Derhaag Motorsports ready for Grand Prix of Miami Daytona Prototype race with drivers Ruhlman and Bell at the wheel
Homestead, FL(March 21, 2006) – The Derhaag Motorsports team is back on the road and headed to Homestead, Florida with the #40 Preformed Line Products Pontiac Riley for this weekend's Round Three of the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve. The team showed their strength, as they returned from the Mexico City race and turned around the damaged Daytona Prototype in less than a week. The car, which suffered a hard hit and impact during the Mexico City race, is ready for this Saturday's action at Miami-Homestead Speedway with Randy Ruhlman and Justin Bell at the helm.
The 250-mile race will start on Saturday, March 25th, at 6:30 PM at the Grand Prix of Miami, sponsored by Linder Industrial Machinery Company and Komatsu, on the 2.3-mile Miami-Homestead Speedway. Drivers for Derhaag Motorsports will be full season driver Randy Ruhlman and Justin Bell. Bell drove with the Derhaag Motorsports driving team of Bingham, Ruhlman, Fellows and Bell in the successful 2006 season opener--the Rolex 24 At Daytona. He will be taking over at Homestead for Chris Bingham, who will return for the Long Beach Grand Prix on April 8th.
The television broadcast of the Grand Prix of Miami will be tape-delayed on Speed Channel on Saturday, March 25 beginning at 8:00 PM EST.
Ruhlman was the 2005 Trans-Am winner of the Long Beach Grand Prix and Cleveland Grand Prix races. As the driver of the #49 Preformed Line Products Corvette for Derhaag Motorsports, Ruhlman was the runner up for the 2005 Trans-Am Drivers' Championship and was named the 2005 BBS "Most Improved Driver of the Year". Though Ruhlman, who hails from Greensboro, North Carolina, is in his first full season of Grand American Rolex Cup racing, he has extensive racing experience, predominantly in road racing in the Trans-Am Series, as well as in IMSA, ASA and the NASCAR short track series.
Justin Bell has competed numerous times at LeMans, as well as at the Rolex24 at Daytona, with multiple wins in class at both races. The Great Britain native won the 1997 FIA GT2 Champion and was the 2001 Trans-Am Rookie of the Year, scoring two wins in Trans-Am Series competition. Bell competed with Derhaag Motorsports in the past in Trans-Am and at Daytona, where he set the 2003 GTS qualifying record. Justin Bell's new business venture, Blue Planet Events, is "a place where cars are driven as they were designed to". He combines exquisite event planning and personalized service for "people who enjoy life to the maximum."
The Derhaag Motorsports Pontiac Riley carries primary sponsorship from Preformed Line Products with additional sponsorship logos of Coyote Closures®, Park Place Ltd, KeyBank and McDonald Financial Group.
Preformed Line Products (PLP) is an international manufacturer and supplier of hardware and support systems for the communications and energy industries. Products include the COYOTE® Closure and GUY-GRIP® Dead-End used in the telecommunications, cable and energy industries. Manufacturing facilities are located worldwide in the USA, Canada, China, Brazil, Mexico, England, Spain, South Africa, Australia and Thailand.
Cleveland-based KeyCorp is one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $92 billion. Key companies provide investment management, retail and commercial banking, consumer finance, and investment banking products and services to individuals and companies throughout the United States and, for certain businesses, internationally.
McDonald Financial Group offers comprehensive financial services to affluent individuals from 87 offices in 15 states. As part of Cleveland-based KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY), McDonald Financial Group combines the capabilities of McDonald Investments Inc.'s Private Client Group, member NASD/NYSE/SIPC, and Key PrivateBank. McDonald Financial Group offers banking, estate planning, financial planning, retirement planning, brokerage, trust, individual asset management, insurance advice and services, and charitable giving counsel.
For further information about the drivers, sponsor, team, please visit the following links:
Derhaag Motorsports http://www.derhaag.com/
Randy Ruhlman http://www.randyruhlman.com/
Chris Bingham http://www.chrisbingham.com/
Justin Bell http://www.blueplanetevents.com
Preformed Line Products http://www.preformed.com/
KeyBank http://www.key.com/
McDonald Financial Group http://www.key.com/mfg
|
