Jonathan Bomarito Road America Driver's Diary

Having won my first ever Atlantic race at Road America, I must say that I was very excited and optimistic going into this weekend as I knew that it could be another great opportunity to earn more points and make up lost ground in the championship standings. However, I really didn't expect that it would be possible to leave this beautiful circuit as the new points leader! It sure does feel good to say that.

Before I get into the details of how great the weekend was, the very first thing I need to do is thank everyone on the Mathiasen Motorsports team for all of their hard work and dedication to excellence; Ray and Leslie Mathiasen, Alain, Evan, Scott, Mark, Carlos, Billy, Andrew, and Augie. Everyone did their jobs flawlessly all weekend.

Although we topped the time sheets in practice, both Qualifying sessions were intense to say the least. In Q1 Dane Cameron and I were trading quickest times almost every lap, and on the very last lap Dane threw down an amazing flyer to get his first career pole. Although I was disappointed with being edged for the pole on the last lap, I was still satisfied with a solid second place starting position.

Q2 went more smoothly and I was pretty much at the top of the time sheets for the whole session. We had an excellent tire strategy worked out that gave us great tires for qualifying and both races. It worked to perfection in Q2 and I notched my second pole of the season.

Race one was probably one of the toughest races I have had in Atlantics competition. And the most fun. Getting a good launch off the start line, I was barely able to squeeze by Dane heading into turn one, but just as quickly as the race started, it went to a full course yellow. This happened twice in a row actually. Full course yellows are never fun, but at a track like Road America they are particularly bad for two reasons. First, this track is four miles around and it takes a really long time to get back to green again. Second, I knew from experience at RA over the last few years that whoever is leading the field up the front straight to take the green flag is almost always a sitting duck. In race 1, that happened to be me. So I knew that my only chance at a decent restart would be to get on it early out of turn 13 and not make any mistakes through turn 14. This I did, and it paid off nicely (in both races actually) and I never lost a position on a restart.

Leading on lap ten, things got really exciting as Dane got a good run and used the draft nicely to dive underneath me into turn 12, Canada Corner, to briefly take the lead. The very next lap I returned the favor in exactly the same place, and it was an example of the great, ultra close, wheel to wheel racing Formula Atlantic is famous for. I must admit that there are definitely some drivers that I wouldn't feel confident racing that closely, as both of us would likely finish up sitting silently in the gravel trap. But guys like Dane and a few others really do make the racing clean and fun, as it should be at this level. For the next eight laps Dane stayed close but I never gave him another opportunity to make a move. Crossing the finish line in P1 for the second time in the last three races really felt amazing.

I began Race 2 with a solid start from the pole to hold the lead in the first turn and everything went great for us as I led the first eighteen laps. However, I wish I could get back the final two laps. Other than a couple full course yellows I was really never contested for the lead, but with two laps remaining I got a touch wide in turn 8 (the carousel) and I had to check out of the gas on what is normally a flat out corner. Jonathan Summerton had been trailing me for the past 12 laps, and this allowed him to make his move for the lead which he then held for a 1 second victory. I have never been that disappointed to finish second, but that is an emotion a racing driver is definitely forced to deal with. However, my disappointment was tempered with the realization that I was the first guy to win two races this year, and that I had taken over the points lead on the strength of a win and second place. Anytime you can be at the top of a field this competitive for three races in a row is a great feeling of accomplishment.

Looking ahead to Trois Rivieres for race #8 of the season, I am genuinely excited as this is another street course. I do love street courses, and we know that we have a fast setup for these types of tracks. Not only that, but we now have real momentum on our side. After we failed to finish at Laguna Seca, I thought that it would be a long road to get back to the top, but in fairly short order here we are leading the series with four races remaining. The Mathiasen team has really come together, the car's been great, and we're going to work hard to continue to be the team to beat throughout the rest of the season.