Bell Tops Opening Road America Practice for DXDT

Photo: Brian Cleary/SRO

Matt Bell put DXDT Racing atop the time sheets in the opening practice session of the weekend for GT World Challenge America powered by AWS competitors at Road America.

Bell, in the No. 11 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, reeled off a best time of 2:04.372 early in the 60-minute session to edge out the Pro class-leading No. 18 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jan Heylen by 0.479 seconds.

Bell’s co-driver Blake McDonald, meanwhile, topped both of the GT America powered by AWS practice sessions in the same car.

Michai Stephens set the third quickest time overall, second in Pro, in the No. 34 JMF Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, while Philip Ellis and Aaron Povoledo completed the overall top-five in their Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG and Chouest Povoledo Racing Corvette, respectively.

The No. 24 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Darren Turner was sixth, ahead of the Pro class championship-leading No. 99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Kenton Koch.

Quickest in the Am class was the No. 6 Dollahite Racing Ford Mustang GT3 of Eric Powell, which set the 13th quickest time out of the 15-car field.

The session ran without any red flags or major incidents.

Practice 2 is scheduled for a 4 p.m. CST start time.

RESULTS: Practice 1

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