ASLMS interview of the week: Michael Kim

Biography

Michael Kim, the CEO/CTO of Racerlink, was raised in New York but has been living in and around Asia for the past few years as a driver and race car aficionado. From 2008 to 2009 he drove in the Porsche Carrera Cup Japan, then moved to a number of different series in 2011-2012, racing in the Super GT GT300, the Audi R8 LMS and the ILMC Zhuhai Round 2011. Outside of his racing, Michael has also been a driving force in the development of Racerlink which operates Racerlink.com and various Racerlink social channels on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Web and Mobile. Racerlink has the largest and the most active independent racing fan community on Facebook with over 1.7 million fans and targets to continue to grow to over 5 million fans by 2014.

Question: what do you think is the most important reason for developing the partnership between the Asian Le Mans Series and Racerlink.com?

Answer: There are two important trends that are at play here. First is the emergence of social network as an essential medium of personal communication and information dissemination. Second is the growth of Asian racing industry enabling a major series like Le Mans Series. This partnership enables us to combine these two important trends to maximize the Asian Le Mans story, delivering it to millions of fans around the world. This benefits everyone involved in the series. The teams, drivers and ultimately the sponsors will get massive exposure by leveraging social media channels like Racerlink. For sponsors especially, this is a critical importance as they track the ROI (return on investment) on the sponsorship money. At the end of the day, if a racecar with a sponsor’s logo is seen millions of time around the world that's a massive marketing value created through this partnership.

Q: Do you think that this partnership will make the Asian Le Mans Series a household name?

A: Given the Racerlink’s reach on Facebook and the level of engagement we have with our followers, we believe we can play an important part in establishing Asian Le Mans Series as a recognizable name. People around the world want to know about the developments in the Asian racing industry. The Asian Le Mans Series is a story everyone will want to know more about. We will be delivering stories from Asian Le Mans races through out the year in our usual high impact photograph driven style.

Q: What makes you so interested in the Asian Le Mans Series?

Being based in Asia and being a fellow racing driver myself, I believe Asian Le Mans marks an important milestone for the development of the racing industry in Asia. This is a series we should all support to make it a success.

Asian Le Mans Series