Qualifying Ends Short for Tim Bell at Watkins Glen

Qualifying Ends Short for Tim Bell at Watkins Glen

Looking for another top-15…or better on Friday night

Watkins Glen, N.Y. (2 June 2011) – As Tim Bell took his first laps at the historic Watkins Glen International road course in preparation for Friday’s Continental Tire 150, the California racer made solid progress throughout the opening practice sessions to shave three seconds off his best lap time.

Unfortunately, he didn’t get the chance to keep improving after the No. 14 Office Depot 128i suffered a setback during qualifying after a differential issue cut the session early for Bell. Despite not getting much time on track to lay down a flyer, Bell will open the 2.5-hour race from the ninth row and look to move up before handing the car over to co-driver BJ Zacharias.

“We made some changes following Lime Rock which really helped,” said Bell. “We’re pretty close with the setup we have now. Unfortunately during qualifying the diff decided to let go, but it’s a good thing it happened now, rather than in the race. Right now we’re great in the corners and we can take anybody under braking, but coming out of the corners we’re losing time. We’ll start the race a little further back than we wanted to, but hopefully we can work our way forward.”

Running his first season in the GRAND-AM ranks, Bell continues to show great poise and patience behind the wheel as he learns the ups and downs of professional racecar driving. In round three of the 2011 season, Bell and Zacharias improved 17 positions to finish on the podium with a second place finish.

The driving duo hopes to move forward in similar fashion this weekend when the green flag drops for Round 6 on Friday.

Bell will participate in a final practice session prior to the start of the Continental Tire 150 which is set to begin at 6:00 PM (ET). The race can be followed online with live timing and scoring on www.grand-am.com.

The Continental Tire 150 will broadcast on SPEED June 12 at 5:00 PM (ET).

Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
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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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