An era came to an end in Montreal on Sunday as the last Toyota Atlantic race took place, concluding Toyota's eighteen-year run as the formula's engine supplier source: champcarworldseries.com Ahead lies a new age of Formula Atlantic with 300 horsepower, 2.3 liter Cosworth/Ford engines and a new Swift chassis. No fewer than 33 new cars already have been ordered and the likelihood of full fields and a fresh influx of worldwide and domestic talent is generating a high state of anticipation about the next chapter in the series' proud history. This year's Toyota Atlantic championship was won by Charles Zwolsman, a 26-year old Dutchman. Zwolsman raced Formula 3 cars in Europe from 2002-2004 and was the man to beat all year in Toyota Atlantic. Charles won three of twelve races, took five poles and led more laps than anyone else. He did it with minimal testing and pre-season preparation driving for Carlos Bobeda's Condor Motorsports. "I just came in a week before the season started and fitted the seat before going to Long Beach," Zwolsman recalls. "We weren't expecting much because Condor hadn't run in the series for two years so everyone was diving into the deep. But we finished third there and got a few wins along the way and things turned out great for me. I would have never expected this, but now we're expecting more. I was in good shape to win all the races from Toronto on, except for the last two, but we didn't get anymore wins because of some mechanical trouble so I was a bit disappointed because of that." Zwolsman's personal high points were taking pole in Edmonton and winning the second of two races in Cleveland. "My pole position in Edmonton felt really great because I was seven-tenths of a second quicker than everyone else," Zwolsman grins. "It was a damp track that was drying up. That was a great pole position for me and also my second Cleveland race was really good. I fell back to fifth and got back up to first place and drove away from the field and overtook two people at one time. That was a real fun race." Zwolsman is proud of what he achieved this year. The complete article at champcarworldseries.com
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