World Challenge - Kinetic Kia Has Best Finish Of The Season

Alton, May 15, 2011: Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood took their #12 Infinity Audio Kia Forte Koup to their highest finish of the season, eighth place, in the Street Tuner (ST) class at the Bosch Engineering 200 at VIR on Saturday. Although the teammates thought they could have achieved an even better finish after running in second and third place for most of the race and qualifying in fifth, it was still a great race for the duo.

While the #12 Infinity Audio Kia Forte Koup had a strong finish, the #10 car of Michael Galati and Nic Jönsson struggled early on in the race. After starting 14th due to limited green flag laps during the qualifying session, Galati was able to move the car up, then had an issue in the Oak Tree turn of the track and lost numerous track positions. He had to pit to take care of some minor damage to the car. The #10 finished the race in 26th place. Although this was not the result that the team wanted, they are looking forward to showing their stuff at Lime Rock later this month.

Nic Jönsson, driver, #10 Infinity Audio Forte Koup: “We had a bit of a disappointing qualifying. There were so many red flags in qualifying that we didn’t really get enough laps in. Michael started the race really well and was up to fifth or sixth, and was running really strong, then unfortunately went into Oak Tree. Either he misjudged or got tapped and went off a little bit and had to come in to the pits. We were just in front of the leader when he came back out of the pits, and the yellow came out and we were hoping for a wave-by, and for some reason, they didn’t wave him by. So it’s very disappointing but we’re going to come back strong at Lime Rock and give everybody a hard time because this has just motivated us even more. I’m looking forward to Lime Rock to show everyone what we can do.”

Michael Galati, driver, #10 Infinity Audio Forte Koup: “We had a very good start to the race. We unfortunately qualified way back but we started moving up. We got up to about sixth position, and then I made a mistake. I went into Oak Tree and my foot slipped on the brake and I went off a little there. Then I had to come into the pits to check the car and by the time I got out we had already gone a lap down. So, it was a tough weekend, but we will come back.”

Russell Smith, owner, Kinetic Motorsports: “We knew it was going to be a hard race for the Kias. We had a good opportunity to take the lead because the #12 qualified in fifth position, but that just wasn’t in the cards. We still had a great finish in the #10 car and both Adam and Trevor did a great job and had a very sound finish.”

Adam Burrows, driver, #12 Infinity Audio Forte Koup: “The car was a little bit difficult in the high speed sections and we just weren’t as planted at the back end as we would have liked to have been. We made some changes that helped us in qualifying, but it might have been a little too aggressive for the long runs in the race. Also, the back stretch is so long here, I really wasn’t able to defend myself against some of the turbo cars so I just had to focus on being quick and keeping the car clean for Trevor.”

Trevor Hopwood, driver, #12 Infinity Audio Forte Koup: “Things went well today. I think we made the right calls strategy wise. Our car started to fall off a little bit towards the end, and I didn’t really help myself when I dropped a wheel in the esses. The important thing is that we’re moving up in the Manufacturer’s Championship and hopefully the Kia will continue to be as good as it was today.”