Top Ten For Tim Bell in Daytona Qualifying

Top Ten For Tim Bell in Daytona Qualifying

Contact: Matt Cleary
Media
317-908-2975

Daytona Beach, FL (24 January 2011) – Tim Bell handled another new job with aplomb on Thursday has he made his qualifying debut on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway in the No. 14 BMW 128i for Doran Racing.

Friday’s GRAND-AM 200 will mark Bell’s first-ever GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race start and teh young Californian will take the green flag for the 2.5-hour race from ninth on the Street Tuner (ST) class grid before turning the driving duties over to BJ Zacharias.

“The day has gone pretty well, although the car is a little bit different from what it was like in testing so we aren’t as quick as we were hoping to be today in qualifying,” said Bell. “We are also working through some brake issues. I’m not sure what’s different about the car, but this is a great crew so I know they’ll be able to make some good changes before tomorrow.”

Friday’s race will see nearly 80 cars in the combined ST and GS event, which will be broadcast on SPEED February 5th at 3:00 PM ET.

While Bell, who led the final session in the test days earlier in the month, had been hoping for more in the qualifying session, he knows that he’ll have plenty of opportunity to move up at the start of the race on Friday.

“I think we should be ok hopefully tomorrow,” said Bell. “We don’t have the straight line speed that some of the turbo cars have, but we know that this BMW is capable of some very good handling so that’s what we’ll focus on for the race. So far, the weekend has gone mostly to plan and I’m just looking forward to racing tomorrow.”

Notes:

__Bell will contend for the MESCO “Rookie of the Year” Award as he steps up to the pro ranks
__Bell’s previous racing experience has been focused in the BMW Car Club of America (BMWCCA) racing series.

__Family Affair:
Bell’s pursuit of racing success will see the weekend events become a full-fledged family activity for the Bell family. Tim’s older brother, Matt, has already established himself on the GRAND-AM circuit with his award-winning drives in the Daytona Prototypes and record-setting runs in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series.

February 5th, 3:00 PM (ET) Speed
-ends