November 2011

Kia Racing Completes Championship Season

Kia Racing defied the odds and turned heads across the GRAND-AM motorsports world by capturing both the team and driver championships in just its second season of competition.
 
Both championships were secured when the number 10 Infinity Audio Forte Koup, driven by Nic Jönsson and Michael Galati, turned in a seventh-place finish at the EMCO Gears Classic in Lexington, Ohio in September, which marked the final race of the season.
 
Kia, which competes in the Street Tuner class of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC), launched its racing program with partner Kinetic Motorsports in 2010. The CTSCC features production-based racecars from the U.S., Europe and Asia. Kia races against the likes of BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Volkswagen and Honda.
 
The finish at the EMCO Gears Classic gave Kia Racing enough points to lock up both the team title for the number 10 car and the individual driver title for Jönsson. Both titles mark the first-ever GRAND-AM road racing championships for Kia Racing.
 
“Second-year motorsports programs are not supposed to win championships, but Kia Motors and Kinetic Motorsports have been committed to being the best since we formed our partnership in late 2009,” said Jönsson in a press release. “The Kia Forte Koups have been fantastic since getting off the truck at Daytona in January thanks to the tireless dedication of the team.”
 
The 2011 campaign turned in by Kia Racing and Kinetic Motorsports was one for the ages. Jönsson and Galati piloted the number 10 car to the team’s first-ever top finish by winning the Barber 200 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama in April. The duo continued to make waves throughout the racing world with another first-place finish at the Road America 200 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin in June. Overall, Kia Racing enjoyed eight top-10 finishes during the historic season.
 
Kia Racing’s meteoric rise to the top is a feat that is not often seen in the field of motorsports. With enthusiasm and pride at an all-time high, the Kia/Kinetic Motorsports team is well positioned to defend its titles in 2012.