Rebel Rock Lodges Appeal on Late-Race Lone Star Conduct

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Rebel Rock Racing is understood to have lodged an appeal to IMSA regarding the conduct of Lone Star Racing in the closing stages of Friday’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season-ending Fox Factory 120.

The No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R of Robin Liddell and Frank DePew was on track to become the GS class champion by virtue of its title rival, the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 of Robby Foley and Vin Barletta, running 16th at the time of the race-ending full course caution.

However, Foley and Barletta were ultimately classified 11th in the provisional results, enough to score the title by ten points over Liddell and DePew, due to several pit stops and post-race penalties from other cars that shuffled the BMW up the running order.

While the No. 14 Ave Motorsports and No. 50 Hattori Motorsports Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVOs were both given 39-second post-race time penalties for unserved drive-throughs due to passing under yellow, the No. 27 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 retired on the last lap due to unknown reasons and finished behind Foley and Barletta.

Had the Lone Star car not retired on the final lap, the ten-point gap in the standings would have been reduced to a tie between the two teams, which would have gone the way of Rebel Rock on a fallback in season-long race results.

A Lone Star Racing representative has yet to return Sportscar365’s request for comment regarding the cause of its late-race retirement, which Rebel Rock is understood to have alleged was deliberate due to a previous history between the two teams.

Rebel Rock, meanwhile, has declined to comment regarding the appeal, although Sportscar365 has verified the appeal through other sources.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John