Tim Bell Continues to Deliver

Tim Bell Continues to Deliver

Alton, Va. (14 May 2011) – Tim Bell gave another strong performance behind the wheel of the No. 14 Office Depot BMW 128i in the Bosch Engineering 200 at Virginia International Raceway in just his fourth GRAND-AM race start.

Opening the 2.5-hour race in round four of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship from behind the wheel, he made another charge to the front of the field through the opening laps to run fifth after starting from the 17th grid position.

Prior to the start of the race, Bell and Doran Racing co-driver BJ Zacharias picked up the “SunTrust Most Improved Position” Award for their impressive performance at the Barber 200 when the duo charged to the front of the field to finish second after starting 19th.

Starting from the ninth row at the Virginia road course, the co-drivers once again planned to move forward in similar fashion, with Bell opening the race with solid forward progress before turning the car over to Zacharias to take to the finish.

After leaping three positions in the opening laps, Bell carefully maneuvered through the highly competitive 35-car ST class to run as high as fifth before relinquishing the BMW to Zacharias.

Following some quick work in the pits, Zacharias returned the BMW to the track in the 23rd position and wasted no time in moving forward. The No. 14 Doran Racing machine had jumped to 19th before the race ran under an extended caution as track officials made repairs to a guardrail following an on-track incident. When the race returned to green, Zacharias moved up seven more spots in the final five laps to bring home a 12th place result.

“We had hoped to pit later than usual like we did at Barber so we would stay out as everyone else pitted and it looked like that was how it was going to play out. But then we had several cautions and the 15-minute caution at the end,” said Bell. “So our race didn’t go exactly according to plan, but the rain held off and we got up to fifth at one point. The BMW was really working well and BJ did a great job of bringing it back up to 12th at the end.”

As Bell celebrates another top-15 result in only his fourth pro-race start, the entire Bell family has yet another reason to celebrate as Bell’s father Dave also celebrated a birthday today.

Bell will return to GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition for round five of the championship at Lime Rock Park for the Memorial Day Classic May 27-28.

The Bosch Engineering 200 will broadcast May 22 at 1:00 PM (ET) on SPEED.