non-CART tracks, generally as
1220-595: The European-based ladder series. The original Indy Lights series was an open-wheeled racing series that acted as a developmental circuit for CART from 1986 to 2001. It was founded in 1986 as the American Racing Series (ARS). CART became the sanctioning body for the series in 1988, and it was renamed as Indy Lights in 1991, with title sponsorship by Firestone . Later, Firestone's subsidiary Dayton Tires took over as tire supplier and title sponsor. A spec-series , CART Indy Lights used March chassis (essentially
1281-798: The Indy Lights schedule was the Freedom 100 , contested at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the Friday prior to the Indianapolis 500 . The series also held a support race for the U.S. Grand Prix , the Liberty Challenge , from 2005 to 2007. It was the series' first event that was not a support race to an IndyCar event. On September 9, 2007, during the Chicagoland 100 , Logan Gomez beat Alex Lloyd by 0.0005 seconds (approximately 1.65 inches (42 mm) at 188 mph) which reflects what
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#17327916167201342-771: The SCCA Formula Continental Championship in 1968 (when they were largely overshadowed by the V8-powered Formula 5000 cars) and then as an independent series from 1969 to 1972. Formula Atlantic as a class evolved in the United Kingdom in 1971 from the US Formula B rules, with 1600 cm production-based twin-cam engines (initially dominated by Lotus-Ford Twin Cam -based dry-sump Cosworth Mk.XIII, then by Cosworth BDD when
1403-758: The SCCA sanctioned the US events and in 1978 the CASC and SCCA series merged and conducted the series jointly until 1983, when it ran as the Formula Mondial North American Cup ; Michael Andretti won the championship. The series could not sustain the success of earlier seasons and was cancelled for 1984. In its place a "Pacific" series was conducted exclusively on the US West Coast in 1985. This rebirth expanded to an East Coast "Atlantic" series
1464-549: The Toyota Atlantic or Atlantic Championship powered by Mazda banner. As mentioned in the list of former drivers, Danica Patrick was an Atlantic competitor in 2003 and 2004. She was the first woman to score a pole position in the series and the first woman to finish on the podium. She also led the 2004 season briefly before finishing third overall in season results, but did not score a win in two years of Atlantic competition. Katherine Legge also competed in Atlantic for
1525-577: The US Formula Atlantic Pacific Championship) and races were run in Australia and New Zealand , where Formula Pacific became the top class of racing. For a few years the prestigious Macau Grand Prix was run to Formula Pacific rules before becoming a Formula Three race. South Africa also adopted Formula Atlantic rules, but later mandated that the cars were fitted with Mazda Wankel engines. In recognition of
1586-690: The USGP weekend. The series was called the Menards Infiniti Pro Series (MIPS) until 2006 when both Menards and Nissan dropped their sponsorship of the series. It was then known as the Indy Pro Series . On March 26, 2008, the series announced a changing of names, when the historical records and proprietary information of Champ Car were acquired by the IRL. The series then became known as Firestone Indy Lights . The centerpiece of
1647-476: The addition of the aforementioned $ 2 million prize, had an immediate effect on increasing the number of competitors in the series (car count), which had dwindled over the previous few seasons. For example, the 2007 season featured 30 drivers. Although the series had been run on Yokohama tires since 1991, the Japanese company elected to end its relationship with the series after the 2006 series, at which point it
1708-665: The cars will race exclusively on Hoosier tires. On December 21, 2012, it was announced that the 2013 schedule had been suspended. On October 1, 2013, it was announced that the series would return in 2014 with a twelve race, six weekend race calendar. For the 2017 Atlantic Championship , sanctioning transitioned from the SCCA to the United States Auto Club but Formula Race Promotions continued in their role as promoter. The series returned to SCCA sanctioning in 2019. Atlantic Championship races have previously been shown on multiple networks, including SPEED . For 2009,
1769-476: The class became Atlantic in the United States, however other engines like Alfa Romeo and BMW were also eligible). Conceived by John Webb of Brands Hatch (who would later also develop the Sports 2000 class) as a category for national competitors with the performance near a Formula Two car but running costs at or below that of a contemporary Formula Three car. A single ( Yellow Pages championship ran in 1971–72, with
