Henri Karjalainen enjoyed a strong weekend at the Edmonton Indy race on the weekend of July 24-26, driving the #2 Rakennus Team Jensen entry in the Atlantic Championship series.
First year driver Karjalainen is facing a steep learning curve this year, competing on circuits for the first time against a field of drivers primarily comprised of veterans of the Atlantic championship. Consistently making up the gap, Karjalainen finished a strong 11th place in the final race of the Edmonton Indy event, just missing a top 10 finish.
Team engineer Adam Marchitto states, "The Atlantic championship is very tough. Most of the drivers this season are veterans of this series, so not only do they have more experience with the cars, the other drivers also have experience on each of the circuits that we visit. We are excited by the prospects for Henri to challenge well inside the top 10 though for the rest of the season, as his race pace in the final race at Edmonton was consistently among the top 5 drivers. If we had a mid race caution flag, I am sure that's where we would have finished."
Pictured above: Henri Karjalainen and Adam Marchitto
The Edmonton Indy also was significant as it was the first appearance of the Atlantic Championship series in support of the unified INDYCAR SERIES. Team owner Eric Jensen noted, "Things feel very similar to the CART series days in the late 90's; with the same teams and level of professionalism. This certainly bodes well for a strong future for American open-wheel racing."
Driver Karjalainen and Jensen MotorSport would also like to thank the 11 sponsor guests who made the trek all the way from Helsinki Finland to Edmonton to support Henri at this race.
With a short break, the Jensen MotorSport team returns to action on the weekend of August 8-10 at the Road America circuit in Wisconsing for rounds #6 and #7 of the Atlantic championship.
For details about Jensen MotorSport, visit us online at www.jensenmotorsport.com
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