Bell Paces First Practice at Sebring

Photo: Fred Hardy/SRO

Matthew Bell set the quickest first official practice lap of the Pirelli GT4 America weekend at Sebring International Raceway on Friday to set the overall and Pro-Am pace around the 3.7-mile Florida road course.

Bell reeled off a 2:11.165 lap time in the first half of the 45-minute session aboard the No. 43 P1 Groupe McLaren Artura GT4 he shares with Alex Vogel.

Van der Steur Racing’s Max Hewitt led the Silver class times in the No. 39 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evo, which made the jump from GT America powered by AWS to GT4 America beginning this weekend. Hewitt’s class-leading lap was just 0.469 seconds off of Bell’s overall pace.

JMF Motorsports’ Jesse Webb set the third overall fastest time and second-best Silver class lap in his and Jonathan Neudorf’s No. 3 Vantage GT4 Evo.

Riley Dickinson brought his No. 7 ACI Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport up the order to end the session second-quickest in Pro-Am and fourth-fastest overall, just ahead of Kevin Boehm’s Random Vandals Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO.

James Clay, meanwhile, led the Am class times in his No. 36 BimmerWorld Racing BMW M4, finishing the session 11th overall.

Kay Van Berlo brought out a red flag nine minutes into the session, when his No. 9 ACI Motorsports Porsche went off track in the first sector. Quick work by track workers to retrieve the stricken car meant running resumed just seven minutes later.

Practice 1 continued without further interruption.

Second practice for GT4 America is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. EST ahead of Saturday’s qualifying and Race 1.

RESULTS: Practice 1