2000 Toronto - Formula Atlantic

The 2000 CART Toyota Atlantic Championship opens in late March with a doubleheader at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Round three is on the streets of Long Beach, California and has been a traditional stop for the series. Next on the calendar is the Milwaukee Mile for an oval event. Then the teams trek north of the border to compete as a support event for the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal. After Montreal, teams race on temporary circuits at Cleveland, Toronto and Trois-Rivieres. In August, the series visits two traditional road courses – Wisconsin’s Road America and Laguna Seca Raceway in California. The penultimate round of the championship is held in St. Louis at Gateway International Raceway. The season ends on the first weekend in October in Houston, Texas.

In 1989 Toyota became the title sponsor for the championship. As a result, all series cars use the Toyota 4A-GE engine. The four-cylinder DOHC 1.6-liter motor is used in many of Toyota’s production vehicles. For the Formula Atlantic series, the motor is tuned to produce approximately 240-horsepower. Teams are also required to compete with a spec chassis manufactured by Swift Engineering. The Swift 008.a model was introduced in 1998. The carbon-fiber tub with all the components weighs just under 1,300-pounds.

Round seven of the 2000 CART Toyota Atlantic Championship was held at Toronto’s Exhibition Place. Drivers would compete on the eleven-turn 1.755-mile temporary street circuit for thirty-five laps.

In the first six races of the 2000 CART Toyota Atlantic Championship, a local favourite, Andrew Bordin, was yet to find the rostrum’s top step. During the qualifying session in Toronto, he would set the fastest time. At the start of the race, Bordan pulled away from the field until he encountered transmission issues. He lost first-place to Buddy Rice but reclaimed it on lap-29 and held on to win by a margin of 0.546-seconds.

The points leader entering the Toronto event was Buddy Rice. Rice was victorious at Homestead-Miami, Long Beach and Cleveland. The title contender struggled in qualifying but recorded the fourth-fastest time. In the race, Rice moved into contention on the first lap. When Andrew Bordin developed a gearbox problem, Rice took the lead. However, he was unable to hold-off Bordin on restarts and finished second.

Rookie, Dan Weldon, made quite an impression on series regulars when he won the opening round of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Weldon adapted quickly to the Toronto circuit and started on the outside of the front row in the No. 3 Swift 008i. On the first lap of the race, he lost second to a hard-charging Buddy Rice. Weldon could not maintain the pace set by Rice and Andrew Bordin. He finished third.

Another Canadian hopefully, David Rutledge, won round five in Montreal. Rutledge piloted the No. 19 Lynx Racing prepared Swift 008i. He was one of many drivers finding the Toronto layout challenging. Rutledge crashed in the final session, but with the car repaired, he was the quickest driver in the warm-up. Unfortunately, Rutledge was one of five competitors involved in a first turn incident and retired on lap-3.

Last season William Langhorne only competed in the road course events and was a surprise winner at the Molson Indy Vancouver. In 2000 Langhorne returned to Active Motorsports, piloting the No. 23 Swift 008i. His best result leading up to the Toronto Indy was a fifth-place in the previous round at Cleveland. At Exhibition Place, Langhorne qualified third fastest and drove a clean race to finish in the fourth position.

By the time the series arrived in Toronto, Brazilian Hoover Orsi had notched up three podium finishes, but his record also included two accidents. Orsi was seventh fastest during the qualifying session for round seven. Unfortunately, he was the first retiree of the event. Heading into corner one, the ninth-place starter, Dave Cutler, ran into the No. 9 Swift 008i, causing suspension damage, which ended Orsi’s race.

FINISH	START	DRIVER	CAR / SPONSOR	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	1	Andrew Bordin	Swift 008i / PPI/MCI Telecommunications	35	-
2	4	Buddy Rice	Swift 008i / DSTP Motorsports	35	-
3	2	Daniel Wheldon	Swift 008i / PPI/Jayhard/BG Products	35	-
4	3	William Langhorne	Swift 008i / Active Mts/findthe.com	35	-
5	6	Martin Basso	Swift 008i / Mike Shank/BBB Engine	35	-
6	11	Jean-Francois Veilleux	Swift 008i / World Speed Motorsports	35	-
7	8	Rocky Moran Jr	Swift 008i / P-1 Racing/NTN Bearing	35	-
8	9	Alex Gurney	Swift 008i / All American Racers	35	-
9	5	Mike Conte	Swift 008i / Lynx Racing/Traxx	35	-
10	13	Rino Mastronardis	Swift 008i / Condor Motorsport	35	-
11	14	Bruno St-Jacques	Swift 008i / Mike Shank	35	-
12	16	Masaoki Nagashima	Swift 008i / P-1 Racing/Panasonic	35	-
13	15	Bob Perona	Swift 008i / Cobb Racing/Media One	20	-
14	21	Christophe Beauvais	Swift 008i / RDS Motorsports	35	-
15	22	Cam Binder	Swift 008i / Binder Racing	35	-
16	26	Eric Jensen	Swift 008i / Jensen/Westin	34	-
17	24	Bob Siska	Swift 008i / R.J.S. Motorsport	34	-
18	12	Akihiro Asai	Swift 008i / World Speed Motorsports	27	Mechanical
19	29	Cemal Yelkin	Swift 008i / Meehan Motorsports	19	Off Course
20	25	Steve Lorenzen	Swift 008i / Pierce Motorsports	18	Mechnical
21	17	T.J. Bell	Swift 008i / Mike Shank	15	Contact
22	18	Dave Cutler	Swift 008i / P-1 Racing	9	Contact
23	23	Sergi Szortyka	Swift 008i / J&J Racing	9	Contact
24	20	Stephane Roy	Swift 008i / Port-A-Cool Racing	3	Contact
25	10	David Rutledge	Swift 008i / Lynx Racing	3	Contact
26	7	Hoover Orsi	Swift 008i / Hylton Motorsports/	0	Contact