DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The IMSA Michelin Pilot Problem Grand Sport (GS) class hits a milestone race quantity at a historic venue: Sebring Int’l Raceway.
As both GS or GSI, there have been 249 class races in historical past working below Grand-Am and later IMSA sanction since 2001. Friday’s Alan Jay Automotive Community 120 at Sebring will run race No. 250 over that 25-year interval, because of most years operating 10 races with a couple of exceptions both increased or decrease than that quantity.
For Robin Liddell, Sebring presents one other alternative so as to add to his personal set of data. The Scotsman has gained at Sebring 4 occasions in GS, together with final yr when the celebs aligned for Liddell and longtime co-driver Frank DePew of their No. 71 Insurgent Rock Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo. The win was the primary for the brand new automobile in solely its third aggressive begin.
The win featured a typical Insurgent Rock parlay of a strong first DePew stint, a strategic name to make its final gas cease as early as attainable, and a scything Liddell carving previous opponents after a restart. As Liddell mirrored 12 months later, this has grow to be tougher to do given the depth of the 20-plus-car GS subject over time.
“With the competitiveness of this collection now, it’s so sturdy in all honesty that it’s troublesome to win races except you qualify within the prime 5 or 6,” Liddell mentioned. “It’s a cliché, but it surely’s not rocket science for us. We concentrate on the bits we will management, and if we nail all these from Frank doing opening stint with respectable lap occasions, good technique from Charlie Ping and good pit stops from our complete crew, after which me with the ability to carve my method to the entrance on varied events, we’ve received a shot.”
Liddell famous DePew’s enchancment as effectively, which has come from of his personal development over six-plus years, elevated testing (often at Sebring) and extra monitor time courtesy of a second Aston Martin entered within the VP Racing SportsCar Problem Grand Sport X (GSX) class.
“For him studying and nonetheless bettering, it’s crucial you’ve received the flexibility to check,” Liddell defined. “We’ve executed fairly a bit extra testing the final two years. Traditionally, as a Florida-based crew in DeLand, Sebring has actually been our check monitor of alternative in case you like. Over the past six or seven years, we’ve executed a number of miles at Sebring. If I needed to attribute something to Sebring, it’s basically our native monitor.
“VP too is a superb method for a man like him. That helps no doubt and the testing makes a giant distinction. The additional seat time that builds the information and confidence for an novice driver.”
Liddell, a 17-time GS race winner (trailing solely Matt Plumb’s 21, Billy Johnson’s 20 and Invoice Auberlen’s 19), been an everyday in Pilot Problem for greater than a decade, together with profitable the 2015 GS class championship with Andrew Davis in a Stevenson Motorsports-entered Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R.
The introduction of GT4-spec equipment to the collection in 2017 coupled with a comparatively unchanged ethos of offering nice racing with a mixture of each all-pro and pro-am lineups has ensured GS offers a few of the finest racing on an IMSA weekend.
“There’s many causes I rejoice the GS class,” Liddell mentioned. “GS racing to me has all the appear and feel of what GRAND-AM GT was once. Professional drivers. Am drivers. Correct pit stops. Correct technique. Fairly frankly as a GT4 class globally, there isn’t one other globally the best way GS operates in IMSA. It’s a correct race. It’s old-fashioned.
“You look too during the last 5 years, there’s most likely been as many pro-am as pro-pro lineups which have gained the title. A GT4 automobile is a superb steppingstone for an novice to construct expertise, safely, in a comparatively stage enjoying subject. It’s received the best mix of efficiency, security, reliability, power-to-weight ratio and downforce.”
