Camaros 1-2 in ‘Mock Qualifying,’ Alara Surprises in Final ST Practice

Subtitle:Bell, Szymczak Fastest in Afternoon Session

Stevenson Motorsports tipped its hand late in Wednesday’s final Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge practice, with Matt Bell turning in the fastest lap of the session in a simulated qualifying run to lead the Grand Sport (GS) competitors in preparation for Friday’s Microsoft Visual Studio 150 at Sebring International Raceway.

“It was a mock qualifying run – something we do at every race weekend,” Bell explained after turning a lap of 2:16.771 (98.442 mph) in the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R. “We sticker up and try to get the qualifying drivers the change to try it out, work to get a gap and go for it. We’re happy with the car. We’ve seen the track in all sorts of configurations from testing, yesterday’s promoter day and today. We’re dialed in. That was our final practice before qualifying – that’s why it’s important to do a simulated run.”

Bell’s co-driver, Lawson Aschenbach, turned in the fastest lap of the day in the morning session, running an unofficial track record lap of 2:15.336 (99.486 mph). The team’s No. 6 Camaro was second in both sessions, with Andrew Davis running 2:15.730 (99.197 mph) in the morning and Robin Liddell 2:16.999 (98.278 mph) in the afternoon.

Kyle Marcelli led most of the afternoon session with a lap of 2:17.084 (98.217 mph) in the No. 80 Mantella Autosport Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R, only to be knocked off by the two Stevenson cars at the end of the 45-minute session.

The afternoon Street Tuner (ST) session saw an unfamiliar name atop the charts. Christian Szymczak – running his second race in the series in the second run for the Alara Racing Mazda MX-5.

“This is a pretty new car for us, and we’ve been working on our shock package,” Szymczak said. “I think we’ve made a good step to finding a solution for this car. Our Mazda works really well here. It’s strong under braking and entering the corners, and there are several turns here that really favor the Mazda.”

Szymczak has raced four times at Sebring in the Barber Dodge Pro Series (2012-13) and Mazda MX-5 Cup (2012-13, winning and finishing second during the latter year’s doubleheader). Qualifying the car on Thursday will be Justin Piscitell, who captured the pole for the season opener as a substitute driver for Alara’s sister team, Murillo Racing.

Eric Foss was second in Wednesday’s afternoon session, running 2:24.821 (92.970 mph) in the No. 56 Murillo Racing/Mosing Motorcars Porsche Cayman, followed by Jeff Segal in the No. 43 Team Sahlen Porsche Cayman. Seth Thomas had the fastest lap of the run, running an unofficial track record 2:24.441 (93.215 mph) in the No. 38 Next Level European Porsche Cayman.

Qualifying begins at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, with competitors looking to break the existing track records held in GS by Trent Hindman, 2:15.947 (99.039 mph), and in ST by Chad Gilsinger, 2:24.508 (93.171 mph), with both marks set in 2014. The Microsoft Visual Studio 150 takes the green flag on Friday at 1:05 p.m. The race will be streamed live on IMSA.com.