Home Race for Tim Bell as GRAND-AM Returns to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Home Race for Tim Bell as GRAND-AM Returns to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Salinas, Calif. (6 July 2011) – While most of the races in Tim Bell’s first year of GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition have seen him pack his bags and traveling to racetracks all across the country, for this weekend’s Continental Tire Festival, Bell will not even need to board a plane has he races in his own back yard for the first time this season.

Instead, Bell who calls Los Altos, California home, will just jump in the car and make a fun and familiar drive as GRAND-AM heads to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California for Round 8 of the 10-race championship.

As a rookie in the Continental Tire Challenge championship, Bell has had the added challenge of having to learn each new and different track in just a few practice sessions prior to each race. While Bell has proven to be a swift learner and has quickly adapted to each circuit throughout the first seven rounds, this weekend he brings the confidence of racing on a track that is much more familiar.

Just 70 miles south of his Los Altos home, Bell has done a variety of racing schools and testing at the 11-turn, 2.238-mile California road course.

Bell and co-driver BJ Zacharias had a strong start to the 2011 season in the Doran Racing Office Depot No. 14 BMW 128i with four top-15 finishes in the first five races including an impressive run to the podium with a second-place finish at Barber Motorsports Park. Conversely, the Doran Racing duo has experienced a pair of disappointing results in the last two rounds when mechanical issues plagued the team at Watkins Glen International and contact from a competitor ended the team’s day early at Road America.

Bell and Zacharias hope to turn their luck around this weekend as Bell heads to his home track with many family and friends in attendance.

“I’m really excited for this weekend’s race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca,” said Bell. “It’s such a fun track and it’s actually not a new track for me this time around so I’m eager to get going. This weekend, BJ (Zacharias) will have to be asking ME about the quick way around! We’ll have a ton of people on hand supporting us so hopefully we can turn things around. I think everything is in place for a good result, but we just have to get a little bit of luck in the mix this weekend to make that happen!”

Bell will take part in a promoter test day on Thursday, July 7 followed by official practice and qualifying on Friday. The 2.5-hour race will begin at 10:45 AM local time on Saturday, July 9.

SPEED will carry coverage of the event July 17 at 1:00 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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