Matt Bell Takes Third on Grand Prix of Miami Grid

Matt Bell Takes Third on Grand Prix of Miami Grid

Contact: Matt Cleary
Media
317-908-2975

Homestead, FL (4 March 2011) – Matt Bell has had a familiar start to the Grand Prix of Miami race weekend, but the young Californian is hoping to have a different outcome at the South Florida track as GRAND-AM stages round 2 of the 2011 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship on Saturday.

Bell has a history of qualifying right on the back bumper of the pace car, and Friday’s 15-minute qualifying session was no different as Bell set a quick time of 1:26.265 in the No. 9 Camaro GS.R for Stevenson Motorsports. The lap was just .3 back from the pole winning time as Bell looks to hold up the honor of the Chevrolet contingent, taking a grid spot among a bevy of bimmers and Mustangs as he was once again the top Camaro driver in qualifying.

“I’m very happy with the third place qualifying,” said Bell. “The team really did do an amazing job getting this car – not only ready on time – but ready with the set-up we talked about. It involved replacing all four corners, they were throwing every wrench in the tool box at this car and still got me out so I was third in line to qualify so that’s pretty incredible that they got that done. Our engineer Nick did a great job of figuring it out. He did a great job just putting his head to the table and really figuring out what the car needs. I don’t think it’s perfect just yet, but I think it’s the best we’ve have had so far.”

The qualifying performance was in keeping with his top-three habit at the track, but with a record of some bad racing luck, he is hoping for a new outcome at Homestead this weekend.

“We’ve had oil line issues, blown motors, clutch problems–all kinds of bad luck so I know that this can be a very frustrating place!” said Bell. “Hopefully though we can change that tomorrow. Tire conservation is key, and even though I don’t feel like everyone really showed what they had in qualifying today, we’ve got a good car that hopefully will have good speed late in the run.”

The race will be shown on SPEED Channel March 19th, starting at 2:00 PM ET. The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race set to take the green flag at 4:15 PM ET on Saturday following the Rolex Sports Car Series race.

PR inquiries about Matt Bell should be directed to Matt Cleary at Sunday Group Management; 317.908.2975 (mobile) or media @sundaymanagement.com

For additional information:
www.sundaymanagement.com

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Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
media
http://www.sundaymanagement.com
317.908.2975 (m)


Based in Indianapolis, Sunday Group Management is a leading motorsports management and communications consulting firm.

Sunday Group Management works with clients in a variety of motorsports categories, including NASCAR Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger, Riley Technologies, GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series organization Michael Shank Racing, Continental Tire, and several teams and drivers in Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition.

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