Rebel Rock Racing Looking for ‘Second Start’ at Sebring

SEBRING, FL (12 March 2019) – Rebel Rock Racing will be looking to build momentum for the 2019 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season as the team prepares for Friday’s Alan Jay Automotive Network 120. The race is the second round of the 10-race championship, with the 2 hour sprint race being staged as part of a blockbuster Sebring event that will also include races from both the FIA World Endurance Championship as well as the feature IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship 12 Hour on Saturday.

Frank DePew and Robin Liddell will co-drive the No. 71 Urban Grid Solar/MVP Capital Camaro GT4.R in the two-hour race, set to take the green flag on Friday at 12:05 p.m. (ET), with live streaming of the race available at IMSA.com.

After the team outing was cut short at Daytona, the Rebel Rock crew rebounded to prepare the Urban Grid Solar Camaro GT4.R in time for a productive test at Sebring in February.  DePew and Liddell continued to learn the nuances of the new Michelin tire on the challenging and bumpy Florida circuit whilst gaining valuable data for the engineers coming into this event.

“Our test was very positive and Frank did a great job in the car; very relaxed and smooth so we were able to make some good progress with the Camaro and really learned a lot,” said Liddell, who has the dual role of driver and Team Manager.

Heading to a track that has seen Liddell take victory behind the wheel of a Camaro before (2014+2015), Rebel Rock Racing will look to fight back to the IMSA podium in Sebring.

“Daytona was a disappointing start to the season, but we’ve worked really hard since then to get ready for this event and we think we have a really good car,” said Liddell,“On reflection we learned quite a lot at Daytona in terms of how we could approach the weekend a little differently and we know from previous experiences that the Camaro performs very well at Sebring as it is good on the brakes and rides the bumps well so we are excited about coming back here and just want to focus on enjoying the weekend. The crew have worked very hard to turn things around since Daytona and I know we are all excited just to get back to the racetrack again”.

With the Rebel Rock squad having rallied to prepare for the test, the team now has its sights set on putting on a competitive performance at Sebring.

“Our race ended a lot earlier than we wanted it to at Daytona, but it was still a very good weekend for us as a team,” said Depew. “The guys really hustled to have the car repaired in time for our test and we’ve just been building up as a group. Sebring is a tough place, with the conditions changing all the time and we will have a lot of different tire companies on track this weekend so that will make it different every time out. But the Camaro has been very good and hopefully we can show more of that in the race this weekend.”

The Sebring weekend opens with official practice beginning at 8:20 a.m. on Thursday. Additional practice sessions will be held at 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., with a 15-minute GS qualifying at 6:15 p.m. Thursday evening. The pre-race open grid and fan walk for the Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 will begin at 11:10 a.m. on Friday. The race—set to be streamed live at imsa.com—will go green at 12:05 PM ET.