Bell Hangs On To Win Race 2 at COTA

Photo: Fredy Hardy/SRO

Jaxon Bell emerged victorious in the second Toyota GR Cup North America race of the weekend at the Circuit of The Americas to take his second series victory.

Bell, who started the race from pole position, held off consistent pressure from Race 1 winner Lucas Weisenberg in the opening stages and a late-race charge from BSI Racing’s Westin Workman amidst a pair of restarts to claim victory at the site of his first win from a year ago.

Workman took the checkered flag just 0.558 seconds off of Bell, despite multiple pass attempts on the Copeland driver in the final laps.

A fierce battle inside the top five saw multiple drivers find their way into podium contention throughout the 45-minute sprint race. In the end, Legends class winner John Dean claimed third for Copeland after making up late ground after the race’s second restart.

A successful day for Copeland saw Ford Koch finish fourth with TechSport’s Christian Weir completing the overall top five.

Race 1 winner Weisenberg survived heavy contact from Will Robusto in the final laps, with the RVA Graphics Motorsports by Speed Syndicate driver collecting a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.

Weisenberg was fighting for the podium positions after initially pressuring Bell for the lead.

The field fell under caution with 28 minutes remaining after Nitro Motorsports’ Paityn Feyen became lodged in the gravel trap after on off at the end of the Esses.

A second yellow came out with just over 13 minutes to go after back-to-back incidents for Rutledge Wood, who first tangled with Jeff Curry at Turn 1 before collecting Feyen in the Esses. Recovery was required for both the Precision Racing LA and Nitro Toyotas.

A multi-car collision on the final lap did not impact the final lap of green flag racing action.