When a Brit referred to as Matt Bell turned up within the LMP3 class of the European Le Mans Sequence in 2023 there was inevitably some confusion. A presumption was made that it was the identical Matt Bell who was racing a P3 within the ELMS-supporting Le Mans Cup having been a fixture in worldwide sportscars for a dozen or extra years.
But when there have been any aficionados of junior single-seaters within the paddock, they might have understood that there have been now two drivers of the identical title on the town.
That’s as a result of Bell had raced opener wheelers to some impact within the late 2000s and early 2010s. But the confusion might be forgiven as a result of he had just about disappeared after just one full season within the 2013 BRDC System 4 Championship.
Two years on, the befuddlement has dissipated – not solely does he now go by his full title of Matthew Richard Bell, however he’s twice been runner-up within the ELMS P3 standings.
The returning Matt Bell turned Matt R Bell and now Matthew Richard Bell, he says, “to attempt to distinguish” himself from his namesake: “There was a number of confusion initially. Even the ELMS bought it unsuitable, it put his face with my title on some stuff.”
The confusion wasn’t stunning given Bell’s lengthy absence from the cockpit. There have been a handful of Radical races in 2015, however aside from that he hadn’t raced for the reason that cash ran out after an F4 marketing campaign by which Bell was a race winner towards the likes of Jake Hughes, Seb Morris and Charlie Robertson. It wasn’t till 2021 that Bell returned to racing for a full marketing campaign.
The Radical connection is a vital one in Bell’s story. He’d raced sporadically in System BMW and System Palmer Audi in 2007-10 earlier than sitting out 2011. However he and his father had purchased an SR3 for observe days.
Bell campaigned single-seaters however by no means managed a full season
Picture by: Motorsport Photos
“We had the automobile and thought we would as nicely race it,” recollects Bell, who returned to competitors within the Radical Clubmans Cup the next yr. That was a precursor to what stands as his solely full marketing campaign in single-seaters in 2013.
“Once we went to F4 it was just about the identical set-up as with the Radical to begin with; simply me, my dad and a mate, operating the automobile off a trailer,” Bell explains. “It was a brand new championship and we gained the primary race at Silverstone, however when the large groups bought the cling of the automobile, we went backwards.”
Bell subsequently targeting the household renewable power firm, save for these Radical appearances in 2015. He returned by likelihood six years later when he bought a late pre-season name from outdated buddy Rob Wheldon at RAW Motorsports, who’d helped him out again in 2012.
Bell insists that he has no racing ambitions past making it third time fortunate in P3 in 2025 and being invited to hitch the British Racing Drivers’ Membership
“Rob rang me and advised me that they’d had somebody pull out on the final second and requested if I’d fancy coming again,” Bell remembers. “I assumed, ‘ what, I do’. It was solely a couple of week earlier than the primary race and I needed to do the ARDS flag take a look at once more on-line to regain my licence.”
Bell gained the 2021 Problem title aboard an SR3 however discovered himself on the sidelines once more at first of the next yr. His return got here courtesy of the motive force he’d overwhelmed into second place in Radicals, Jerome de Sadeleer. The Swiss beneficial Bell to the Eurointernational crew when it was on the lookout for a fast bronze-rated driver for P3.
Bell was set to sub for de Sadeleer on the Monza ELMS spherical in 2022, however the plan was scuppered when his FIA driver grading got here by means of as silver. He efficiently appealed his authentic classification for 2022 on the grounds that he hadn’t held a race licence for a number of years earlier than his return in Radicals.
The transfer as much as P3 for 2022 occurred because of the connection made with Eurointernational, the successor to crew boss Antonio Ferrari’s Euromotorsport operation that had run in CART and IMSA in North America within the Nineteen Nineties. In his first season, he and Canadian Adam Ali took a distant runner-up spot of their Ligier-Nissan JSP320, however the Briton describes this yr’s championship “because the one which bought away”. He and Ali had been forward going into the Algarve finale and had been pipped to the title by a single level.
Bell (left) has carried out strongly with Eurointernational Ligier within the ELMS alongside Ali, ending a detailed second this yr
Picture by: JEP / Motorsport Photos
Bell insists that he has no racing ambitions past making it third time fortunate in P3 in 2025 and being invited to hitch the British Racing Drivers’ Membership.
“So far as life experiences go, I’m having a good time,” he says. “If I’ve to cease once more, I’ll have the ability to say I’m a double ELMS vice-champion and, hopefully after subsequent yr, a champion and a BRDC member.”
Matthew Richard Bell CV
Age 342024 European Le Mans Sequence, 2nd LMP32023 European Le Mans Sequence, 2nd LMP32021 Radical Problem, champion2015 Radical Enduro Championship, 6 races2013 BRDC F4 Championship, 3 wins 2012 Radical Clubmans Cup, third 2010 System Palmer Audi, 3 races2009 System BMW Europe, 2 races2008 System Palmer Audi, 5 races2007 System BMW UK, 6 races
Bell has loved his sudden profession revival and hopes to be again on the ELMS grid subsequent yr
Picture by: JEP / Motorsport Photos
