The 2009 IMSA Cooper Tires Atlantic Championship season was the thirty-sixth Atlantic Championship season. It was the first full season of the Championship under the sanctioning of the

International Motor Sports Association The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

. After a three-way title battle into the final round at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, John Edwards became the series' youngest champion, beating Jonathan Summerton on a tie-breaker, after both drivers finished on 182 points. They also finished tied on four victories, but Edwards broke the tie with four second-place finishes compared to Summerton's three.

Schedule

Seven rounds are held jointly with the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

: Sebring, Miller, Lime Rock, Mid-Ohio, Mosport, Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca. The series planned to open its season on a road course on Hutchinson Island in

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, on March 15. The race was postponed until 2010, as further work on the track was required before it could be homologated for professional

open wheel racing An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...

. A second race at New Jersey Motorsports Park and Autobahn Country Club were added instead.

Drivers and teams

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2009 Atlantic Championship. All teams are using the Swift 016.a chassis powered by a

Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...

Cosworth Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...

MZR 2.3-litre inline-4 engine and

Cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...

tires. C2 Class teams use the Swift 014.a chassis.

Race results

Championship Standings

The point system was modified from previous years for the 2009 season. Points are awarded as follows: * Bonus points will also be awarded for the fastest driver in a qualifying session (10 races will have two sessions), and most places gained during the race. * This means the maximum a driver can score is 21, as a driver cannot earn the most places gained point, if they've started from pole. * Only the driver's best eleven scores will count towards the championship.

Atlantic Class

C2 Class

* Polesitters are denoted in bold. Polesitters are determined by the fastest overall lap in qualifying, and one point is awarded at each round. * Driver in ''italics'' has gained the most places in a round. One point is awarded at each round.

Notes

* At round one, no hard charger point was awarded in the C2 Class as no drivers changed positions over the 19-lap duration. This also occurred at rounds two, three and four, but on these occasions due to only one car taking part.

Television and other video

For the 2009 season, a new Atlantic Championship

high-definition television High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

package was announced on

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, which features live coverage of certain events, and replays of others. Web video of events has also historically been available on the series website, and the series also has its own official

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channel under the username "AtlanticRacingSeries."

References

{{Formula Atlantic years Atlantic Season 2009 Atlantic Championship seasons

Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...