| |
14 June (Pompano Beach, Florida)
- Champion
Racing is set
to field three Audi S4 Competitions for the next two Speed World
Challenge GT
rounds, at Mid-Ohio and Road America. Promising young American driver
Joel Nelson
will pilot the third Champion entry at both races.
Champion's Audi S4's will also carry race numbers 1 (Galati) and 2
(Bell) for
the remaining rounds of this season. Galati's car has already been
wearing #1
in the first three Speed GT rounds, signifying his status as 2001 GT
Drivers Champion,
but Bell's car still wore his usual #8. Joel Nelson's S4 will carry #3.
The 20 year-old Nelson, of Reno, Nevada, began driving karts at age 16,
and was
awarded Rookie of the Year honors in just his first year. In total, he
competed
in kart racing for 4 years, the last two of which were in the 125cc
shifter class.
In November of 2001 Nelson attended the Jim Russell Driving School in
Sonoma,
California, and got his first taste of driving a proper racecar. He was
invited
back to Sears Point in December to participate in the Jim Russell Racing
School
Graduate Run-offs. There, besting over 100 other drivers, he was
unanimously chosen
by the field of Judges to receive a fully-sponsored season in the
Formula Russell
Championship series.
Just days after receiving that award, Nelson was off to England to test
a turbocharged
Formula Palmer Audi, at the invitation of Dr. Jonathan Palmer, former
Formula
One driver and series owner.
The test went very well, and resulted in Nelson contesting both the
UK-based Formula
Palmer Audi series and the American-based Formula Russell series in
2002. In his
"spare" time, Joel holds a position as test driver/driving instructor
for Dr. Palmer at Palmer Sport Motorsport Corporate Hospitality.
All his hard work is paying handsome dividends, as Nelson is currently
the championship
points leader in both the Formula Russell Championship and
the Formula
Palmer Audi Championship, where he is backed by Audi Sport North
America.
Understandably upbeat about his first taste of Speed World Challenge
competition,
Nelson commented, "I'm incredibly excited about the opportunity to make
a
contribution to the Champion Audi team. It will be a fantastic
opportunity to
work with such an accomplished and professional team. I'm planning on
absorbing
as much information and knowledge as possible during our time together". |
|
