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Road America Added To Toyota Atlantic Championship 2005 Season Schedule
INDIANAPOLIS (January 24, 2005) - Toyota Atlantic Championship Presented by
Yokohama officials today announced that the series will return to race at Road
America next season, completing the 12-race Atlantic championship schedule for
2005.
The Toyota Atlantic cars will join the American Le Mans Series at the classic
4.048-mile Road America road circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for Round 11
of 12 on the Atlantic schedule, August 19-21. Atlantic officials first
unveiled the 2005 season schedule in early November with a vacant date for a
12th event. With today's announcement, Road America will now serve as the
penultimate round of competition in '05 with the season finale slated for
August 28 in Montreal (full season schedule listed below).
"It seems only fitting that the top open-wheel development series in
North America will return to race at one of the top road courses in the
world," said Vicki O'Connor, Managing Director of the Toyota Atlantic
Championship Presented by Yokohama.
"The Atlantic cars have staged some memorable races at Road America over
the years and we're looking forward to returning this season. Road America is
always one of the most popular venues among the teams, drivers and fans in our
series so we're very excited to be back in 2005."
This will mark the 21st Atlantic race run at the Road America circuit and the
ninth time in the past 10 years that the 240 HP Atlantic machines have
competed at the storied venue.
The August race also represents the first time that the Toyota Atlantic
Championship will run with the ALMS cars since the 2003 Atlantic season finale
in Miami. All of the other events on the '05 Atlantic calendar will be run in
conjunction with the Champ Car World Series. SPEED Channel will once again air
all of this season's races with a full broadcast schedule expected to be
released in the next few weeks.
Entering its 32nd season, the Toyota Atlantic Championship Presented by
Yokohama continues to be the premier open-wheel development series in North
America. The championship is noted for its long history of graduating its
stars into Champ Car competition. Among the drivers who have graduated from
Atlantic are current Champ Car competitors Jimmy Vasser, Alex Tagliani, Ryan
Hunter-Reay, Rodolfo Lavin and 2004 Rookie of the Year A.J. Allmendinger, as
well as past Champ Car champions Paul Tracy, Bobby Rahal, Danny Sullivan,
Michael Andretti and Jacques Villeneuve.
For more information, log on to the series' official web site www.toyotaatlantic.com
2005 Toyota Atlantic Championship Presented by Yokohama
Season Schedule
April 10 Long Beach
May 21 Monterrey
June 4 Milwaukee
June 18 Portland
June 19 Portland
June 26 Cleveland
July 10 Toronto
July 17 Edmonton
July 31 San Jose
Aug. 14 Denver
Aug. 21 Road America
Aug. 28 Montreal
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