Rob Bell survived a late attack from an LMP2 car to secure GT2 honours in the third round of the Le Mans Series at Spa.
The Virgo Motorsport driver, partnered by Gianmaria Bruni in the #96
Ferrari 430, took a dramatic win by just a tenth of a second at the conclusion of the race to get his title challenge back on track following the disappointment of a retirement last time out at Monza.
Bell made a clean start to the race and as the first hour progressed he managed to pull away by nearly seven seconds from the leading Porsche in second place. As the first round of pit stops approached, the Briton pitted from the lead and handed over to team mate Bruni, after which the lead gradually increased to nearly 15 seconds.
The charge by the Virgo Ferrari was halted during the middle stint of the race, as a series of safety car periods eliminated the advantage the #96 had pulled out, but when Bell got back in the car, he quickly extended the lead back out to more than 30 seconds.
However, the #4 Saulnier Racing Pescarolo then hit the back of the Virgo Ferrari car at the bus stop and spun it round, causing substantial damage to the handling of the car. The advantage evaporated with Bell losing nearly 20 seconds from the incident.
With the car suffering as a result of the incident, the second placed Porsche closed in but Bell was able to hold on to secure the win by the smallest of margins.
“The race was really tough, it was a really close battle between us and the Porsches today, but we came out on top,” he said. “Our car was really well balanced and nimble in the tight and twisty corners, but the Porsches were faster in a straight line, so we were very evenly matched in the different sections of the Spa Circuit. That made it all the more challenging for us, and we had to work hard to keep ahead of them.
