Justin Bell had an impressive run at the first of two World Challenge races in St. Petersburg this weekend, climbing from 7th to finish in 1st place in the No. 50 Tiger Racing Mustang Boss 302S. For the second race he had a better starting position in second, but still had a significant challenge in getting around veteran driver Peter Cunningham in his No. 42 RealTime/Acura/HPD Acura TSX on the GTS class pole position. Cunningham ended up leading a substantial portion of the second race, just as he did on Saturday, but Bell put together a solid second half charge in the his Boss 302S after dropping from second on the starting grid to third in the early going. Bell took second place away from Jason von Kluge, of Ann Arbor, Mich., on Lap 22 of the 29-lap race and immediately set sail after Cunningham.
Bell eventually chased Cunningham down and took the lead in Turn 1 with just two laps remaining, which earned him both the Cadillac CTS-V Move of the Race Award and the Kia Turning Point of the Race. He went on maintain his perfect record in World Challenge competition, going two-for-two as a stand-in for 2011 GTS champion Paul Brown.
“When I was in third place, I could see [Cunningham] not pulling away, so I thought, ‘If I get into second, I know I can probably get him,’” Bell said. “His car didn’t look very good under brakes and I thought mine might be. It took me four laps. They said, ‘You’ve got three minutes left in the race,’ and there’s a big difference between going home second and going home first.
“I just had to push him and he was very fair. I went down the inside and we’re both sideways coming through (Turn) 1 and I made the pass. Then I knew I could hold it. It was so much fun. You know I have to thank eBay Motors Mobile giving the faith to put me in, and Paul letting me drive his car. I might have to do Long Beach now.”
Bell leads Cunningham by 35 points, 302-267, in the GTS driver standings with two of 12 class races completed. Cunningham, a nine-time SCCA Pro Racing champion, took his second straight runner-up result on Sunday.
Jason von Kluge finished in fourth place in the No. 19 Steeda Autosports Ford Mustang Boss 302S.
The Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg presented by Pirelli will be televised on NBC Sports Network on April 8 at 4:30 p.m. ET. Next up for the World Challenge GTS class is the Grand Prix of Long Beach on the weekend of April 13-15.
