ATLANTIC SERIES - MONT TREMBLANT.
Jonathan's now looking forward to visiting Mont Tremblant, near Montreal in Canada. Watch this space for news!


ATLANTIC SERIES - 6TH AT LAGUNA SECA.
Jonathan had a strong weekend in the Atlantic Championship with Newman Wachs Racing: May 18 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Jonathan qualified in 9th position and drove to finish sixth - a great result at a circuit where it is notoriously difficult to overtake.

Jon continues to lead the Rookie of the Year point standings thanks to a sixth-place performance in the Monterey Festival of Speed. Summerton opened the year with a fourth-place result in Long Beach in the No. 36 Newman Wachs Racing machine, and he is now tied for second in the overall championship standings with teammate De Silvestro with two of 11 races in the books. He is now tied with teammate Simona De Silvestro in the championship.

Jonathan and the PaddockTalk phtography team took some great photos of the event which you can see here

The race was a part of the 2008 Monterey Festival of speed, which also features races from the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, the Formula BMW Americas and Historic IMSA. The next Atlantic Championship series race will be at Mont-Tremblant on June 29th.

Read about Newman Wachs Racing | Full 2008 Race Schedule

A1GP; BRANDS HATCH SPRINT RACE: JONATHAN AGAIN ON PODIUM
Brands Hatch Gallery
Jonathan's Brands Diary
JS took his winning momentum to the United Kingdom and raced to a creditable second place at the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at Brands Hatch on Sunday.

Jonathan admitted he made the mistake that cost him a chance to qualify on the front row for the A1GP Feature Race at Brands Hatch when he ran through the gravel at Sheene Curve.

"I had a little bit of an oversteer entering the curve," said Summerton, whose hand is still strapped up from a collision in the Chinese sprint race. "I just put the power down hoping it would collect itself up. "It must have just taken a bit too much kerb or something and I ended up running a little wider than expected. I just dropped a tyre, and that just pulled me off into the gravel and I ended up going through it.

"By that time I had already lost a second or more." Despite this, Summerton was happy with his car's pace and came within 0.002 seconds of taking his first ever pole position during qualifying for the sprint race. "It was a close one," he said. "The team came over the radio and told that me I was 0.002s off pole. What can you say to that? "It's kind of just a little bit of a sneeze in the car. There is not much you can do to improve that little bit.

Feature Race
The 20-year-old from Kissimmee, Fla., was in eighth place when he made the Feature's second mandatory pit stop on the 35th lap. "We'd been stopped for four or five seconds and the engine suddenly shut off," Summerton said. "We don't know why."

Stalled for several seconds before being push started, Summerton rejoined in 16th place and moved up to 12th at the checkered flag. It left A1 Team USA outside the points and dropped it to 12th in the final standings.

"It was good to finish on the podium in the Sprint and we were happy for that, but it's a very big disappointment when it comes down to the car making the final decision on where you finish in the championship," Summerton said. "We started having gearbox problems, slipping gears, just before the second pit stop and it made it difficult to gain positions. Then, the engine quit and we lost several positions. What can you do? It was the car that caused us to lose our shot at 10th in the standings."

A1 Team USA ended with 56 points and would have needed to finish fifth to overtake India for 10th.

Fast in Practice
Jonathan Summerton was third fastest among 22 drivers Friday in practice.

"The setup on the ‘We the People' car is going in the right direction," Summerton said. "We have a good baseline setup and then you tune it to the track to get the most out of it. The car was good, but you can always improve it and that's what we'll be trying to do Saturday in practice and qualifying."

Summerton ran a lap of 1:15.243 around the 2.6-mile Grand Prix circuit. The 20-year-old from Kissimmee, Fla., completed 27 laps in the one-hour session.

"Over the past few races, I've started to feel real comfortable in the car," Summerton said. "I've gotten in a routine again. We had run well, but our win in the Feature race at Shanghai has built up our confidence and made quite a bit of difference in me and the team."

Summerton joins the Atlantic Series - fourth in debut race.
In his debut race for Newman Wachs Atlantic prior to the Long Beach GP Jonathan had a great start. He held his grid position, and gained a place due to another driver losing a front wing. Despite several attemps and being all over the car in front he was unable to pass.

On lap 24 the leader made a mistake causing him to slow and immediately all the top 5 cars moved up a place putting Jonathan in 4th to push for a podium. Despite several more attempts to pass, it didn't happen. At the checkered Jonathan finished a very credible 4th place and TOP ROOKIE.

Afterwards Jonathan said. "I am very pleased with my result the team did an excellent job in getting me up to speed and we know that we are in the hunt for the championship."