Series adds second race at Cleveland

SECOND CLEVELAND RACE TO FILL MILWAUKEE SPOT ON 2005 TOYOTA ATLANTIC SCHEDULE

INDIANAPOLIS (March 21, 2005) -- Officials from the Toyota Atlantic Championship Presented by Yokohama today announced an adjustment to the series' originally announced 2005 schedule. The Atlantic Championship has added a second event in Cleveland this season and has taken Milwaukee off its schedule, maintaining a 12-race championship for 2005.

The Milwaukee Mile was to be the only oval course on the challenging '05 Atlantic tour. Concerns over costs to the teams associated with equipment changes to an oval set-up led to the schedule adjustment.

"It's unfortunate that we won't be able to return to race this season at The Milwaukee Mile, but with many new teams and drivers entering the series in 2005 we found that it just wasn't practical for them to put together oval programs in a short time frame," explained Vicki O'Connor, Managing Director of the Toyota Atlantic Championship Presented by Yokohama. "We hope the tremendous racing fans in Milwaukee understand this difficult decision and we certainly hope to return to race at Milwaukee in the future."

The 240 HP Atlantic cars were originally scheduled to compete at Milwaukee as part of the annual Champ Car race weekend, June 3-4.

"This economic-related move ends a string of 12 consecutive years in which The Milwaukee Mile fans have enjoyed Toyota Atlantic Championship racing. We would gladly welcome them back in the future," commented Mark Perrone, Vice President / General Manager of the Milwaukee Mile. "We are moving forward with this opportunity on our weekend schedule to introduce a Formula Drifting competition to the Midwest, which is something new and exciting for our fans."

The Atlantic Championship will add a second event on the 2.106-mile Cleveland road circuit at Burke Lakefront Airport to replace Milwaukee on its 2005 schedule. The Toyota-powered cars will now run a doubleheader weekend at the unique airport course on the shores of Lake Erie with Round 5 of the 12-race championship run on Saturday, June 25. The second race of the weekend will be contested the following day as part of the annual Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland weekend.

"We're happy that we were able to secure a second event at Cleveland this season, making for a very full weekend of racing at traditionally one of the most popular venues on the Atlantic schedule," added O'Connor.

The Atlantic series will now have two doubleheader weekends on its '05 lineup as Champ Car's top development series will also run two races in two days with Rounds 3 and 4 scheduled for June 18 and 19 at Portland International Raceway.

The revised 12-race Toyota Atlantic 2005 schedule is listed below. All events will be broadcast on SPEED Channel this season with a complete broadcast schedule expected to be released in the coming days.

The Toyota Atlantic Championship Presented by Yokohama continues to be the premier open-wheel development series in North America. The championship is noted for its long history of graduating its stars into Champ Car competition and has helped produce past Champ Car champions Paul Tracy, Jimmy Vasser, Bobby Rahal, Danny Sullivan, Michael Andretti and Jacques Villeneuve. For more information on the Atlantic series, please visit www.toyotaatlantic.com.

<pre> 2005 Toyota Atlantic Championship Presented by Yokohama Season Schedule

April 10        Long Beach
May 22          Monterrey
June 18         Portland
June 19         Portland
June 25         Cleveland
June 26         Cleveland
July 10         Toronto
July 17         Edmonton
July 31         San Jose
Aug. 14         Denver
Aug. 21         Road America
Aug. 28         Montreal

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