Tim Bell Matches Season’s Best with Another Second Place Result

Tim Bell Matches Season’s Best with Another Second Place Result

Contact: Matt Cleary
Media
317-908-2975

LEXINGTON, Ohio, 17 September – Tim Bell’s rookie season in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge ended on high note at the EMCO Gears Classic as he took his second runner up finish of the year. Co-driving with BJ Zacharias, Bell drove the opening, nearly hour-long, stint.

Having started the No.14 Office Depot Doran Racing BMW 128i from the ninth position on the grid, Bell steadily rose to the front of the ST Class field. Forty minutes into the two and a half hour contest, Bell cracked the top-5. Then, shortly before pitting to hand the car over to Zacharias, Bell lodged the himself onto podium position by capturing third place. Bell pitted with one hour and 37 minutes remaining.

“It went okay,” said Bell modestly, fresh from his stint. “There were a lot of yellows that interrupted the rhythm, but that was expected. Unfortunately, we had some trouble with the lug nuts during the pit stop, so we’ve lost some of the track position that I gained. But, BJ knows this track well, and I’m sure he’ll gain it back.”

And, that is exactly what Zacharias did. Consistently one of the fastest ST Class cars, he methodically worked his way back to the head of the field. Having rejoined in 17th place, Zacharias was up to 13th place with an hour to go. At 30 minutes remaining, the No.14 machine broke into the top-5 and with seven minutes to the checkered flag the second step on the podium was secured for good.

“Finally, we landed on a good note. We hit some rough patches during the season but it was the prefect storm for us,” said Bell from the podium ceremony. “Mid Ohio is BJ’s home track and he’s probably got 1000 laps on it. I couldn’t have a better teacher to help me figure out what the proper thing to do here since it is so technical. So, even though it wasn’t a winning race, we’ll take it!”

Bell’s second place finish today matches his best result to date in Continental Tire competition, which came at Barber Motorsports Park in April.

With championship concluded, Bell ranks 13th overall, tied with teammate Zacharias, scoring 181 points on strength of two podiums and three Top-10 finishes in all.

The EMCO Gears Classic from the Mid-Ohio airs on SPEED, September 25 at 1:00 PM eastern.

www.sundaygroupblog.com

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Matt Cleary
Sunday Group Management
media
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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