“Coming to a temporary street circuit where we have only raced once before was a bit of a challenge, but to leave with four top-ten finishes, including one top five, is a great accomplishment for us and gives the team momentum right from the start of the season,” said Jönsson. “The No. 36 turbocharged Optima was extremely quick all weekend, the Kinetic Motorsports crew did a great job of making adjustments between races, and our top-five finish is a testament to their hard work.”
Both turbocharged Optimas performed very consistently throughout the weekend, maintaining a 100-percent reliability record that started with the vehicles’ competition debut at this race a year ago. Jönsson and Wilkins finished Round 1 where they qualified: eighth and sixth, respectively. But Jönsson’s run to eighth involved more than just holding station, as he was assessed a penalty just prior to the race, which forced him to start from the back of the grid and charge through the GTS field to score valuable championship points.
Round 2 on Sunday featured the threat of rain and the crowd-favorite standing start, as opposed to the rolling start used in Round 1. The grid for the weekend’s second race was set by lap times from the previous day’s race, which put Jönsson and Wilkins starting sixth and seventh, respectively. As the 40-car field barreled down the front straight, engines roaring, one of the Realtime Acura TSXs wedged between the Optimas, running three-wide with Jönsson and Wilkins into a heavily congested turn one.
“The standing start always gets your heart rate going an extra beat or two as you sit in the car and stare down into an empty turn one, but once we got a couple laps in and got the tires up to temperature, we were able to spread the field out a little and run our race,” said Wilkins. “The No. 38 turbocharged Optima ran really well all weekend, and I think we have some good notes to apply to (the Grand Prix of) Long Beach (Calif.) next month and look to repeat on the podium there.”
Although there was some car-to-car and car-to-barrier contact during the event, the entire 50-minute contest was run without a single full-course caution. When the checkered flag finally waved, Jönsson and Wilkins crossed the line nose-to-tail in fifth and sixth place, respectively.
With a successful weekend in the books, the team returns to Kinetic Motorsports’ shop inBuford,Ga., to prepare for Round 3 of the PWC on the Streets of Long Beach, Calif., on Sunday, April 21. Kia Motors America (KMA) will be the presenting sponsor of the Long Beach PWC race, which is just up the road from the KMA corporate campus inIrvine,Calif.
Courtesy of Kia Media
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