Tag: Rebel Rock Racing

Breakthrough MPC win for new Aston GT4 at Sebring

It isn’t often that the story is about a team that started 26th overall and won the race. But if you had to guess who did it, you’d probably choose Rebel Rock Racing, Robin Liddell and Frank DePew. Liddell grabbed the lead late in Friday’s race and …

It isn’t often that the story is about a team that started 26th overall and won the race. But if you had to guess who did it, you’d probably choose Rebel Rock Racing, Robin Liddell and Frank DePew.

Liddell grabbed the lead late in Friday’s race and made a three-stop strategy work to drive from 26th overall and 23rd in the Grand Sport (GS) class to win the Alan Jay Automotive 120, the second race of the 2024 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season at Sebring International Raceway.

“It was wonderful,” DePew said. “We didn’t expect this. We’ve just had the car for a little while, and we’d been working on the setup, trying to get the car where we knew what the tires would do.”

The qualifying result didn’t necessarily show what the brand-new No. 71 Rebel Rock Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo could do, but a strategic play that limited the team to just three pit stops during the two-hour race helped DePew and Liddell put themselves in position to win.

“When I was driving, the fronts were completely rooted,” DePew said. “We weren’t even sure about fuel, but we’re completely happy.”

Liddell’s fierce final stint let the No. 71 Aston Martin finish 1.817s ahead of another Aston Martin – the No. 19 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 co-driven by Valentin Hasse Clot and Rory van der Steur.

Chad McCumbee and Jenson Altzman finished third in the No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4, 2.766s behind Liddell.

Miller and Taylor return to TCR victory lane in No. 17 Audi

The four rings is making a whole lot of sense after two wins in two races. Michael Levitt/Lumen

Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor drove the No. 17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSport Audi RS3 LMS TCR to a convincing victory in Touring Car (TCR) class action Friday at Sebring.

Miller engaged in a spirited battle with Motul Pole Award winner Harry Gottsacker in the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TCR in the first 40 minutes of the two-hour contest. After the various strategies played out over the course of several mid-race cautions, Taylor emerged in the lead.

“It was a smooth weekend from start to finish,” said Taylor. “That’s what we wanted, and the team gave us that. I’m just happy the car ran well. The crew put in a lot of work after Daytona, and here we are.

“It was a tough race nevertheless,” he added. “It might have looked easy, but we were saving as much fuel as possible while just giving it our all there.”

It was the second consecutive Michelin Pilot Challenge TCR win for the No. 17 duo, who also triumphed in the season opening BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona International Speedway in late January.

“We feel good, but the competition is really tough, and we know those guys are coming,” Miller said. “We had the best strategy today, which won us the race. But there’s a lot of fast cars so we need to keep working.”

Taking the checkered flag in second place was the No. 80 Victor Gonzalez Racing Team Hyundai shared by Morgan Burkhard and Chase Jones, but the car did not meet minimum ground clearance in post-race technical inspection and was moved to the back of the class.

Andy Lally prevailed in a late-race multi-car scrap in his first race in the No. 12 StarCom Racing Hyundai that he co-drove with Nick Tucker. With the penalty to the No. 80, they moved up to second place with the No. 89 HART Honda Civic FK7 TCR with drivers Chad Gilsinger and Steve Eich taking third.

The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge resumes May 11 with a two-hour battle at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

RESULTS

Rebel Rock awarded Road America MPC win after Winward fuel tank infringement

Robin Liddell’s late charge to second across the finish line wound up netting the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race win Sunday at Road America. Liddell and co-driver Frank DePew pushed the No. 71 Rebel Rock Racing Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R from the …

Robin Liddell’s late charge to second across the finish line wound up netting the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race win Sunday at Road America.

Liddell and co-driver Frank DePew pushed the No. 71 Rebel Rock Racing Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R from the 17th starting position in the Grand Sport (GS) class to cross the finish line 3.229s behind the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 at the checkered flag of the Road America 120. But following post-race technical inspection, the Mercedes was found to have exceeded its fuel capacity and moved to the rear of the class in the provisional results.

The resulting win is the first of the season for Liddell and DePew and comes on the heels of a second-place finish last month at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The revised results put a pair of Ford Mustang GT4s on the GS podium, with the No. 59 KohR Motorsports Mustang shared by Bob Michaelian and Luca Mars taking second place and the No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing with AEROSPORT Mustang co-driven by Jenson Altzman and Chad McCumbee placing third.

The race became one of differing fuel strategies and mileage, with a potential BMW podium sweep going awry when the Nos. 95 and 96 Turner Motorsport and No. 92 Random Vandals Racing entries all forced to pit for a splash of fuel with eight minutes to go in the two-hour race.

That promoted Daniel Morad in the No. 57 Winward Mercedes to the front, which he held to the checkered flag – only to have the result negated by the post-race penalty. The win is the 15th of Liddell’s Michelin Pilot Challenge career and the sixth for DePew.

The GS points-leading No. 72 Murillo Mercedes also needed to pit and ended in 11th place.

Geoffrey M. Miller/Lumen

No. 5 Alfa Romeo triples up at Road America in TCR

The story of the Touring Car (TCR) weekend battle at Road America can be told in two halves. Hyundai dominated qualifying with four of the top five spots. Yet manufacturer parity emerged in the race, with the sole Alfa Romeo and the sole new Audi finishing ahead of the seven-car armada of Hyundai Elantra Ns.

An epic scrap occurred between Tim Lewis Jr. in the No. 5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR and Mikey Taylor in the No. 17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR in the waning stages of the race.

Taylor’s co-driver Chris Miller rocketed to the lead early but fell back to fourth on the pit stop, behind three Hyundais: the No. 91 van der Steur Racing car and the Nos. 98 and 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian cars.

However, with 34 minutes to go, Taylor put together a sequence of moves on par with his charge at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – where he and Miller secured their first win of the season. Taylor darted around the outside of Tyler Maxson, in the No. 91 van der Steur Hyundai, for the lead at Turn 1.

But Lewis, who’d taken over for Roy Block, was keen to extend the KMW Alfa Romeo win streak at Road America to three. With a methodical charge and an eventual pass for the win, the No. 5 car was back on top of the box.

Lewis and Taylor praised each other in a clean battle.

“The pass was a few laps in the making, trying to figure out where we were good and where he was good,” Lewis said. “I felt like the fuel number on the dash kept getting closer to zero.”

Taylor added, “It was a super-good battle. They’re good friends and it’s great they’re up there as well. We would have been there, but had to save on fuel. The pace they were running was super good, and hard to maintain.”

Fuel saving became a story in TCR as several cars ran out of fuel. The pole-sitting No. 33 Hyundai of Harry Gottsacker and Robert Wickens was best of the bunch in third, while their championship-contending teammates Mark Wilkins and Mason Filippi in the No. 98 Hyundai were not so lucky with an apparent stop on the backstraight.

The Michelin Pilot Challenge season resumes on Saturday, Aug. 26, with the Virginia is for Racing Lovers Grand Prix at VIRginia International Raceway.

RESULTS (pre-inspection)