DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) class hits a milestone race number at a historic venue: Sebring Int’l Raceway.
As either GS or GSI, there have been 249 class races in history operating under Grand-Am and later IMSA sanction since 2001. Friday’s Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 at Sebring will run race No. 250 over that 25-year period, thanks to most years running 10 races with a few exceptions either higher or lower than that number.
For Robin Liddell, Sebring presents another opportunity to add to his own set of records. The Scotsman has won at Sebring four times in GS, including last year when the stars aligned for Liddell and longtime co-driver Frank DePew in their No. 71 Rebel Rock Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo. The win was the first for the new car in only its third competitive start.
The win featured a typical Rebel Rock parlay of a solid first DePew stint, a strategic call to make its last fuel stop as early as possible, and a scything Liddell carving past competitors after a restart. As Liddell reflected 12 months later, this has become harder to do given the depth of the 20-plus-car GS field over the years.
“With the competitiveness of this series now, it’s so strong in all honesty that it’s difficult to win races unless you qualify in the top five or six,” Liddell said. “It’s a cliché, but it’s not rocket science for us. We focus on the bits we can control, and if we nail all those from Frank doing a good opening stint with decent lap times, good strategy from Charlie Ping and good pit stops from our whole crew, and then me being able to carve my way to the front on various occasions, we’ve got a shot.”
Liddell noted DePew’s improvement as well, which has come from of his own progression over six-plus years, increased testing (frequently at Sebring) and more track time courtesy of a second Aston Martin entered in the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge Grand Sport X (GSX) class.
“For him learning and still improving, it’s imperative you’ve got the ability to test,” Liddell explained. “We’ve done quite a bit more testing the last two years. Historically, as a Florida-based team in DeLand, Sebring has really been our test track of choice if you like. Over the last six or seven years, we’ve done a lot of miles at Sebring. If I had to attribute anything to Sebring, it’s essentially our local track.
“VP too is a great formula for a guy like him. That helps without a doubt and the testing makes a big difference. The extra seat time that builds the knowledge and confidence for an amateur driver.”
Liddell, a 17-time GS race winner (trailing only Matt Plumb’s 21, Billy Johnson’s 20 and Bill Auberlen’s 19), been a regular in Pilot Challenge for more than a decade, including winning the 2015 GS class championship with Andrew Davis in a Stevenson Motorsports-entered Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R.
The introduction of GT4-spec machinery to the series in 2017 coupled with a relatively unchanged ethos of providing great racing with a mix of both all-pro and pro-am lineups has ensured GS provides some of the best racing on an IMSA weekend.
“There’s many reasons I celebrate the GS class,” Liddell said. “GS racing to me has all the look and feel of what GRAND-AM GT used to be. Pro drivers. Am drivers. Proper pit stops. Proper strategy. Quite frankly as a GT4 category globally, there isn’t another globally the way GS operates in IMSA. It’s a proper race. It’s old school.
“You look too over the last five years, there’s probably been as many pro-am as pro-pro lineups that have won the title. A GT4 car is a great steppingstone for an amateur to build experience, safely, in a relatively level playing field. It’s got the right blend of performance, safety, reliability, power-to-weight ratio and downforce.”
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