KUITWAARD AND THILENIUS PAIR UP FOR STREET TUNER CHAMPIONSHIP RUN

2010 Street Tuner Champion Teams with Rookie-of-the-Year Hopeful in Compass360 Racing Honda

(Toronto, Ontario, Canada) -- Compass360 Racing (C360R) released details of its third season-long driver pairing for 2012 today, announcing that long-time team drivers David Thilenius and John Kuitwaard will team up in the #76 Metropolitan Foods / Honda Performance Development Civic Si. They'll compete in the Street Tuner class of Grand-Am's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.

Thilenius won the 2010 Street Tuner Championship at the helm of a C360R Honda in the closest battle in series' history, beating the rival Bimmerworld team to the title on the merits of a fourth-place finish in the very last event of the season. For 2012, he'll move to the role of closing driver.

"I'm excited to be back for another season with Compass360 Racing," noted Thilenius. "The new 2012 Civic should be a really fun car to drive and I'm looking forward to working with the team to develop that platform."

Kuitwaard will compete in his first full season in Grand-Am after contesting a few events annually over the past few years with the team. He won his very first race with the team at Lime Rock Park in 2009, and has proven to be a fierce competitor. In addition to Grand-Am, he's been very successful in Mazda MX-5 Cup and Spec Miata.

"This is a tremendous opportunity and I'm so thankful to the team for making it happen," enthused Kuitwaard. "It's a real honor to drive with Dave and I can't wait until we race at Daytona in a few weeks time."

The duo will start the season in one of the team's 2011-spec Honda Civic Si's and will debut their 2012 car during the second round at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama in March.

"This driver pairing gives us three cars going for the Street Tuner championship," said Team Principal Karl Thomson. "John and Dave are both good shoes and it gives me great pleasure to welcome them back to the team for another year. The battle, as it always is, will be fierce in ST and these guys are going the right in the thick of it. 2012 is going to be awesome."

The Grand-Am season begins with Daytona test days January 6-8th. Fans are welcome at the test; tickets can be purchased at the Daytona International Speedway website.