Thursday, March 16, 2006

Bell Micro Racing Heads South to Sebring, Florida AJR Looking to for Seventh Sebring Victory

Robin Osborne

Bell Micro Racing along with our Vendor Partners QLogic, Seagate and AMD, will be hosting the first ‘Relationship Sales Event’ at Sebring International Raceway on Saturday March 18. The 54th Annual Mobile 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring will begin at 10:30 AM when the green flag drops and will finish 12 hours later with the waving of the checkered flag. Our East Coast Sales Team has done a terrific job, we have 150 plus guests representing such companies as Acme Packet, Arlington Computer Products, AMII, ATM, Boca Research, Bosch, Brevard Community College, CDW, Connecting Point, DRS, Dictaphone, DaVita, Exagrid, Far Reach, First Data Corporation, Germane, Honeywell, HP, Hillsborough County, Patriot, Nextone, Netezza, Martin Memorial Hospital, Merrit, Relational Technology Services, Relational Funding, Siemens, Smartdisk, Tyco, Tag, Tiger Direct, Walkabout and more. Don Bell will be on track Friday racing the # 01 Porsche in the GT3 Cup Challenge Presented by Michelin. Go Don!

For AJR Racing it’s a short trip south to Sebring where the team will be looking for its seventh 12-hour victory. The “local team” won the race in 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 1999 and 1995. Unlike the team, none of the three AJR drivers have stood on the top step of the podium at the historic 3.7 mile 17 turn track. Mike Rockenfeller and Klaus Graf have five starts between them and Graham Rahal has competed on the track in the Star Mazda Series.

Commenting on the race Mike said “I have raced at Sebring twice; I have only one finish of fifth in 2004. I like Sebring a lot. It’s difficult because of the bumps in turn one and seventeen, that is where we will focus the cars setup. We also have to be reliable because Sebring is as hard on the car as a 24 hour race.” Klaus Graf is happy to be back in the American Le Mans Series. “It’s great to be back. It will take me a couple of days until I have spoken to all my old friends, some I haven’t seen for quite some time. I have yet to finish a race at Sebring in my three attempts, always due to mechanical problems. So it’s about time to change the record.”

Graham Rahal, coming off of his first endurance experience at Daytona, will make his first ALMS Series start next week. “Last year was my first visit to Sebring in Star Mazda and I was able to finish on the podium. Alex Job is a well know team in road racing and widely considered one of the best. They have a lot of experience with the 911 and have won Sebring several times. Daytona was my first endurance race and a great experience which made me want to do Sebring” said Rahal.

“The team is ready to go back to Sebring and make a run at number seven” said Alex Job. “We will have the opportunity to get the drivers a lot of miles in the days before the race, so everyone should be comfortable come the morning of the race. We need to have a good start to the season at Sebring. Last year we did not have a great start and that is what cost us at the end.”

The 12 Hours of Sebring will be televised in segments live on the SPEED Channel staring at 10:30 a.m. EAT on Saturday, March 18. Join in the fun by tuning into the broadcast!