Kia Motors America Unveils KONI Challenge Program

[QWKCHK]

* Kia Motors and Kinetic Group team up to build and campaign race cars for the automaker's first-ever auto racing efforts on U.S. soil
* Decorated drivers Nic Jönsson and Andy Lally to pilot No. 10 Infinity Kia Forte Koup race car

LAS VEGAS (Nov. 3, 2009) - The all-new 2010 Kia Forte Koup's motto - "One Hot Ride" - took on a new meaning today as Kia Motors America (KMA) unveiled its U.S. motorsports program at the 2009 SEMA Show. KMA has teamed with the Kinetic Group to build and campaign two Forte Koups in the 2010 GRAND-AM KONI Sports Car Challenge Series in the Street Tuner (ST) class.

"The Forte Koup is the latest chapter in the dramatic Kia brand transformation story, and the decision to enter into the motorsports arena was an easy one to make," said Michael Sprague, vice president of marketing, KMA. "The Forte Koup's performance-inspired styling and outstanding driving dynamics make it a natural fit for road racing, and competing in GRAND-AM's KONI Challenge series enables us to reach an entirely new and passionate base of automotive enthusiasts."

"We researched every form of auto racing in the U.S. to find a fan base that was aligned with our target demographics, and found GRAND-AM to be the perfect fit," said Sprague.

Completing the team, decorated drivers Nic Jönsson and Andy Lally have been secured to drive the No. 10 Infinity Kia Forte Koup entry in the GRAND-AM KONI Sports Car Challenge in 2010. Joining Jönsson and Lally are Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood, past KONI ST champions to pilot the second team race car.

 

[rstp72]

Look at them go
there's no stopping Kia now

 

[vizunary]

bump, for some new guys.

also, check out the articles, thay mention kia's performance and accessory rollout starting 2010

 

[vizunary]

Here is the article I was looking for, it's very good if you want to know more about this and Kia's racing plans:

SEMA 2009: Kia Officially Announces Forte Koup Motorsports Program for 2010
Racing veterans Andy Lally and Nic Jönsson to drive for Kia in 2010 Koni Challenge series.

When we arrived at Kia’s SEMA Show booth, PR boss Alex Fedorak told us that we had guessed correctly – the big announcement, as we correctly surmised, was that Kia is going racing in 2010.

Kia will be racing in the Grand Am Koni Challenge series in a race prepped version of its Forte Koup, taking on competitors like the Honda Civic and BMW 328i. The company is expected to field a two car effort although just one vehicle has been confirmed. The announcement marks the first time Kia will go racing on U.S. soil.

Kinetic Motorsports built the car for Kia, using the same 2.4-liter 4-cylinder motor but tuned to around 220-hp.

Kinetic is no stranger to fielding successful race cars and so Kia also went looking for some seriously talented drivers and found them in Andy Lally and Nic Jönsson. Lally has been driving in the Grand-Am Rolex series and even won the 24 Hours of Daytona in the GT Class just last year. Lally also races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Craftsman Truck series, ARCA and Goodies Dash. Jönsson has numerous titles to his name with a long history in Grand-Am and ALMS.

continued at the website, good reading, but the forum wouldn't let me post the whole article. I highly recommend checking it out if you are interested in this at all.

source: http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/...-forte-koup-motorsports-program-for-2010.html