CAMARO Z/28.R A DAYTONA: Encouraging Start in Qualifying for Second-Year Camaro
Stevenson Motorsports third, fifth in GS qualifying; Mantella set for first race with Camaro Z/28.R

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 22, 2014) – The Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R took two of the top five positions in the first qualifying session of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge event of 2015. Andrew Davis in the No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro Z/28.R was third-fastest Grand Sport (GS) driver Thursday at Daytona International Speedway with a lap of 1:56.941 (109.594 mph) in the entry he will share with Robin Liddell in Friday’s race.

Davis was just 0.421 seconds off Scott Maxwell’s pole time and will start from inside Row 2. The Davis/Liddell combination won three times in 2014 and finished third in the GS championship.

Matt Bell in the No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro Z/28.R will start behind Davis after qualifying fifth with a lap of 1:57.187 (109.364 mph). Bell will drive with team newcomer Lawson Aschenbach, who won in 2014 driving a Camaro Z/28.R in the Continental Tire series.

Team owner Anthony Mantella led the Mantella Autosport effort with a 14th-place showing in his first qualifying session driving a Camaro Z/28.R. His best time was a 1:58.669 (107.998 mph) lap in the No. 8 Camaro Z/28.R he will share with Mark Wilkins. Martin Barkey qualified 19th in class with a 1:59.364 (107.369 mph) effort in the No. 80 Camaro he drives with Kyle Marcelli.

The first round of the 2015 Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge is set for 1:45 p.m. ET on Friday from Daytona International Speedway. Live video coverage will be available on IMSA.com with a live radio broadcast from IMSA Radio.

ANDREW DAVIS, NO. 6 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO Z/28.R
THINGS HAVE CERTAINLY COME A LONG WAY SINCE THE CAMARO Z/28.R’S DEBUT LAST YEAR AT DAYTONA.
“There’s no doubt. We made so much progress over last year with the Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R. We’re coming into this event with a lot more confidence, a known product and the know-how of how to win in this series. We were off a little bit yesterday and made a few mistakes on a few things but we rallied as this Stevenson Motorsports team does. They got me a great car that was good out of the box this morning. In qualifying, I was really happy with the car but I was caught out a little in no-man’s land without drafting help on my fastest lap. Matt (Bell) and I tried to hook up on the first couple of laps. But it’s difficult to team up especially with a teammate because you want to use the other car to your advantage. We optimized our performance and have both our Camaro Z/28.Rs near the front. I’m proud to be back at Stevenson and with a Chevrolet product.”

MATT BELL, NO. 9 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO Z/28.R
HOW DO YOU FEEL AFTER THAT SESSION?
“Today we made a big change to the car just before qualifying which was the right way to go. It was what the No. 6 team (Stevenson Motorsports Camaro Z/28.R teammates) have been doing the whole time. We tried a split strategy, they tried something, we tried something. They had the right routes, The car was much better. I tried to team up with Andrew (Davis, teammate in No. 6). There was no real way around that because I was also worried that the guys I just passed would try to catch me especially when it is a Mustang. It actually worked out pretty well. I get one more place behind him. But, trying to learn the car with a big change like that, and trying to keep off your teammates tail is a lot to deal with. I’m very happy with it. The guys did an amazing job. We were kind of hunting all day yesterday and the practice today trying to find a tangible change. You can just get outside of a window. You can tweak and turn knobs and the car just doesn’t change; it does the same problems over and over again. So it was really good in the first competitive session they finally found a way to really dial it in the right way. We’ve got a little bit more work tonight, but we’ll have a great race car tomorrow.”

ANTHONY MANTELLA, NO. 8 MANTELLA AUTOSPORT CAMARO Z/28.R
HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE PROGRESS MADE DURING YOUR FIRST WEEKEND WITH THE CAMARO Z/28.R”
“We’ve come a long way. The car has been totally rebuilt since the end of last year. It’s really fast – amazingly so in the infield. The competition got us a little bit with high speeds on the banking, so we have to work together. I tried to work with Martin (Barkey) as best I could with a little traffic – trying make sure he had a little bit of tow around the track. It was good; 14th isn’t really where I want to be but to help out our team, that’s where we are.”