2022 Nissan Atlantic Championship season

2022 Atlantic Championship season

The **2022 Nissan Atlantic Championship** season is scheduled to be the second season of Atlantic Championship competition, and a part of the 110th year of American open wheel racing. The series will support both the AT&T Champ Car World Series and the Microsoft IndyCar Series in 2022, after Horizon Corporation adjusted the way race weekends are structured for the series.

Bianca Lucero enters the season as the defending Atlantic Driver's Champion, while Apex Racing Team enters as the defending Atlantic Team's Champion. Entering 2022, several new teams either replaced former teams or joined from brand new entries, bumping the full season grid up to 30 cars for the season among 15 teams.

## Background

The 2022 season will be the second to feature the current series formula. The Dallara IR-10 chassis remains in use, with Horizon Corporation finalizing its purchase of Dallara's surplus of chassis so it can manage the costs for the teams directly. Nissan will supply all 15 teams with VK45DE engines, naturally aspirated V8 engines, a big difference compared to 2021. In the previous season, Nissan supplied VQ35DE engines, which were V6 layout engines. The difference will push the Atlantic Championship competitors closer to the higher tiers of the series on road courses, while remaining limited on ovals.

## 2022 Teams and Drivers

The following teams and drivers are contracted to participate in the 2022 season. Teams are organized based on the car numbers they were assigned, which were based on the 2021 Atlantic Team's Championship standings.

### Team Changes

* Phantom Motors Atlantic was bought out by Velocity Autosport at the end of 2021. Velocity later sold the entry to B.K. Glover, who reformed Starion Motorsports after two years of hiatus.
* Crystal Cove Racing returned to American open wheel racing for the first time since 2015, when they left to focus on endurance racing.
* Archway Racing returned to American open wheel racing for the first time since 2014, when they sold their Champ Car equipment to Scuderia Rabia Furiosa.
* Black Rose Racing sold their open wheel assets to Atomic Autosport, who continued the team into 2022.

### Drivers Leaving

* Obsidian Racing Team's 2021 drivers, Maria Chavez, and Shinichi Kamiya, left for Champ Car for 2022. Chavez signed with Velocity Autosport, while Kamiya signed with Speed Demon Motorsports.
* Cat Devil Racing's 2021 drivers moved to Champ Car for 2022. Valerie Feng moved up to the team's Champ Car squad, while Akira Sato moved to Speed Demon Motorsports' Champ Car team.
* Katrina Ochoa left Cherokee GP at the end of 2021, moving to Velocity Autosport's Champ Car team for 2022.
* Katarina Milenkovic left Black Rose Racing to race for Striker Motorsports' IndyCar team in 2022.
* Natalia Vulicevic moved from Striker Motorsports' Atlantics team in 2021 to Atomic Autosport's IndyCar team in 2022.

### Drivers Joining

* Striker Motorsports enters 2022 with a new lineup, with David Germain, Jr joining Dale Blanco for the 2022 season.
* Arashi Seto replaced Sakura Kunikida for Sakura Motorsports' 2022 Atlantics squad.
* Andreas Lemont teams with Katherine Hart for the 2022 season for Starion Motorsports.
* Ty Wilson and Joseph Stephano debut as full time drivers for Speed Demon Motorsports in 2022.
* Obsidian Racing Team bring Anton Freitag and Bae Tae-sung into the 2022 Atlantics season.
* Cat Devil would bring a brand new lineup for 2022, with Estonian karting champion, Miia Vitsut, pairing alongside Japanese newcomer, Mari Inuzuka.
* Former Champ Car driver, Brad Nerri, would pair alongside defending Canadian Formula 4 Champion, Kira Moore, for Crystal Cove Racing.

## Calendar

The 2022 Nissan Atlantic Championship calendar was approved by the North American Motor Racing Association (NAMRA) ON 1 December 2021. The calendar differed from the 2021 season due to the series format changing. 20 races spanned 20 race weekends, with the series supporting events for both the Microsoft IndyCar Series and the AT&T Champ Car World Series. The series will stay entirely within North America, visiting Mexico, and Canada, in addition to the bulk of the calendar taking place in the continental United States.

## Behind the Scenes Credits

* Liveries for the series made by BKGlover
* CRC community members Amaterasu, AngelOfFire, BKGlover, KuniKinoshita, Leadfoot530, LITTLEBLACKO932, Mi-Kun, Sakura, SDM\_RRDZ, Swiftsmith, and Valkyr contributed drivers and/or teams to the season.

## See Also

* 2022 AT&T Champ Car World Series, the 23rd season of the Indycar World Championship.
* 2022 Microsoft IndyCar Series, the 87th season of the Indycar National Championship.
* 2022 GTPlanet Fandom Series, the premier level of American open wheel racing.