Rebel Rock Racing Holds on for 15th at Laguna Seca

MONTEREY, CA (30 April 2022) – Rebel Rock Racing matched its best finish of the young IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season, taking a 15th-place finish in Saturday’s WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 120.

Frank DePew and Robin Liddell shared the No. 71 Urban Grid Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R, which struggled with lack of pace in the two-hour race.

DePew drove a clean opening stint. Starting 25th in the lead Grand Sport class, the Virginian was running 18th when he pitted under green at the 40-minute mark to turn the car over to Liddell. The team executed the well-rehearsed stop to get Liddell back on track and back into the fray quickly.

A caution 12 minutes later saw Liddell return to the pits to top off for fuel, which would be enough to take him to the finish. Rapid work by the Rebel Rock Racing crew got him out quickly, moving the Camaro up to fifth when the green flag waved with one-hour, seven-minutes remaining.

Unfortunately, a charge to the podium from there was not in the cards, as the Urban Grid-liveried entry lost track position as quicker cars utilized their advantage. Liddell was frustrated to be fighting for pace but still slip back down the order for the remainder of the event, which was slowed by two additional cautions.

“We just didn’t have the pace today,” Liddell said. “Frank did a good job and I think the team had the correct strategy. We made the best of the situation, and got the car up as close to the front as we could. But we didn’t have grip, and we didn’t have grunt, so we lost a lot of positions in the final stages of the race. We didn’t expect to be that strong this weekend and we were just hoping to make the most of the race but it was certainly a frustrating afternoon.”

DePew and Liddell finished 10th in 2019 in their first race together at the circuit, with Liddell having won at the track in 2015 in a Camaro Z-28.R.

“The team did a great job this weekend,” said DePew. “We knew it was going to be a tough race but had been hoping that some strategy would help us move up. We were as high as fifth but didn’t have the pace to stay there so we ended up being vulnerable. Hopefully we can have a little bit better outing at Mid Ohio”

Next up for the Michelin Pilot Challenge will be the Mid-Ohio 120, a two-hour race on Saturday, May 14.

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Media Contact: 
Maddie Komar
maddie@sundaymanagement.com