MONTEREY, Calif. (September 9, 2001) - Great driving, fast pit work and a little luck in avoiding an accident that took out several of the
front-runners helped AmeriSuites Rookie-of-the-Year Justin Bell capture his first ever Trans-Am Series
victory Saturday at Laguna Seca.

From his sixth place starting spot, Bell took advantage of a spin by race leader Tommy Archer on lap six
that bottled up the front of the field and allowed him to grab second place. From there, fast pit work 
and a series of quick laps helped Bell grab the lead when race leader Scott Pruett ducked into 
the pits on lap 25.            

Driving the #40 Justin Bell GT Motorsports Experience Chevy Corvette, Bell battled with a 
hard-charging Brian Simo and retained the lead even when a series of full course caution flags 
bunched up the field. “Every time I saw the yellow I’m going ‘No, I can’t believe this.’ said Bell.

Bell was thrilled to have finally reached the top step of the podium after a series of good runs in the
series as of late. “We had a fifth, third, second and now we got the victory. I hope I don’t go back to fifth
next week.”  

The victory was definitely a far cry from what the team expected on Friday as they had struggled in the
afternoon practice with the slowest recorded practice speed. The team worked late into the night to cure
the mechanical problems they had in the afternoon session. “We went into this race completely blind on
a set-up from last year that the Derhaag guys said would work. I said okay we’ve got nothing to lose. It
was an incredible job by everybody on the team.”  

 “What a job driving today” said team owner Jim Derhaag. “The guy didn’t make a mistake all day
long. It was perfect.”

The victory was the second for Derhaag Motorsports at Laguna Seca, the other coming last year with
driver Kenny Wilden. “I feel just as good as last year,” replied owner Jim Derhaag when asked how it
felt to repeat at Laguna Seca.

“I’d say this is probably the best thing I’ve ever won,” answered Bell in victory circle. “I said all along
that I came to Trans-Am because it has my name on the car. I practice, I qualify, I’m personally
responsible for everything that goes wrong…and sometimes everything goes right.”

As for the team’s recent success at Laguna Seca, Bell had one suggestion. “Maybe we should have a
championship just for Jim Derhaag at Laguna Seca. Then we might win everything.”