The Rebel Rock Racing team is proud to announce they have added a new sponsor for the balance of the 2016 Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Series season in Shopify Plus (www.shopify.com/plus) for both Street Tuner (ST) class Porsche Caymans. Shopify Plus, Shopify’s commerce offering for high growth, high volume merchants.
The team has also added driver Theo Bean for the balance of the season, Bean will move into the starting role in the #8 Urban Grid/Shopify Plus entry with closing driver Robin Liddell. Theo is a full-time University of Georgia student majoring in Business Management. His racing background includes winning two SVRA National Championships and also competes in HSR driving high powered prototypes, and eyes a future in sports car racing.
“I’m ecstatic to share a car with Robin (Liddell), whom I’ve been a fan of for a while now watching him race on TV, and can’t believe I am getting such a great opportunity now. Rebel Rock has been a team that I’ve been keeping my eye on as an enthusiastic group with a great desire to win, and I’m thrilled to be a part of their program going forward. To be getting started at Watkins Glen, one of my favorite tracks, and site of my first racing win, makes it that much more special” states Bean.
Liddell comments on his new co-driver, improvements both within the team and the racing circuit itself. “I’m delighted that Theo is joining the team. Although he’s young, he’s shown a lot of speed in the various cars he’s raced already, so I have confidence he’ll quickly adjust to racing in the CTSC.” Robin continues, “The team has taken some very positive steps to improve our overall competitiveness, and I’m excited to be working with a new engineer who brings a lot of experience to the team. I’ve always really enjoyed racing at The Glen, having won there in the past during the 6-hour and in CTSC. With the track resurfacing I’m sure it’s even better, and will be a lot of fun.”
Elliott Skeer will now move over from the #8 to the #7 team entry as its closing driver after performing brilliantly starting the year with a Pole position in qualifying at Daytona and several runs within the Top-5 in the ST class. The team is looking at this move as one that will provide Elliott the opportunity to continue to show off his abilities behind the wheel mixing it up with other top professional drivers in the field, while enabling both team cars the ability to fight for race wins and podium finishes. Joining Skeer in the #7 Urban Grid/Shopify Plus machine will be Sam Adams returning after a strong showing at Sebring with the team.
Skeer states, “Watkins Glen should be a good event for our Rebel Rock Porsche. Sam has shown pace and driving intelligence behind the wheel, and I have a lot of confidence that we’ll be able to push our way to the front of the field and have a successful weekend. I want to thank Frank (DePew) and Tom (FitzGerald) for their confidence in my abilities to move into the closing role within the team.”
Looking forward to this race and coming off a birthday celebrated by a podium finish in another series last weekend, an exuberant Sam Adams states, “I’m really excited about having Elliott as my co-driver. I feel very fortunate to have such a talented co-driver sharing the car, it’s all any driver could ask for. We’ll certainly be one of the youngest driving lineups in the field, which adds to the excitement. This will be my first time at the iconic Watkins Glen, and I’m really looking forward to checking that one off my list, we know the new surface is creating a really fast track, and can’t wait to take my first laps there.”
The Continental Tire 150 at The Glen kicks off with the first practice session on Thursday, June 30th at 3:00 pm EDT. The race will drop the green flag on Saturday, July 2nd at 12:25 pm EDT. The race can be viewed live on IMSA.com and via tape delayed broadcast on Fox Sports 1 on July 10th, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. EDT.