FA: de Silvestro follows in Legge footsteps.

Less than 24 hours after Atlantic Championship graduate Danica Patrick earned her first career IndyCar Series victory in Japan, second-year Swiss driver Simona de Silvestro became only the second woman in 34 years to win an Atlantic series race.

After starting from the front row for the first time in her Atlantic career, de Silvestro took the lead of the Imperial Capital Bank Atlantic Challenge of Long Beach when gearbox issues forced polewinner Jonathan Bomarito into an off-course excursion at turn one on lap 24 of what would turn out to be a 38-lap race.

The race's only full-course caution period - called for debris - set the stage for second-placed Alan Sciuto to challenge for the lead on the restart, but de Silvestro pulled away confidently at the drop of the green flag and went on to win by 1.285secs.

The Newman Wachs driver joins Katherine Legge as the only women to win races in Atlantic Championship competition, but has some way to go to catch the Briton, who has three victories to her credit from the 2005 season. Ironically, Legge also picked up her first career Atlantic win at Long Beach.

"It was very tough weekend, especially on Friday, but we got everything together," de Silvestro said, "I worked on myself from Friday to Saturday, and it helped a lot. For the race, I was pretty confident, because the car felt really good. I just had to keep it on the track.

"Bomarito made a mistake, so I got a chance and could pass him. On the restart, I was a little bit nervous, because I'd never done a restart [as the leader], and I thought maybe Alan would come close, but I think I did a good job and just kept going.

"Winning is awesome, and it's an awesome weekend because Danica won and I won. It's perfect."

Equalling his career-best Atlantic result, Sciuto's second place also confirmed the return to prominence of Genoa Racing, which blitzed the recent Laguna Seca test with Dane Cameron. It was an especially sweet result for third-year driver Sciuto, as he makes his home in nearby Orange.

"Simona drove a great race," he admitted, "She was really consistent, so I knew I'd have to put really good laps together and just try to stay there and almost wait for a mistake. Once the restart came, I definitely thought there'd be a window, but she got a great restart and just drove a perfect race. I just had to do everything I could do to stay in second."

Canadian driver Kevin Lacroix rounded out the podium with a third-place performance aboard the #25 Walker Racing entry. It was Lacroix's first podium since winning on his second series start in the double-header at Portland last June.

"I was careful not to lose any positions and not have a contact or something, and then I was lucky when Jonathan Bomarito went off in turn one," the Canadian said, "I was just following everybody.

"It was hard to pass, and Simona and Alan were pretty fast, so I was just trying to follow them and keep my position ahead of Jonathan Summerton. It was really good. I have to thank Walker Racing. The car was perfect for the race. It was a great weekend."

Summerton, de Silvestro's Newman Wachs Racing team-mate, came home fourth, while Bomarito was forced to settle for fifth after being the dominant force throughout the weekend. The Mathiasen Motorsports driver led from the standing start through to lap 23 before the gearbox problem reared its ugly head, but managed to persevere and salvaged a top-five result.

Canadian rookie Daniel Morad came home sixth in his first Atlantic outing, followed by Finnish rookie Markus Niemela. Junior Strous, Andreas Wirth and James Hinchcliffe completed the top ten.