Bell Fastest on Friday in Koch-Copeland Toyota

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Jaxon Bell laid down the quickest time of the day in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge practice for tomorrow’s Virginia is for Racing Lovers Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway.

The Koch-Copeland Motorsports driver ran a best lap of 1:53.617 in the No. 23 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 in Friday’s second and final practice session, outpacing the No. 66 YRB Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo of Trenton Estep by 0.180 seconds.

Bell’s time came late in Friday evening’s session.

Michael Cooper was third quickest in the No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4, ahead of Caio Chaves’ No. 54 Panam Motorsport Toyota.

Gregory Liefooghe completed the top-five in the No. 19 Stephen Cameron Racing Ford Mustang GT4.

The No. 2 CSM Aston Martin was credited with the sixth quickest time with Morgan Burkhard at the wheel.

However, co-driver Gordon Scully had an off-course incident in Turn 3 in the team’s brand new Aston and was reported to have gone behind the wall in the South Paddock.

Importantly, the incident did not result in a red flag, which would have cost the car its fastest lap in qualifying.

The No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR of LP Montour paced the TCR class, thanks to a 1:56.150 lap time by the Canadian driver.

Qualifying is on tap for 8 a.m. EST on Saturday ahead of the two-hour race, which starts at 2:15 p.m. EST and will be streamed live on Peacock and IMSA’s YouTube channel commercial-free, courtesy of Michelin.

RESULTS: Practice 2

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John