Rebel Rock Racing staged an almighty fightback to score one of their best results of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 120 on Saturday.
Frank DePew and Robin Liddell were outside the Top 30 overall halfway through the two-hour race, but showed grit and determination to haul their #71 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 to a stunning fourth-place finish, despite suffering a braking issue throughout.
After a strong Top-10 finish at the previous event at Virginia International Raceway, the team from DeLand, FL, arrived at the self-styled ‘Racing Capital of the World’ in an optimistic mood, despite the 2.4-mile Indianapolis Road Course not traditionally suiting the front-engined Aston Martin.
Top-10 pace in practice was followed by a 19th starting position as a result of Saturday morning’s qualifying session, but some strong early place gains by DePew were undone when the aforementioned braking issue led to unintentional contact and a drive-through penalty inside the opening quarter-hour.
The enforced visit to pit-lane saw the British Racing Green Aston Martin drop to the lower reaches of the Top 40 but that position quickly became 25th as a fortunately timed Full-Course Caution period enabled Frank to make an early pitstop to have his fuel topped up by the Rebel Rock Racing crew and to gain further positions following a frantic restart.
Unfortunately, his progress was dented when rear-end contact from a car in the TCR class (for which the other driver was penalised) meant that DePew was mired towards the rear of the GS Class field when he came to the pits again to hand driving duties over to Liddell just past half-distance.
Showing remarkable determination, Liddell immediately began his charge through the field. Seventeenth when he exited the pits, the 2015 title winner was up to 10th spot with 45 minutes to go.
The Scotsman continued his relentless charge, using a further caution period to close on the leading group and pulling off two superb passes in the final ten minutes to move up to fifth and then fourth; the first an exceptional ‘round the outside’ move at Turn 2, having worked on his opponent for several laps beforehand.
Fourth place marked the team’s second-best result of 2025, beaten only by their runner-up finish at Laguna Seca in May. It is also the #71 Aston Martin’s sixth top-10 position of the season.
Just one race, the Fox Factory 120 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on October 10, remains for the pair in the 2025 season.
Frank DePew said: We’re pretty happy with fourth, given the circumstances. We had trouble with the brakes all weekend and that made things quite difficult. I actually tapped the back of someone and had a drive-through penalty, so had to recover from that but Robin drove an incredible race and gave it everything he had.
Robin Liddell said: While we were somewhat fortunate with the way the yellows fell, that was counter balanced by the brake problems that plagued us all weekend. I was proud of the way that Frank and I were able to work our way through the field and we are definitely happy with the fourth place finish. Now its on to Atlanta, we have won there and that is exactly how we would like to sign off the 2025 season.
Round 10, the final round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge takes place on Friday, October 10th. To follow all the weekend action please follow Rebel Rock Racing on Twitter at @RebelRockRacing, on Instagram at @rebelrockracing and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rebelrockracing2.0.