It’s been a busy year as always for British driver Matt Bell, who has gotten accustomed to covering all parts of the globe in a matter of months for various championships and world-famous races. In 2025, he added yet another series to his calendar as he joined the GT World Challenge America powered by AWS grid, co-driving the No. 11 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R with Blake McDonald.
The two quickly found their footing, and it didn’t take long before they stepped onto the podium. With strong performances at Circuit of The Americas and Sebring International Raceway, they have added to the team’s impressive number of wins in SRO America, and established themselves as contenders to keep an eye on.
“ It's been going very well so far,” said Matt Bell on the new program. “We've been competing and getting podiums and wins. We've had a first and a third place finish in both of the last two events. I’m really enjoying driving the Corvette Z06 GT3.R in the GT World Challenge America series, it’s been a great calendar so far.”
Although Bell and McDonald are a new pairing in the field this year, they are far from being new to each other. Having previously worked with Blake in a coaching capacity, Bell was looking forward to joining forces as teammates.
“I really enjoy working with Blake, he's come along massively since we started working together,” Bell expressed. “He’s really hit his stride. I think he was very impressive, especially at Sebring. It has always been a very good circuit for the Corvette, but his qualifying performance was especially strong. We're hoping to keep that momentum going throughout the year.”
Given their quick rise and rapid success, it did not take them long before they set their sights on conquering yet another challenge on the SRO calendar: the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa on June 28th and 29th. They will be tackling the twice-around-the-clock GT-only endurance race in different machinery, sharing the No. 70 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 alongside Custudio Toledo and Riccardo Agostini in the Pro-Am class.
“ It was a bucket list item for Blake,” Bell explained on how the idea came about. “He suggested that we take a look into what teams were possibly available. On my end, I’ve known Ricky for many years and raced against him and AF Corse for a very long time on several grids. We had a conversation with Amato Ferrari and the team, and they said that Custodio and Riccardo would be up for doing the event in the Pro-Am class. It all came together quite easily, and we’re all very much looking forward to it. We've obviously primarily been doing SRO competition in the Corvette, but we've gotten some experience in the Ferrari as well, and got a podium finish at the Dubai 24 Hour back at the start of the year.”
This will be Bell’s fifth time competing in the Spa 24 Hours, coming equipped with a great deal of experience and knowledge that he will be utilizing and passing on to his teammates.
“The first time I ever did it was with United Autosports back at the very near the start of my career. I think it was in 2012 or 2013, so quite a while ago. It’s one of the best and most intense GT3 races in the world. Having done it more than once definitely helps, and I’ll be trying to impart as much of that knowledge onto Blake as possible. But you never really know the race until you've done it, so this will be a big learning experience for him. I'm looking forward to going back again with what I think is probably the most competitive lineup I think I've ever had as well. I’m pretty excited about going in there with some lofty goals and seeing if we can get a strong result when we're there.”
Ask any racing driver and they will tell you that the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa is a majorly challenging race that everyone wants to win, and Bell certainly agrees. World-renowned and widely recognized as being one of the biggest and best events in sportscar racing, there’s a multitude of reasons as to why Spa is so special.
“For one, it’s held at Spa-Francorchamps, one of the most iconic circuits in the world,” he exclaimed. “It’s awesome to race anything around there, but especially exciting to go for 24 hours straight. This race always attracts such a huge field. This year we’re going to have 76 cars there, and the strength and depth of talent on the grid is massive. The competition is incredibly tight. It’s the best GT manufacturers and drivers in the world all competing against each other around Spa. It doesn't get much better than that!”
As the main event looms closer, now only a few weeks away, the preparation work has already been in full swing. Bell and McDonald have poured months of work and planning into making sure they arrive in Belgium with everything they need to succeed.
“We have had this in mind for a while, so we have already done a bit of prep work specifically for Spa and what 24 hours of racing entails,” Bell explained. “We did the Dubai 24 Hours, which I think is a great first 24 hour race to do for anybody looking to step up to longer endurance races. Then we also did a 12-hour race at Spa earlier this year to go and learn the circuit itself a little bit more, so we've done a good mix of work in both endurance racing and Spa specifically. Nothing can ever quite fully prepare you for Spa 24 Hours though. It's such a unique, difficult, and challenging event. I think we've done as much as we can leading up to it, and the rest will be learning as we go.”
The 77th edition of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa will take place from June 25th to 29th. For those looking to witness the action trackside, tickets and packages are available now. Audiences tuning in from home can watch live on the GTWorld YouTube Channel.