No. 6 Sunoco Camaro breaks track record at Mid-Ohio Road Course

[Sean@Phastek]

As reported on CAMARO5 HOMEPAGE.

Matt Bell in the #6 2010 Camaro broke the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge track record at the Mid-Ohio Road Course yesterday... and captured the pole for today's race.

Will be televised on TV @ June 26 - 1:00 PM EST (Speed Channel) *tape delay




This marks the first pole for the new generation Camaro, and starting second is Jack Roush Jr. in the No. 61 ROUSH Performance Products Ford Mustang GT... should be interesting!!

Go Camaro!

Bell Breaks Track Record at Mid-Ohio

June 18, 2010
Michael Harker, GRAND-AM

LEXINGTON, Ohio - Matt Bell broke the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge track record Friday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, earning his sixth career Grand Sport (GS) class pole position and first of the season in the No. 6 Sunoco Chevrolet Camaro.

It also marked the first pole for the new generation Camaro, which began competing in the 2009 season finale. Bell's time of 1:33.635 (86.813 mph) narrowly bested his record time of 1:33.665 last season on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn track. Bell co-drives with Jeff Bucknum.

"We struggled almost from the time we unloaded, but during qualifying, it was perfect," Bell said. "This track changes constantly, and it's a guessing game as to how you'll run every session. Getting the pole was surprising for exactly that reason. I just want to bring Jeff a car that he can race to the finish."

Bell also dedicated the pole to crewmember Adrian Lindsay, who suffered a knee injury Thursday and could not make it to the track.

Joining Bell on the front row was Jack Roush Jr., in the No. 61 ROUSH Performance Products Ford Mustang GT, who set a time of 1:33.641 (86.808 mph). He and Billy Johnson are aiming for their second victory of 2010.

Rounding out the top five were Andrew Hendricks (1:33.682; 86.770 mph) in the No. 45 Stable One Racing BMW M3 he shares with Terry Borcheller; James Gue (1:33.722; 86.733 mph) in the No. 37 Trumansburg ShurSave Ford Mustang Boss 302R he co-drives with Bret Seafuse and Steve Jenkins (1:33.736; 86.720 mph) in the No. 38 BRM Watches Porsche Cayman he shares with Jean-Francois Dumoulin.

In the Street Tuner class, David White picked up his second pole of the season in the No. 80 Performance Friction/RAYS Engineering BMW 328i he shares with owner and co-driver James Clay. White turned in a time of 1:37.195 (83.633 mph); he and Clay are shooting for their first podium finish of 2010.

"I've had a lot of laps around this track, and this car was just dialed up from the get-go," White said. "We worked hard between James and I to find speed, and while this track favors a lighter car than ours, we'll focus on a strong brake package to keep us in contention."

Second was Paul Gerrard, who gave RRT Racing its first-ever front row start in the series in the No. 18 RRT Racing BMW 328i. Gerrard lapped the track at 1:37.320 (83.526 mph) in the No. 18 he shares with Martin Jensen.

Rounding out the top five in ST were points co-leader David Thilenius (1:37.444; 83.420 mph) in the No. 74 Skunk2/HPD Honda Civic Si he shares with Lawson Aschenbach; Taylor Hacquard (1:37.661; 83.234 mph) in the No. 32 Mazda/Cybernation MAZDASPEED3 he co-drives with Pierre Kleinubing and Mark Congleton (1:37.750; 83.159 mph) in the No. 196 Cruise America/4 Winds RV Mini Cooper S he shares with BJ Zacharias.

A final 30-minute practice session for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge begins at 8 a.m. ET, with the two-and-a-half hour EMCO Gears Classic scheduled for 1:15 p.m. ET.

[armysig]

NICE, Go get them!!! Bring home the gold for the Camaro!!!

[speedster]

Very cool. Glad to see the new generation of Trans Am cars battling it out on the tracks again. This is great American Muscle !!

[Court jester]

It's stories like this that almost make me want to go back to Ohio. Almost.

I actually grew up about 15 miles from Mid-Ohio

[Kwik]

When and where will this race be televised? Thanks! Bob

[KKreme15]

feels good man.

[Sean@Phastek]

Originally Posted by Kwik

When and where will this race be televised? Thanks! Bob

This race isn't.... it's currently on lap 13, Matt Bell in the #6 2010 Camaro leads with Roush Jr. right behind him by 0.161 seconds.

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[fugimo]

Originally Posted by Kwik

When and where will this race be televised? Thanks! Bob

TV

Jun 26, 1:00 PM ET, SPEED *
* - tape delay

[Sean@Phastek]

Originally Posted by fugimo

TV

Jun 26, 1:00 PM ET, SPEED *
* - tape delay

[BackinBlackSS/RS]

Camaro DOMINATION. Coming to your BMW, Porsche and Mustang soon.

[dickholloway]

was on TV yesterday on SpeedHD. unfortunately BMW and Mazda beat Camaro

[Apex Motorsports]

Good job guys!

[MJanowich]

Originally Posted by dickholloway

was on TV yesterday on SpeedHD. unfortunately BMW and Mazda beat Camaro

The race that was on TV yesterday was the Rolex Series race, which is the Daytona Prototype class and the GT class. The Stevenson #57 and #97 race in that series. The Sunoco Camaro is in the Continental Tire series in the GS class.

http://www.grand-am.com/

[R Kern]

Liddell in the #57 Camaro was up to second place at one point, then fell back a little, and late in the race took a corner too wide, and fell back to 9th. He came back to finish 5th! Great race, good to see the Camaros back. They'll get even better with experience.