1830-696: The down time in order to deliver an unparalleled racing offering when economic conditions allow." On December 29, 2011, Mike Rand, Bob Wright and Al Guibord Jr. of Formula Race Promotions, which operates the F1600 and F2000 Championship Series sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America 's Pro Racing Division, announced the Atlantic Championship would be revived for the 2012 season with a schedule that will be held during three of their F1600 and F2000 series weekends - Road Atlanta (May 10–12), New Jersey Motorsports Park (June 28-July 1) and Summit Point Raceway (August 24–26). SCCA engine and chassis rules will apply and
1891-453: The end of the "Mini Indy" series, the driver pool in the early 1980s for CART and the Indy 500 was drawn in a somewhat unorganized fashion among Super Vees, Atlantics, former Can-Am drivers, sprint cars, midgets, and even stock cars and off-road racing . In addition, a number of CART series drivers during the 1980s and early 1990s were former Formula 1 competitors, most of whom had climbed
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1952-611: The engine for the new package would be a 2.0L turbocharged MZR-R four cylinder engine, tuned to last a full season of competition and producing 450 horsepower, with push-to-pass offering an additional 50 horsepower. The 2020 season was canceled through a combination of low grid numbers and the COVID-19 pandemic . As of 2021, the Dallara IL-15 continues to be the chassis employed by the series, but engines are now provided by AER, Advanced Engines Research, modifying and tuning base 2.0 liter I-4 Mazda power plants turbocharged to provide
2013-446: The following year and the two ran concurrently through 1990. From 1990 to 2005, the series was sponsored by Toyota and the cars were powered by 1600 cc Toyota 4A-GE engines available in kit form from Toyota Racing Development . With the support of Toyota, the two US series were reunited into a single North American championship and have remained so to this date. The same rules were adopted as Formula Pacific (not to be confused with
2074-433: The formula was under threat from Formula 3 and no series ran in 1977–78. The series returned in 1979 with backing (for one season only) from Hitachi and continued to 1983, with diminishing grids and few new cars appearing. As a result of its similarity to Formula 2 and Formula 3 in terms of chassis regulations, Formula Atlantic typically used chassis closely related to these cars — with performance somewhere in between
2135-519: The global acceptance of the formula it was briefly renamed Formula Mondial in 1983, but this series failed to materialize. Among Atlantic drivers in races through 1982 were Keke Rosberg , Gilles Villeneuve, Michael Andretti, Bobby Rahal , Howdy Holmes, Tom Gloy, Dave McMikllan, Kevin Cogan, Jacques Villeneuve Sr, Chris Kneifel and Roberto Moreno. In 1983, Jon Norman, Gudrun and Rick Shea and Tim Fortner, formed West Coast Atlantic Racing - WCAR - and ran
2196-474: The highest levels of sports car racing such as American Le Mans . A US$ 2 million prize was announced for the winner of the 2006 racing season and future seasons, with the restriction that it can only be used towards the cost of racing in the Champ Car World Series . Simon Pagenaud became champion in 2006 and claimed the first such prize. He promptly moved to Champ Car in 2007 to race for Walker Racing . The series champion for 2007, Raphael Matos , also won
2257-472: The ladder of progression began to change. The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Super Vee and Formula Atlantic series were among the first formula-based ladder series. However, neither had any direct tie to USAC. In 1977, USAC started the "Mini-Indy" series, using Super Vee machines. The series ended after 1980 when USAC stopped sanctioning Indy car races outside of the Indianapolis 500. Following
2318-660: The management of the Atlantic series the many years of experience she'd accumulated while working for Carl Haas in his Lola, Hewland and other racing equipment import business, and more directly, her involvement in Carl's race team management in the CanAm and other series. Vicki's biography as a member of the Road Racing Drivers Club reads in part "… the Toyota Atlantic Series which developed into
2379-579: The most successful and longest-running open-wheel driver development series in North America". The Toyota Atlantic Series ran on road courses, ovals, street courses and airports in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The success of the series brought it the sponsorship and engine development of Toyota Motor Corporation in 1989 under its North American competition division, Toyota Racing Development , led by Les Unger. Later races were sanctioned by CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) when CART bought Pro-Motion Agency Ltd. When Champ Car succeeded CART in 2004,
2440-543: The new owners also bought Pro-Motion Agency, and Toyota Atlantic continued under their sanctioning. The series ended with the bankruptcy of Champ Car in 2007. The series raised to prominence a great number of drivers including Michael Andretti, Jacques Vlleneuve, Scott Goodyear, Joey Hand, Buddy Rice, Sam Hornish, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Brian Till, Dan Wheldon, Alex Tagliani, Calvin Fish, Danica Patrick, Simon Pagenaud, A. J. Allmendinger, Graham Rahal and Katherine Legge. The latest in
