Le Mans: Bell off to flier in Series opener

Apr 23 2008 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

NEWCASTLE driver Rob Bell has made a fine start to the season – securing a win in the first round of the Le Mans Series and a notching a podium finish in the opening round of the GT Championship this weekend.

Bell, the 28-year-old who has proved himself a consistent performer in touring cars and endurance races, made a big impact in his first races in both the Le Mans series and GT Championship endurance races.

The GT Championship started on Sunday and in poor conditions Bell helped his new CR Scuderia team to second and fifth places in the opening Silverstone meeting along with team-mate Andrew Kirkaldy. The newly-formed team also won their first ever pole position to cap a fine weekend.

“You have to remember this is a new team,” said Bell, who drove a number 56 Ferrari.

“It’s a great achievement to get a podium finish the first time out. A few things happened that we need to learn from; our tyre choice at the start wasn’t quite right, but we will learn and grow as a team. We’re very pleased to come away with second place as the changeable conditions dealt out by Silverstone in April are very tricky.”

The victory followed on the back of his win in the first round of the Le Mans Series in Barcelona behind the wheel of his new Virgo Motorsport team.

Bell, competing along with co-driver Gianmaria Bruni, secured a difficult win in front of 28,000 spectators at the Catalunya circuit. The Bell-Bruni duo dominated from the first session, topping the class time sheets from the start and maintaining the pace throughout each track session. That culminated in a class pole and class win.