ALMS GT2 - Bell, Kauffman And Aguas In Top-Three At Petit Le Mans

BRASELTON, September 30, 2011: Co-drivers Justin Bell, Rob Kauffman and Rui Aguas moved off to a fast start in opening official practice Thursday for this weekend’s 14th annual Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta where the team clocked in third fastest in the GTE-AM class in both the morning and afternoon sessions in the in No. 61 AF Corse Ferrari 430 Italia backed by the “World’s Fastest Car Show” on eBay Motors and eBay Mobile.

Bell, the 1997 FIA GT2 World Champion, is making his first race start since 2008, the same year he joined SPEED as a TV host and pit-lane reporter. His ever-expanding TV career has kept him from competing in anything more than historic races since then but he is enjoying his return to major-league competition this weekend.

“Everyone keeps asking me how I am enjoying it, and maybe I am being overly enthusiastic, because I keep saying I am having a good time,” Bell said. “I think by the end of the season most people in a race series are not having a good time anymore, it is just like going to work, but I am taking this for what it is and making the most of it.”

Bell turned a top lap time of 1:23.007 (110.159 mph) late in afternoon practice to rank third in the session while Aguas clocked in third quickest in the morning run at 1:22.862 (110.352 mph), the No. 61 Ferrari team’s top lap of the day.

“I am blown away by how well it handles on the older tires on a hot afternoon,” Bell said. “It shows we can run as hard as we want in the stint. Because we are still working out how to get to our optimum lap, in traffic, if you get a clear lap, it is not like you can maximize that, because you haven’t been down to that time yet. But the car is great, I am really optimistic.”

This weekend’s race is being filmed for an upcoming episode of the “World’s Fastest Car Show” – an original video series hosted by Bell for the eBay Motors website and eBay Mobile application that premiered earlier this month. This is the first originally produced media content for eBay Motors, and the first to be featured in any of eBay’s mobile applications. The series chronicles the fast-paced automotive lifestyle, designed to engage automotive enthusiasts through both the web and mobile platforms, and this weekend Bell will give viewers a first-hand look at some high-speed competition.

“My career in the TV world is being based upon my credibility as a real driver,” Bell said. “It has been four years since I did my last real driving, and it really is vital. I didn’t realize how important it was until I saw how people received it. So when Rob gave me the call, it was funny, my initial reaction was ‘oh, I have got to do it. Then I thought, maybe should I? Then I thought, well I really should.’”

Kauffman, co-owner of Michael Waltrip Racing, opened the door for Bell to make his return to top level competition at this weekend’s Petit Le Mans, the season-ending race of the American Le Mans season.

“We were running at Le Mans with Rui and Michael and myself and we met Justin,” Kauffman said. “He was working on pit lane with SPEED and we had a lot to talk about. It was fun to meet him and chat and we agreed to kind of keep in contact. It turned out Michael had a scheduling conflict and couldn’t make the trio, so we invited Justin to come in and we are here. I am happy about it and fun so far.”

Both Kauffman and Aguas are racing at Road Atlanta for the first time.

“The car was getting better but unfortunately we had a red flag early and I couldn’t do a clear lap,” Aguas said. “Otherwise I think we would have gone quicker with the car. This evening I will drive again and I will see how the car is behaving, but from what Justin and Robert are saying, the car is consistent and very fast. I really enjoy it, I think it is a great track, very narrow but it is very fast.”