FA: Stargate opens new door for Muniz, de Silvestro.

The worlds of gaming, racing, Hollywood, and women in sport have merged in the latest announcement involving the 2009 Atlantic Championship, as Frankie Muniz and Simona de Silvestro were confirmed as part of Team Stargate Worlds' assault on the series.

Despite the name, the team itself won't be unfamiliar as it will be operated by Atlantic regular US RaceTronics, but will run under its otherworldly banner after landing sponsorship from sci-fi game Stargate Worlds' developer Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment and publisher FireSky.

"We are very pleased to have created this association with the USRT family and believe that Team Stargate Worlds will be a very exciting team to watch for in 2009," co-principals Imran Safiulla and Shane Seneviratne said in a statement to accompany the launch, The Stargate Worlds game is being anticipated as one of the most exciting MMOs to be released and we are very grateful to Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment for their belief in us to develop a strong pre-launch campaign for the game. Both Simona and Frankie are very unique drivers and represent fantastic human journeys. We look forward to being a part of their success and making history."

Former actor Muniz returns to the Atlantic series, and the USRT family, after a solid 2008 season in which he earned three top ten results and narrowly missed finishing inside the top ten in the championship.

"I'm excited about Team Stargate Worlds and the upcoming season," the third-year driver commented, "I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone at Cheyenne Mountain and Gary Whiting for this incredible opportunity, and I'm looking forward to working with everyone at US RaceTronics once again, including my new engineer Gerald Tyler."

de Silvestro also returns for her third year in Atlantics, having previously driven for Walker Racing and Newman Wachs Racing. She become only the second woman in Atlantic Championship history - after Katherine Legge - to win a race by taking the season-opening Imperial Capital Bank Atlantic Challenge of Long Beach with NWR in 2008, and racked up eight top ten finishes and eighth overall.

"The team has a great combination of proven winners, including the capable engineering of Burke Harrison, and we hope to have a very strong team this year," the Italo-Swiss noted, "I'm really looking forward to partnering Frankie in bringing our team success - and ecstatic about entering Frankie's world of acting in a virtual sense."

Both Muniz and de Silvestro will be featured in the upcoming Stargate Worlds multiplayer online role-playing game, which is based on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's successful franchise of the same name.

In addition to sponsorship from Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment and FireSky, the team continues to have the support of Meguiar's Car Care Products and Mechanix Wear, and adds Cardinal Technologies, a leader in programme management, for 2009.