LONG BEACH, Calif. — In a race that featured only one caution and not a lot of passing, Swiss driver Simona De Silvestro won the Imperial Bank Atlantic Challenge of Long Beach in her Nuclear Clean Air Energy Swift on Sunday. 
It was the opening round in the Cooper Tires Presents the Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda.
Polesitter Jonathan Bomarito led the first 23 laps of the 38-lap race held on the 1.968-mile Grand Prix circuit. On the 24th lap, Bomarito went off at turn one, and rejoined the race in fifth, which is where he finished. De Silvestro took the lead at that point, and held off Alan Sciuto and Kevin Lacroix for her first Atlantic victory.
One of the fastest cars, belonging to Carl Skerlong, brushed the wall in the first turn of the first lap and lost a lap after pitting for repairs. Despite a spirited run in which he passed many cars, Skerlong still finished last, one lap down, the only car in the 23-car field not to complete the full distance.
“It was a tough weekend, especially on Friday,” De Silvestro said, “but we got everything together. For the race, I was pretty confident because the car felt really good.”
The only caution was for debris, the yellow coming out on lap 26 for three laps. It was an apprehensive time for De Silvestro.
“On the restart, I was a little nervous,” De Silvestro admitted, “because I had never done a restart (as the leader). I thought maybe Alan would come close, but I think I did a good job and just kept going. It’s awesome.”
De Silvestro becomes the first woman to win an Atlantic Championship race since Katherine Legge won in San Jose in 2006. Legge also took the 2005 Long Beach Atlantic race.
The finish:
Simona De Silvestro, Alan Sciuto, Kevin Lacroix, Jonathan Summerton, Jonathan Bomarito, Daniel Morad, Markus Niemela, Junior Strous, Andreas Wirth, James Hinchcliffe, Dane Cameron, David Garza, Greg Mansell, Henri Karjalainen, Frankie Muniz, Douglas Soares, Dominick Muermans, Louis Schiavo, Leo Mansell, Brian Thienes, Mike Forest, Greg Minium, Carl Skerlong.