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Sebring’s Winningest GS Driver, Robin Liddell, Drives For Five As Class Hits 250-Race Mark
March 10, 2025
By Tony DiZinno
IMSA Wire Service
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) class hits a milestone race number at a historic venue: Sebring International 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.”
Pilot Challenge competitors have two one-hour practice sessions, Wednesday at 11:25 a.m. ET and local time and Thursday at 8:00 a.m. before qualifying Thursday afternoon at 2:10 p.m. They’ll throw the green flag nearly 24 hours later on Friday afternoon at 2:15 p.m., with the Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 streaming on Peacock in the U.S. and YouTube.com/@IMSAOfficial internationally.
Fast Facts
Alan Jay Automotive Network 120
Sebring International Raceway – Sebring, Florida
March 12-14, 2025
- Race Day/Time: Friday, March 14, 2:15 p.m. ET
- Peacock Streaming Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 2:10 p.m. (available outside the U.S. on IMSA.tv and YouTube.com/@IMSAOfficial)
- Circuit Type: 3.74-mile, 17-turn road course
- Classes Competing: Grand Sport (GS), Touring Car (TCR)
- Race Length: Two hours
Michelin Pilot Challenge Track Records
- GS: Jesse Lazare, McLaren Artura GT4, 2:09.915 / 103.636 mph, March 2024 (Qualifying)
- TCR: Mat Pombo, Honda Civic FK7 TCR, 2:11.796 / 102.158 mph, March 2023 (Qualifying)
2024 Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 Winners
- GS: Frank DePew/Robin Liddell, No. 71 Rebel Rock Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo
- TCR: Mikey Taylor/Chris Miller, No. 17 UniTronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR
Storylines
- GS Turns 250 in a Two-Hour Tussle: The Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 marks both the 250th GS class race in series history dating to 2001 coming under GRAND-AM sanction, and also the first two-hour Michelin Pilot Challenge race of the year.
- Turner, Rebel Rock, Ford Again in GS?: In 2020, Turner Motorsport (BMW) won at Sebring, followed by Rebel Rock Racing (Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R) in 2021, with Ford (PF Racing) winning in 2022. Flash forward and Turner won again in 2023, followed again by Rebel Rock (now with Aston Martin) in 2024. Is one of the five Ford Mustang GT4s entered primed to continue this Sebring-specific trend?
- Back-to-Back Attempts: Accelerating Performance (GS) and Bryan Herta Autosport (TCR) have the chance to do in 2025 what eventual 2024 TCR champions UniTronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports did: sweep the pair of Florida races in Daytona and Sebring to commence a championship challenge. No GS pairing has won the first two races of any Michelin Pilot Challenge season since 2004, when Terry Borcheller and Craig Stanton won back-to-back in Daytona and Homestead in a Porsche 996.
Who’s Hot?
- Ford: Though they didn’t win at Daytona, four of the five Ford Mustang GT4s entered finished in the top 10 in GS, led by Billy Johnson and Bob Michaelian in third in their No. 59 KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4. Ford has three previous Sebring GS wins, including two with KohR in 2017 and 2018.
Who’s Good Here?
- Robin Liddell: Four times a GS winner at Sebring, including last year in their No. 71 Rebel Rock Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo, Liddell and co-driver Frank DePew have a knack for maximizing the strategy and pace needed to win the first two-hour race of the Pilot Challenge season.
- Harry Gottsacker and Mark Wilkins: Two of Hyundai’s longest-serving drivers swept the two 2020 TCR races at Sebring. Wilkins (No. 33) and Gottsacker (No. 98) are in separate Hyundai Elantra N TCR cars in 2025.
Previous Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 Winners in 2025 Field (13)
- Robin Liddell (4): GS – 2014, 2015, 2021, 2024
- Harry Gottsacker (2): TCR – 2020 (first race), 2020 (second race)
- Jeff Westphal (2): GS – 2019, 2020 (first race)
- Mark Wilkins (2): TCR – 2020 (first race), 2020 (second race)
- Frank DePew (2): GS – 2021, 2024
- Robby Foley (2): GS – 2020 (second race), 2023
- Vin Barletta (1): GS – 2023
- Tim Lewis (1): TCR – 2023
- Gregory Liefooghe (1): ST – 2015
- Chris Miller (1): TCR – 2024
- Spencer Pumpelly (1): ST – 2017
- Mikey Taylor (1): TCR – 2024
- Karl Wittmer (1): TCR – 2022
Previous Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 Pole Winners in 2025 Field (4)
- Harry Gottsacker (2): TCR – 2020 (second race), 2024
- Mason Filippi (1): TCR – 2022
- Chad Gilsinger (1): ST – 2014
- Spencer Pumpelly (1): GS – 2018
Previous Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 Winning Teams in 2025 Field (9)
- Bryan Herta Autosport (2): TCR – 2020 (first race), 2020 (second race)
- CarBahn (2): GS – 2019, 2020 (first race)
- KohR Motorsports (2): GS – 2017, 2018
- Rebel Rock Racing (2): GS – 2021, 2024
- Turner Motorsport (2): GS – 2020 (second race), 2023
- JDC-Miller MotorSports (1): TCR – 2024
- KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering (1): TCR – 2023
- RS1 (1): ST – 2017
- Victor Gonzalez Racing Team (1): TCR – 2022
Previous Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 Winning Manufacturers in 2025 Field (7)
- Audi – 3
- Ford – 3
- Honda – 3
- Porsche – 3
- BMW – 2
- Hyundai – 2
- Aston Martin – 1
