LEXINGTON, Ohio (11 May 2022) – Rebel Rock Racing will be looking to rebound when the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge returns to action with Saturday’s Round 4 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend. Frank DePew and Robin Liddell are coming off 15th-place finishes in the two most recent races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Sebring International Raceway in the No. 71 Urban Grid Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R.
The team, which has demonstrated race-winning execution from both sides of the pit wall, is hoping that the quick turn-around between race events helps bring the squad back to the sharp end of the field as IMSA visits the central Ohio natural terrain road circuit.
“We’re going into this race with our eyes open, and we’re hoping to get out of there with a decent result, without any car damage,” DePew said. “We’re looking forward to getting to the tracks where we feel that we and the car can perform at our best.”
Liddell is hoping for a better showing than last week’s event at Laguna Seca.
“It’s been a short turnaround, but we got the car back to the shop in time and set it up, so that everything’s going ahead of plan,” said Liddell, who doubles in the role of team manager. “We’re a little disappointed with our performance at Laguna, but we’re hoping we should do a little bit better at Mid-Ohio. With that said, we’re not expecting to set the world alight there. We don’t really have the flat-out performance of the car right now, but we are optimistic about doing better than we did at Laguna.”
An uptick in fortunes at Mid-Ohio would be welcomed by the team. In last year’s Mid-Ohio 120, the team lost ground with a spin on Lap 5 and an ensuing pit lane procedure penalty. Liddell came back in the final hour to regain five positions on the way to a 14th-place finish. In 2020, the team missed both races in a doubleheader weekend due to an accident during opening practice.
“Historically, Mid-Ohio isn’t one of the better tracks for our Camaro,” said Depew. “It also hasn’t been one of the better tracks for me, from a performance perspective. We’re hoping to go there and have a good, clean race. If we’re in the top 10 and leave there with an undamaged Camaro, then we’ll be heading to a number of tracks where we believe the car is slightly more competitive and where the team has generally performed well.”
Practice for the Mid-Ohio 120 begins on Friday at 9:15 a.m., with a second one-hour session at 12:45 p.m. (all times ET). GS qualifying is Friday evening at 6:10 p.m. The two-hour race takes the green flag on Friday at 4:05 p.m. (Peacock, live).
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