Robert "Rob" Bell (born 30 April 1979 in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

) is a British former professional racing driver. He has competed in such series as the

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

, the

British GT Championship The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports G ...

and

Formula Renault V6 Eurocup Formula Renault V6 Eurocup is a former type of formula racing, active from 2003 to 2004, started by Renault as a support series in Eurosport's Super Racing Weekends ( ETCC and FIA GT Championship). It was a Formula Renault 3.5 that include also ...

, and is best known as the winner of the 2016 Blancpain Endurance Series with

Shane van Gisbergen Shane Robert van Gisbergen (born 9 May 1989), also known by his initials SVG, is a New Zealand professional auto racing, racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, C ...

and Côme Ledogar. He has also won the Winter Series of

Formula Renault UK British Formula Renault Championship referred to one of two Formula Renault championships that were held in the United Kingdom. The main series was Renault Sport UK's Formula Renault 2.0 UK championship which was held from 1989 to 2011 and was ge ...

in both 2001 and 2002. Bell was the

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the ...

GT2 class champion for

Virgo Motorsport Virgo may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Virgo (film), a 1970 Egyptian film * Virgo (character), several Marvel Comics characters * Virgo Asmita, a character in the manga ''Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas'' * ''Virgo'' (album), by Virgo Four, 1 ...

in the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

seasons, and vice-champion for JMW in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. In 2009 he also finished 7th at the

GT2 class for

CRS Racing CRS Racing is a British auto racing team founded by British driver Andrew Kirkaldy (racing driver), Andrew Kirkaldy and Canadian-Greek driver and entrepreneur Chris Niarchos. The team was founded in 2007, but is based on the former team of Kirka ...

, collecting a 2nd place at the

24 Hours of Spa The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by CrowdStrike. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their and ...

. Since 2012, Bell has competed at the

Blancpain Endurance Series The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by SRO Motorsports G ...

Pro Cup class with a

McLaren MP4-12C The McLaren MP4-12C, later rebranded as the McLaren 12C, is a sports car produced by the British carmaker McLaren Automotive. Manufactured between 2011 and 2014 and designed by Frank Stephenson, the MP4-12C was available as both a coupe and a ...

for Gulf Racing UK. Bell also finished 2nd in the GT class at the

2011 24 Hours of Daytona The 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona ran on Saturday and Sunday January 29–30, 2011 at the Daytona International Speedway was the 49th running of the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race. The first race of the 2011 Rol ...

as a Paul Miller Racing driver. He returned to the team for the

2012 12 Hours of Sebring The 60th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring was a 12-hour automobile endurance race for teams of three drivers each fielding sports prototype and grand touring cars held on March 17, 2012, at the Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, ...

, resulting 5th in the GT class. Bell competed in the 2019 British GT alongside Shaun Balfe in a McLaren 720S GT3. He finished third in the GT3 standings after winning at the final round at

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport Race track, circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, sti ...

His brother Matt also races internationally in GT3 and LM prototypes.

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Complete FIA GT Series results

‡ — Guest driver – Not eligible for points.

Complete British GT Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) † Not eligible for points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Robert 1979 births Living people English racing drivers Sportspeople from Newcastle upon Tyne (district) Formula Ford drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault V6 Eurocup drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers FIA GT Championship drivers American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers International GT Open drivers British GT Championship drivers Motaworld Racing drivers Aston Martin Racing drivers David Price Racing drivers Extreme Speed Motorsports drivers CRS Racing drivers Teo Martín Motorsport drivers Strakka Racing drivers United Autosports drivers Jota Sport drivers Ecurie Ecosse drivers McLaren Racing drivers Boutsen Ginion Racing drivers TF Sport drivers