Jonathan Summerton returned to Victory Circle and brought Genoa Racing its first Atlantic win since 1994 in the first race of the Mazda Formula X at New Jersey Motorsports Park on Saturday afternoon.
Summerton started from the pole position and led lights to checkered flag en route to a 7.334-seconds victory to Simona De Silvestro. De Silvestro took her second consecutive podium result with a second-place run after winning the last time out at Miller Motorsports Park last month. Heralded rookie Borja Garcia earned his first career Atlantic Championship podium with a third-place performance. Garcia came out on top in the best battle of the race, which also included Newman Wachs Racing teammates John Edwards and Markus Niemela. Niemela, the defending series champion, came home fourth for his best result of the season. Edwards completed the top five after starting eighth. He also earned the championship point and $1,000 bonus for improving the most positions from start to finish. Sunday, twenty-year-old Swiss racer Simona De Silvestro climbed to the top of the 2009 point standings with her second victory of the season. De Silvestro parlayed her second pole position of the season into the victory, just as she did last month at Miller Motorsports Park. While Summerton kept the pressure on during the race, De Silvestro was more than equal to the task of keeping him at bay and went on to win by 0.910 seconds. This victory gave her an eight-point lead in the championship standings over Summerton, 68-60, with one third of the 12-race season now in the books. Summerton started second and picked up his third podium result in four races to move into the second in the point standings. Frederic Vervisch made it two Genoa Racing cars in the top three with a third-place run. It was the Belgian rookie's third podium result in four career Atlantic races and came after he was docked two positions on the starting grid for interference during qualifying. He started fifth as a result of the penalty, but moved up to third by the completion of the first lap and remained there to the checkered flag. The performance earned Vervisch an extra championship point and the $1,000 Bonus for improving the most positions from start to finish. Defending series champion Markus Niemela picked up his second fourth-place result in as many days. Spanish rookie Borja Garcia completed the top five with a fifth-place outing. Unofficial Series Points Leaders After 4 Races: 1. De Silvestro, 68; 2. Summerton, 60; 3. Edwards, 55; 4. Vervisch, 52; 5. Garcia and Kasemets, 32; 7. Niemela, 31; 8. Muniz, 29; 9. Winslow, 23; 10. Lefevre, 13. Next Race: Lime Rock Park - Saturday, July 18. Recent Articles
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