(July 18, 2009, Lime Rock, Connecticut, Mazda Atlantic Championship - click photo to left to see YouTube Highlights and interview)
John knew it would not be easy on a difficult track to pass. Starting from fifth position (after a wet qualifying session) he passes Niemela (who was having a clutch problem) on the start. (John's start was just good enough to save his position after going side by side with teammate Summerton on the outside going into the first turn). John then catches Vervisch who was clearly slower; getting passed him however proved difficult. This allows Garcia and de Silvestro to gain a gap and pull away. Finally John passes Vervich. Then it is on to Garcia who now has over a 6 second lead over John. With consistent laps John methodically chips away 3 to 5 1/10s of a second a lap until Garcia sees him coming; under relentless pressure and pushing to stay ahead Garcia goes "off roading". John then catches him a lap or so later and passes him. From there John goes after de Silvestro who is another 10 seconds ahead. John sets the fastest lap of the race. But the gap is too large. He finishes P2.
“I got the Hard Charger, and I don’t think I’ve ever had to work so hard to finish second in my life,” John said. “It was really a hard-earned podium finish, because we didn’t have a good qualifying. I was really trying to come from behind in the race. Once I got clean air and up to second, I was able to run the same speed as Simona and I think I got fast lap in the race. At least we know that the car is good and we didn’t lose 10 seconds to Simona. Unfortunately, we just had a lot of traffic in the beginning that I had to get by. We’re really looking forward. It’s too bad that the person we’re fighting most in the championship won the race, but we know we’re on pace with her now. It’s only halfway in the season. We’ve still got a lot left to go.”
Pos | Car | Cls | CP | Driver | Now | Laps | Gap | Intv | Last Lap | Best Lap | Best Speed | Best Lap # | Total Time Last Lap |
1 | 78 | Atl | 1 | Simona De Silvestro | Run | 53 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 00:00:51.402 | 00:00:51.171 | 105.529 | 24 | 00:45:40.416 |
2 | 36 | Atl | 2 | John Edwards | Run | 53 | 41.722 | 41.722 | 00:00:51.566 | 00:00:50.928 | 106.032 | 36 | 00:45:50.420 |
3 | 6 | Atl | 3 | Borja Garcia (R) | Run | 53 | 35.493 | 6.229 | 00:00:51.790 | 00:00:51.264 | 105.337 | 51 | 00:46:00.794 |
4 | 34 | Atl | 4 | Jonathan Summerton | Run | 53 | 32.722 | 2.771 | 00:00:51.729 | 00:00:51.182 | 105.506 | 52 | 00:46:01.145 |
5 | 35 | Atl | 5 | Tonis Kasemets | Run | 53 | 31.785 | 0.937 | 00:00:51.711 | 00:00:51.123 | 105.628 | 42 | 00:46:03.115 |
6 | 17 | Atl | 6 | Frederic Vervisch (R) | Run | 53 | 26.100 | 5.685 | 00:00:51.509 | 00:00:51.124 | 105.626 | 50 | 00:46:11.259 |
7 | 19 | Atl | 7 | James Winslow(R) | Run | 53 | 18.393 | 7.707 | 00:00:52.798 | 00:00:51.698 | 104.453 | 52 | 00:46:22.158 |
8 | 7 | Atl | 8 | Max Lefevre (R) | Run | 52 | 1 Laps | 1 Laps | 00:00:54.058 | 00:00:52.092 | 102.041 | 23 | 00:46:27.979 |
9 | 1 | Atl | 9 | Markus Niemela | Run | 50 | 3 Laps | 2 Laps | 00:00:52.020 | 00:00:51.344 | 105.173 | 50 | 00:45:54.107 |
10 | 77 | Atl | 10 | Frankie Muniz | Run | 50 | 3 Laps | 50.958 | 00:00:53.334 | 00:00:51.432 | 104.993 | 43 | 00:45:57.267 |
11 | 66 | Atl | 11 | Richard Zober | Run | 49 | 4 Laps | 1 Laps | 00:00:54.393 | 00:00:53.072 | 100.521 | 44 | 00:45:57.128 |
12 | 3 | Atl | 12 | Michael Nacol (R) | Run | 48 | 5 Laps | 1 Laps | 00:00:54.537 | 00:00:53.918 | 100.152 | 36 | 00:45:53.370 |
13 | 12 | Atl | 13 | Matt Lee | Ret | 1 | 52 Laps | 47 Laps | 00:00:58.649 | 00:00:58.649 | 92.073 | 1 | 00:01:03.983 |