Kia Racing Ready for Sophomore Season in Grand Touring Sport (GTS) Competition After Very Successful Rookie Season in 2012
– Former Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge champion, Nic Jonsson, migrates from Kia’s Grand-Am road racing program to pilot the No. 36 turbocharged Optima
– Mark Wilkins returns for second year behind-the-wheel of the No. 38 turbocharged Optima after notching a pole, a win and two podium finishes in Kia Racing’s strong development year
IRVINE, Calif., March 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Kia Racing and partner Kinetic Motorsports return to the racetrack this weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla., for the kickoff the 2013 Pirelli World Challenge (PWC) season. The No. 36 and No. 38 turbocharged Optimas will take the green flag for Round 1 on Saturday, March 23. Building on the brand’s successful rookie season – a “development” year that included two wins, six podium finishes and a flawless reliability record – the team is eager to get back to competition after a winter off-season spent dialing-in the Optimas in hopes of making a run at a GTS-class championship in 2013.
“As we enter our fourth year of road racing in the U.S., the Kia Racing program has been a huge success story for our brand and has allowed us to demonstrate the durability and performance of our vehicles while reaching an entirely new audience,” said Michael Sprague, executive vice president of marketing and communications, KMA. “Beginning an all-new season in the Pirelli World Challenge with the turbocharged Optimas and two experienced and talented drivers behind the wheel is exciting for us, and we have set our sights high for 2013.”
The start of the racing season may only be days away, but the Kia Racing team has been hard at work for months in preparation for St. Petersburg. Soon after the 2012 season finale in Sonoma, the turbocharged Optimas returned to Kinetic’s Buford, Ga., shop to be stripped down and meticulously rebuilt from the ground up, every bolt inspected, every weld examined.
“There wasn’t much ‘off’ in the off-season for Kia Racing,” said Russell Smith, co-owner of Kinetic Motorsports. “In addition to the work we did in the shop, we were able to conduct a proper on-track testing and development program, which, for reasons of timing, we weren’t able to do before the start of last season. The insights we’ve gained and the progress we’ve made have us feeling pretty good for the first race, but we’re going need everything we’ve got because the level of competition in the World Challenge has only got better in the interim.”
Kia made history at St. Petersburg last year when it became the first Korean car company to compete in the PWC, bringing home two top-ten finishes in Rounds 1 and 2 at the 1.8-mile 14-turn temporary St. Petersburg street circuit.
Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2013 PWC take place on Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24 at St. Petersburg, Fla. The green flags fly at 5:00 p.m. ET and 10:25 a.m. ET, respectively.