2501-502: The next 3 races in a row for his new team. Cristiano da Matta was injured in a freak collision with a deer during testing at Road America on August 3, 2006. On September 17, 2006, the team announced that it had selected Australian Ryan Briscoe , to fill in for the final two races of the 2006 season, Surfers Paradise, Australia and Mexico City. At the conclusion of the 2006 season, Russo's time and energy were being increasingly directed toward his rapidly growing company, Calix , and he
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2562-530: The organizing and managing body to run the series and had SCCA as the sanctioning body. The first ECAR race was at Summit Point Motorsports Park in West Virginia on 07 Jul 1985. Incidentally, this race and all subsequent Atlantic series races except those on ovals, used a series signature standing start following a group warm-up lap. Both WCAR and ECAR ran races for a while until the two series were merged under Vicki's management in 1991. Vicki brought to
2623-403: The original Indy Lights series under Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). After that series was ended in 2002, the Atlantic series became the official developmental series of CART successor Champ Car World Series until the merger of Champ Car with IndyCar in 2008. The series ran independently on 2009 under IMSA sanctioning but shut down following that season. Starting in 2012, the series
2684-548: The podium eight times during the season and won three races ultimately signed to race with Champ Car team Conquest Racing . When Champ Car was purchased by IndyCar prior to the 2008 season, Conquest joined IndyCar with Perera. As of 2009, the series offers an unrestricted $ 1 million prize to the season champion, $ 500,000 to the runner-up, and $ 250,000 to the third-place finisher on the season. These season rewards are part of total of $ 3 million in total prize money, which also features $ 50,000 for each race win, and other bonuses such as
2745-447: The post- WWII era, through the early 1960s, American open-wheel racing cars were almost exclusively front-engined "roadsters". The primary ladder series included sprints and midgets . By the end of the 1960s, the cars evolved into rear-engine formula-style machines. Likewise, the feeder series began to follow the same mold. When United States Automobile Club (USAC) became the primary sanctioning body for top-level open-wheel racing,
2806-482: The same power and push-to-pass capability of the former engines, with the added capability of longevity: the engines are designed and fabricated to run an entire season without a rebuild. A halo was added to the IL-15 for the 2021 season. Andretti Autosport's Kyle Kirkwood captured the 2021 series championship, while HMD Motorsports' David Malukas finished second and Global Racing Group w/HMD Motorsports' Linus Lundqvist
2867-479: The schedule in 2005 , many of America's top prospects like Marco Andretti and Phil Giebler were attracted to the series to run part-time schedules on road courses. In 2006 , a boost in prize money even further increased car counts to 16 or more, with an even six oval and six road course mix. The selected races being double races, and a stand-alone race (independent of the IndyCar Series) were scheduled on
2928-636: The series top 10. The alliance was however dissolved before the end of the 2007 season. The RuSPORT team dissolved as of December 31, 2007 and Pettit merged his team ownership with Forsythe Championship Racing . Forsythe would ultimately fold its team when ChampCar merged into the Indy Racing League for 2008. ( key ) (results in bold indicate pole position) (results in italics indicate fastest lap) Champ Car Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship Series
2989-441: The series, she has bettered Katherine Legge's career mark of three wins, with one in 2008 and four in 2009. On October 31, 2008, an official announcement was made that the Atlantic Championship series had been purchased by Ben Johnston, an Atlanta area businessman and one-time Atlantic racer. At the same time, Mazda and Cooper Tires also announced a continuing commitment to the series. Then, in 2009, Mazda recommitted its support to
3050-498: The team to their first wins. Wilson scored two victories (Toronto and Mexico City) and finished third in the championship. Allmendinger came close to victory, with four runner-up finishes during the season. For 2006 they were expected to be challengers to Newman/Haas Racing . Mid-way through the season & after 3 straight top 10 finishes, the team surprisingly replaced Allmendinger with 2002 CART champion Cristiano da Matta who moved over from Dale Coyne Racing . Allmendinger would win
