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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In GTD, behind the class-winning No. 13 AWA Corvette were the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) and the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. AWA, which also won the Rolex 24 in Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) in 2023, added a fifth win for a Corvette Racing-affiliated team to the Rolex 24.
Corvette driver Bell was admittedly emotional with his first victory in the famous race. As with the GTD PRO class, the final laps and closing minutes were both dramatic and challenging.
READ: Ford Mustang GT3 Claims First Global Win at 63rd Rolex 24
“It means absolutely everything to me and this team,” said 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 putting a car together to win the Rolex 24. The Porsches gave us quite a run and I give it to the competition for that.”
Asked about the race-winning move, taking the lead with 10 laps remaining, Bell joked with a smile, “I don’t remember a damn thing.’’
His co-driver, Kirchhoefer conceded it was a competitive field, but the team also insisted the GTD class kept things a little cleaner than the GTD PRO class.
“It was quite intense in every category especially the 30 minutes after a restart, we know restarts are crucial in IMSA race and what the fans love to see which can be nice or sometimes not nice,” Kirchhoefer said.
“The emotions were running very high, and you can tell how much it meant to the whole team. Everyone was super, super happy for the result. For the fans, for everyone I think it was kind of the best race finish you could ask for.”
