DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In GTD, behind the class-winning No. 13 AWA Corvette had been the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) and the No. 27 Coronary heart of Racing Crew Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. AWA, which additionally gained the Rolex 24 in Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) in 2023, added a fifth win for a Corvette Racing-affiliated group to the Rolex 24.
Corvette driver Bell was admittedly emotional together with his first victory within the well-known race. As with the GTD PRO class, the ultimate laps and shutting minutes had been each dramatic and difficult.
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“It means completely every thing to me and this group,” stated Bell, who co-drove with Orey Fidani, Lars Kern and Marvin Kirchhoefer. “The minute the checkered flag flew at Petit Le Mans (2024 season finale), it’s been 24-7 placing a automotive collectively to win the Rolex 24. The Porsches gave us fairly a run and I give it to the competitors for that.”
Requested concerning the race-winning transfer, taking the lead with 10 laps remaining, Bell joked with a smile, “I don’t bear in mind a rattling factor.’’
His co-driver, Kirchhoefer conceded it was a aggressive subject, however the group additionally insisted the GTD class stored issues a bit cleaner than the GTD PRO class.
“It was fairly intense in each class particularly the half-hour after a restart, we all know restarts are essential in IMSA race and what the followers like to see which might be good or generally not good,” Kirchhoefer stated.
“The feelings had been working very excessive, and you may inform how a lot it meant to the entire group. Everybody was tremendous, tremendous completely satisfied for the outcome. For the followers, for everybody I feel it was sort of one of the best race end you can ask for.”