3111-478: The two — so most of the manufacturers were familiar from those classes, particularly the likes of Brabham , Lotus , March , Chevron early on, with Ralt and then Reynard later. US manufacturer Swift came to displace the British imports and dominate in North America. Several smaller marques also appeared. The first professional races run under Formula Atlantic rules in North America were conducted in 1974 by
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#17327916167203172-614: The year after the CART-sanctioned Indy Lights series' demise. It was a spec series using a TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) developed 3.5L version of the V8 engine used in the Infiniti Q45 combined with Dallara chassis producing 420 horsepower (310 kW). The series initially struggled to attract drivers and some races have had fewer than 10 entrants. However, with the introduction of a number of road-course races to
3233-513: Was appointed as Technical Director. Jeremy Dale , a longtime associate of Russo's, was brought on as President of the new operation. RuSPORT competed in the 2003 Toyota Atlantic Championship Series with drivers Aaron Justus and A. J. Allmendinger . Allmendinger won the championship with seven victories from 11 starts. RuSPORT and Allmendinger moved to Champ Car in 2004 along with a second car driven by Michel Jourdain Jr. The team quickly grew from
3294-571: Was equally effective in providing CART with new drivers. In addition, the Atlantics served as a springboard for such drivers as Greg Ray , Sam Hornish Jr. and Richie Hearn to enter the IRL . The Atlantics effectively became CART's primary feeder system, and later became Champ Car World Series' official in-house feeder championship for a time. The Infiniti Pro Series was re-founded by the Indy Racing League and began racing in 2002,
3355-590: Was forced to leave behind the team he created and the sport he loved. In November 2006 PKV Racing co-owner Dan Pettit purchased the team from Russo. On January 22, 2007, RuSPORT confirmed the return of Justin Wilson and title sponsor, CDW . They reportedly signed Wilson to a multi-year contract. RuSPORT also formed a technical alliance with the Rocketsports team, and the team was dubbed RSPORTS . Wilson won at Assen and scored solidly enough to finish second overall, while Tagliani struggled and finished outside
3416-484: Was founded in 2002 as the Infiniti Pro Series as a way to introduce new talent to IndyCar, with the moniker Indy Lights returning in 2008 when CART and IndyCar unified. The Indy Lights champion was awarded a $ 1M scholarship toward the IndyCar Series, and guaranteed three races including the Indianapolis 500 during this time. For 2023, Penske Entertainment announced a rebranding to the name Indy NXT. In
3477-444: Was replaced by Cooper Tire and became title sponsor for the series. The history of Formula Atlantic begins with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Formula B class, created in 1965 for single-seat formula cars with engines not exceeding 1600 cm in capacity. Prior to Formula Atlantic, professional Formula B races were held in the United States from 1965 to 1972, first with the SCCA's poorly supported Formula A, then as part of
3538-450: Was revived by Formula Race Promotions with SCCA Pro Racing sanctioning. FRP switched to USAC sanctioning in 2017, though in 2019 it returned to being sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing. The Atlantics series is a developmental open-wheel racing series in North America, also called a "ladder series". In 2005, a new factor was announced to solidify this reputation as the last series in which a driver will compete before moving to Champ Car , or
3599-588: Was the closest recognized finish in the over century-long history of organized automobile racing throughout the world, until the 2018 Powershares QQQ 300 . In 2008, the margin was established by the Guinness Book of World Records as the closest finish ever in a car race. On May 24, 2013, Peter Dempsey captured his first Indy Lights win in the Freedom 100 in the closest finish in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history (0.0026 secs) in
3660-511: Was third. HMD Motorsports/Global Racing Group secured their first Road to Indy team championship. Firestone returned as the official tire supplier for the 2023 season. That season saw the series name changed to Indy NXT, and IndyCar assume direct operation of the series from Andersen Promotions, which continues to operate the affiliated lower-tier USF Championships under IndyCar sanctioning. Chaves and Jack Harvey ( Schmidt Peterson Motorsports were tied in points and wins (4 each). Chaves won
3721-522: Was to announce prize money that would be paid directly to drivers, rather than to teams. Another press release listed teams that were committed to the series. Despite these efforts, on March 3, 2010, series officials announced that the 2010 season had been put on hold. Robert Davis of Mazda North American Operations said: "All of us at Mazda are disappointed that the Atlantic Championship will be on hiatus this year." Series president Ben Johnston stated: "The Atlantic Championship office will be working during
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