Answering the bell at Road America

The joke going around at Bell Motorsports has the team wanting to paint a target on its Aston Martin DBR9 so they can pick where the car will be hit next. Sometimes that’s the best thing to do when adversity is staring at you in the face…just laugh it off.

So it’s with a sense of humor – and urgency – that repairs have been made to Bell’s GT1 challenger in time for this week’s Generac 500 presented by Time Warner Cable at Road America. There admittedly were late nights Thursday through Saturday to get the car ready to load onto the Bell transporter Sunday night in Miami.

Terry Borcheller and Chapman Ducote will drive in Saturday’s four-hour race. The car had to be rebuilt following a massive crash in April at St. Petersburg and didn’t race again until Lime Rock Park in mid-July. The team’s return lasted 61 laps before a crash with an Audi prototype barely an hour into the event.

Fortunately the tub was intact. All four corners had body damage, the front framerails were bent and two radiators blew. The inner bumper and the framerails were the last replacement parts to come in from supplier Prodrive.

The 4.048-mile Road America circuit should be a good fit for the V12-powered Aston Martin as it battles Corvette Racing’s two factory Corvette C6.Rs. The last time a DBR9 competed there was 2006 when Stephane Sarrazin qualified on the GT1 pole position.

The Generac 500 at Road America presented by Time Warner Cable is scheduled for Saturday, August 9 from Elkhart Lake, Wis. The four-hour race will start at 4 p.m. CT with SPEED televising the race starting at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 10. XM will air the race from 4 to 8 p.m. ET on Sunday via Sports Nation Channel 144. Live radio coverage will be available from American Le Mans Radio at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA’s Live Timing & Scoring.