Tim Bell Looks Ahead to New Jersey Debut

Tim Bell Looks Ahead to New Jersey Debut

Attached photo: Rick Dole–BJ Zacharias (l) and Tim Bell celebrate a podium finish at Barber Motorsports Park, and will look to do so once again this weekend

Millville, N.J. (18 July 2011) – Tim Bell may not have had far to travel for the previous round of the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge when the series visited his home track of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, but this weekend Bell makes the trip from the Pacific Coast to the Atlantic Coast for Round 9 of the 10-race championship at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

As Bell heads to Millville, New Jersey for the B+ Foundation Heroes 200, he looks to follow up a strong effort at Mazda Raceway when he and Doran Racing co-driver BJ Zacharias drove the No. 14 Office Depot BMW 128i to an eighth place finish and scored their second top-10 of the season. The race was Bell’s first-ever stint as “closer” as he drove to the finish and added yet another line on his racing resume.

The Continental Tire Challenge has just two more races remaining on the 2011 schedule and Bell hopes to make the most of the final two rounds as he closes out his rookie season. The visit to New Jersey Motorsports Park marks Bell’s first appearance at the track and he will look to quickly get up to speed at the 14-turn, 2.25-mile road course just as he has done at each new track he’s visited throughout the first eight rounds of GRAND-AM competition.

“I’ve definitely learned a lot so far this season and I’m looking forward to the final two rounds at New Jersey and Mid-Ohio,” said Bell. “The Doran guys have been working hard on the set up of the BMW. The last two races, we’ve had the car handling as well as well as it has been all season and it’d be great to turn that into another podium. Our run at Laguna was encouraging and I learned a lot racing in the second half of the race. I think New Jersey will be another track that could play to the BMW even though we’ll still be fighting the straightline speed of some of the other guys.”

With five top-15 finishes in eight races, the California rookie hopes to extend the trend of positive results with another solid finish at the New Jersey circuit. Currently fifth in the MESCO Building For The Future Rookie of the Year Award Standings, he will look to gain ground by scoring maximum points this weekend.

Going from his deep familiarity with every nook and cranny of the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca circuit back to being thrown into the deep end of learning a new track, Bell will look to use Thursday’s promoter test day to once again show his quick adaptation skills. Official practice is set to follow on Friday. Race day will be a busy one, as ST class grid will be set Saturday, July 23 at 10:35 AM (ET) prior to the start of the B+ Foundation Heroes 200 race at 2:45 PM (ET).

The 2.5-hour race will be shown July 30 at 3:00 PM (ET) on SPEED.

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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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