Trois-Rivieres: Bomarito unstoppable up north!

Under near perfect race day conditions, Mathiasen Motorsports' Jonathan Bomarito took a commanding lead of the 2008 Cooper Tires Atlantic Championship, leading the field from green to checkers to take the win, his third in as many events, at todays Grand Prix du Trois Rivieres.

Winning by a margin of 1.590 seconds over the next placing driver, Bomarito now leads the championship by 28 points with only 3 races remaining.

The race got off to a great start, with Bomarito looking dominant right out of the gate. Just a couple of laps in Carl Skerlong, who has being having a real up and down season, over cooked it going into turn 6, collecting Luis Schiavo in the process. The melee left Skerlong with a bent up front wing, and Schiavo sitting in the pits for several laps to repair a damaged rear wing. Skerlong would continue, but would end up retiring with a only a handful of laps to go. Schiavo eventually finished 16th (7 laps down)

On Lap Six, Canadians James Hinchcliffe and Kevin Lacroix got into it in turn 2 with disastrous results, bringing out a full course caution in order to remove their mangled cars. The blame for the incident was being pointed in both directions by several observers, but judging by Lacroix's animated conversation with Hinch immediately following the contact, he believed he was the victim. No matter who was at fault, the bottom line is that both where out of their home race, with Hinch losing valuable ground in the chase for the championship. The long yellow allowed Schiavo to get back into the race and join up with the field by the time they returned to green on lap 12.

The race was clean and fast on the restart, with Bomarito pulling away to a 6 second lead over eventual second place finisher Jonathan Summerton.

The second full course yellow came out when Markus Neimela pulled off course with gearbox issues. This bunched the field up and allowed for some exciting dicing as the clock ticked down on the final laps.

Junior Strous, who had been quick all race, got around Daniel Morad for third on the restart, where he would stay until the checkers waved. Simona De Silvestro, who had been putting pressure on Dane Cameron for most of the race, got around him with a spectacular pass which she repeated a lap later in the same spot on Daniel Morad, putting her up to forth. Cameron took advantage of the fact that Morad was having handling issues due to a broken front wing in the waning laps, and also got around him to finish in fifth spot. Morad who was looking to have the third spot on the podium locked up for most of the race, would finish the race in sixth spot.


Quotes from the top three finishers:

JONATHAN BOMARITO - FIRST:
“First of all, I can’t tell you how thankful I am and happy to keep that streak alive, that’s for sure,” said Bomarito. “It was an amazing weekend. It was perfect for us, both qualifying sessions and the race. The guys were telling me on the radio my gaps and also where James (Hinchcliffe) and Markus (Niemela) were. James went out and then Markus went out a little bit later in the race. I think we were within seven or eight points before the race and now to be leading by 28 points is huge with only three races to go. It refocuses how we have to approach these last three races, but realistically, as long as we’re quick and continue to do what we’re doing, and the car keeps living like it is—the guys keep doing an amazing job—we’ll be okay at the end of the championship.”

JONATHAN SUMMERTON - SECOND:
“It turned out to be a very fun race in the end,” Summerton said. “With the two yellows, it didn’t quite help us as we’d planned. I don’t know if we started with a little too low tire pressure, but every time a yellow came out, the first two or three laps were a real fight with the car. Then, the tires started to come in again and we were able to lay down some fast laps and start catching Jonathan (Bomarito). In the end, he was constantly very fast and had a great car. We were just trying to push away and it didn’t quite work out, but second place, we’re quite happy with it. To take over Rookie of the Year point standings is a great accomplishment. I’m real happy about that and hopefully we can bring a win back from New Jersey.”

JUNIOR STROUS - THIRD:
“Obviously, I’m really happy with this,” Strous said. “After Mont-Tremblant, I thought, 'Well, we’ve got it now.’ I kept working really hard, but Edmonton was really bad and Road America was really bad for us, but I always finished. We had some engine problems in Edmonton in both races. This weekend, we were struggling again. We didn’t really have the speed. We tried to minimize the damage in qualifying. I started eighth and I knew it was going to be a tough race, because the walls are really close here, it’s slippery off-line, and everybody wants to win here. You can do it. If you’re a bit further back, you can advance quite well, you can pass really well. The car was really good. I’d like to thank the team. Everybody worked hard the last few weeks and months to get it all back together again. It’s a podium finish and with all these guys that dropped out of the race, I think we’re doing pretty good (in the championship). Jonathan (Bomarito) was really quick this race. He did a really good job. I’m looking forward to the next race. We’ve got a little time off. I’m heading back to Holland. Again, I’d like to thank the team and all my sponsors, Shell, HTP and NEM for their support, and especially (Condor Motorsports team owner) Carlos Bobeda.”

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