LAKEVILLE, Conn. – Rebel Rock Racing’s Robin Liddell was able to get past PF Racing’s Kyle Marcelli in Big Bend with 11 minutes to go. From there, he was able to use fresher tires to pull away to win the Lime Rock Park 120. It is Liddell and teammate Frank DePew‘s first win of the year.
“I was slowly closing on [Marcelli] and my good friend Andrew Davis, who was a lap down, was between us,” Liddell told Frontstretch after the race. “I was just hoping that he’d get out of the way and let me go for it. When I got to Kyle, I realized that I had a bit more grip in the car. I was able to carry more speed through the corner to get alongside him and get past.”
Rennsport One’s John Capestro-Dubets started from pole in his Porsche and immediately showed the pace that he had exhibited all day on Friday. He quickly opened up a comfortable margin of nearly five seconds in the first 15 minutes. Meanwhile, Murillo Racing’s Kenton Koch was able to get by Riley Motorsports’ Alfredo Najri in the opening laps for second.
The tone of the race changed 35 minutes in when the first full course yellow came out. First, KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering’s Roy Block ended up in the grass exiting the Diving Turn. Behind them, the Ford Mustangs of PF Racing’s James Pesek and KohR Motorsports’ Bob Michaelian resulted in Pesek sliding off-course and hitting the Armco barrier.
The pits opened for the Grand Sport teams too early for their starting drivers to meet the 40-minute minimum start time, so they had to stay out at first. The next time around when it opened for TCR teams, the 40 minutes had elapsed, allowing them to stop. Capestro-Dubets waited until the next time around when the pits were open for everyone to make his first stop and swap over to Stevan McAleer.
When the race restarted, Kenny Murillo, who had not stopped, was in the overall lead. McAleer restarted fifth and quickly made his way back to the overall lead. Once there, he pulled away from the field as they squabbled for position in a large pack. Eric Foss was one of them, having taken fresh left side tires during the yellow.
The multiple pit strategies led to a series of comers and goers as drivers on fresh tires dealt with those that had only two fresh tires or none at all. McAleer was able to pull out to a five-second lead, while Trent Hindman was able to race up to second.
Murillo dropped back until TeamTGM’s Matt Plumb ran up on him. Plumb…
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