Bell Trying to “Maximize Every Opportunity” in Title Fight

Photo: Zachary Cramer/SRO

Jaxon Bell says it’s important for him to “maximize every opportunity” he’s on the track in this year’s Toyota GR Cup North America title fight as he enters the race weekend at Sebring International Raceway in the points lead.

The Copeland Motorsports driver picked up his second series victory at the Circuit of The Americas following a tight, weekend-long battle with Lucas Weisenberg in the Toyota single-make championship.

Despite not scoring points in the first race of the season in Sonoma, a pair of second-place finishes and his win in Austin are enough to place Bell two points clear of Westin Workman, with Weisenberg also in contention.

With both previous series champions Gresham Wagner and Tyler Gonzalez having graduated to Pirelli GT4 America, the stage is set for a first-time champion to be crowned in 2025. Nevertheless, Bell maintains that the drivers’ championship, while a goal this season, is not his main focus heading into Sebring.

“I think it’s in the back of my mind,” he told Sportscar365. “I’ve grown up around the sport and watched it on TV all my life. I know that you have to take it one week at a time and just make sure that you’re the best guy, week in and week out, and the championship will come.

“I feel like it’s easy to get kind of caught up in thinking championship and maybe drive a little bit differently or have a little bit of a different mindset week in and week out when you’re leading the championship. I think it’s important just to try and maximize every opportunity you’re on the track.”

With race results often being decided by tenths of a second in GR Cup and stiff competition at the sharp end of the grid, the challenge of winning in this series is not lost on Bell.

“Every one of the top five is a really good driver, and they’re all super close,” he said. “It makes me a better driver. I know that if I want to drive away and want to have that perfect race, you have to be picture perfect and, each corner has to be just right.

“Driving this car, it’s tough to do. You have to drive this car in a very small window, and it’s very important that you drive that window and don’t over-drive the car. If you can do that, then you have a pretty good shot of controlling the pace and minimizing mistakes to give yourself the best chance of preventing anyone from making a move on you.”

Bell’s Sunday victory in Texas was his first of the season and came one year out from his first-ever GR Cup win at the same venue. The California native says he can apply what he learned from battling at the front at COTA to help his chances in Sebring.

“I learned a lot,” Bell said. “Just in terms of racecraft and kind of how I want to race these guys in the closing laps. We’ve made a few setup changes in the car, and hopefully, I don’t have that issue of having to defend on the last lap.

“Hopefully, if I qualify well and we start up front. Hopefully, I’m leading the way and controlling the pace of the field.

“I’d like to go out and win both races. I’d like to have me and [Copeland teammate] John [Dean] on the podium together. John Dean has won many MX-5 Cup races here, so he has been a great mentor and person to help give me a little insight of what you need to be faster around here.

“He lives in Sebring. This is his home track, so I expect him to be up there with me, and I think we can work together and have a great weekend.”

Bell also says that he hopes to use success in GR Cup to help propel his career forward and advance to the next stage in his career with the Toyota brand.

“I think the next theoretical step would be to get into a Toyota Supra and race the Supra in SRO or IMSA and follow the next step in the Toyota ladder,” he said. “I’d love to get an opportunity on the stock car side of things.

“I’m testing a later model with Toyota in the next couple of weeks and doing some TransAm TA2 testing as well, so that’ll be cool. My dream is to race the Indianapolis 500 after watching my dad (Townsend) run that race for so many years, so hopefully Toyota gets involved as a manufacturer in IndyCar and maybe that’ll present an opportunity someday.

“But right now, I’m fully focused on winning the GR Cup championship, and if I do that, chances are the chips will fall in the right place.”