Promising Day at Road America Ends Early for Tim Bell

Promising Day at Road America Ends Early for Tim Bell

Elkhart Lake, Wis. (24 June 2011) – Tim Bell had a strong start in his race debut at Road America, but suffered a disappointing setback when contact from another competitor put the No. 14 Office Depot Doran Racing BMW 128i into the sand trap with just an hour to go as his co-driver looked to power to the finish.

Learning yet another new track in short order, Bell delivered another strong performance behind the wheel of the BMW. It was a busy race day, with qualifying setting the grid in the morning before the field took the green flag at 6:15 PM local time. Bell started Round 7 of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge from the ninth row and wasted no time in moving his way forward. In just seven laps, Bell moved into the top-15 by lap seven and continued to run a consistent pace to put the BMW into 11th place before handing the car over to co-driver BJ Zacharias.

Following quick pit work by the Doran Racing crew, Zacharias re-entered the track in the 16th position and was promptly moving forward to put the No. 14 into the top-10 prior to the contact that sent the car off-track.

“I didn’t get very many practice laps in dry conditions so I was still working on learning the track as much as I could during the race,” offered Bell. “This morning, we made some adjustments and the car was really good. We didn’t qualify as well as I thought we were going to, but we are still down on power, and on a track like this that really hurts you. Otherwise, the car was great–handling, braking, everything was dead on. It’s so much fun to drive this car. We had a fighting chance today. Unfortunately, a Honda hit BJ (Zacharias) and our race was over.”

Bell leaves Road America looking forward to the next race in two weeks at his home track of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

“We are going to have tons of people at Laguna Seca,” said Bell of the upcoming race. “I haven’t been there in a while, but I’m not worried about it that. It should be good. It’s an easy track for me, just because I’ve done all my driving schools there and BMW club racing and everything. For the first time, we are going to a track where I have experience and my co-driver doesn’t, so it’s the one advantage I have over BJ (Zacharias) this time!”

Bell currently sits fourth in the MESCO Rookie of the Year standings as he heads to his home track of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the Continental Tire Sports Car Festival Powered by Mazda and Round 8 of the championship July 8-9.

The Road America 200 will air at 1:00 PM (ET) July 3 on SPEED.

Matt ClearySunday Group Management
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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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