GRAND AM (GEORGIA) - KINETIC MOTORSPORTS ADDS ESPENLAUB AND PUTMAN TO THE DRIVER LINEUP

Kinetic Motorsports announced today that it will bring both Charles Espenlaub as well as Charlie Putman to the driver lineup for its Grand Am KONI Challenge effort. The Kinetic team, anchored by world renowned drivers Boris Said and Nic Jonsson, currently fields three BMW M3s in the series that runs in conjunction with the Grand Am Rolex Series presented by Crown Royal at select events.

The first race for the two new Kinetic drivers will be at Lime Rock Park for the fifth installment of the 2007 KONI Challenge season. Espenlaub and Putman will pilot Kinetic’s No. 78 BMW along side the No. 79 driven by Jonsson and emerging professional racer and President and CEO of Savvion Shawn Price. Kinetic’s third BMW is piloted by Said and Puerto Rican sensation Bryan Ortiz. Both Said and Ortiz have consistently run upfront this season attaining an outside pole position as well as leading at the Homestead event. Said has also partnered with Kinetic to create Said Head Performance, a line of private label components manufactured by both existing product providers and Kinetic Speed Shop, the parent company of Kinetic Motorsports. The products can be found at www.saidheadperformance.com

As one of the newest additions to the Kinetic lineup, Espenlaub brings years of experience to the table that will undoubtedly lead to top results. He has competed since 1996 on both amateur and professional levels. The new Kinetic driver maintains impressive results in a number of series including Grand Am KONI Challenge, SPEED World Challenge, Speedvision Cup and SCCA club racing events. Espenlaub has also instructed at both the Bondurant School for High Performance Driving as well as the Panoz Racing School.

“Racing with Kinetic allows me to work with a lot of the old friends that I have worked with before,” said Espenlaub. “It will be nice to get back in the M3 and I get to drive with Charlie which is a definite plus. I was one of Charlie’s original coaches so the fit is perfect. This should make for some exciting racing and a good shot for a podium finish especially since we have shared top results together on several occasions.”

Putman comes to Kinetic from the ranks of Speed World Challenge. He competed in his first full season behind the wheel of a Tindol Motorsports Mazda 6 in the Touring Car class in 2006 and continues to do so this season. Putman has raced in both regional and national events in SCCA, Spec Miata, Showroom Stock B, Touring 2 and Spec Racer Ford. He has also won multiple events driving in Panoz races. Having been coached by Espenlaub, he is an excellent addition to the Kinetic team.

“This is my first experience in the BMW M3 but I am looking forward to it,” said Putman. “Charles and I have run together before so we are pretty comfortable driving as teammates. Knowing Ed Hall, Russell and Nic from other venues made Kinetic one of the nice choices to come run with so it kind of feels like coming home for me. I am looking forward to getting out on the track in the BMW and driving with Charles and for kinetic.”

The next KONI Challenge event for Kinetic Motorsports is at the world famous Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca featuring the popular corkscrew. Kinetic continues to get stronger as the season progresses so look for all of the teams’ BMWs to perform extremely well in California.