DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Rebel Rock Racing’s Robin Liddell was able to run down Circle H Racing’s Thomas Merrill with 16 minutes to go Friday (Jan. 23) and take the lead exiting turn 2. From there, Liddell pulled away to win the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona International Speedway with Andrew Davis and Frank DePew.
Rebel Rock Racing’s margin of victory was 2.691 seconds over Merrill, David Hampton and Martin Sarukhanyan. Winward Racing’s Daan Arrow and Bryce Ward were third, followed by Turner Motorsport’s Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars. AutoTechnic Racing’s Austin and Roland Krainz, along with Stevan McAleer were fifth after starting 26th.
McCumbee-McAleer Racing’s Nate Cicero started from pole in his Ford Mustang GT4. Once the race got underway, he slowly pulled away from the field, a couple of tenths of a second at a time. Team TGM’s Paul Holton moved up from fourth to second in the early going.
Despite that move, Holton ended up in a big scrum for his spot with CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing’s Sean McAlister, RAFA Racing Team’s Varun Choksey, VPX Motorsports’ Matheus Leist and others right on his tail. Eventually, McAlister was able to get up to second after pulling off a three-wide pass into the Le Mans chicane to take third, then passing Holton a lap later.
Cicero led until the first full course caution flew 37 minutes into the race due to debris entering the the tri-oval. By that point, Leist had been able to get back to second, but was five seconds behind Cicero.
The yellow came at the perfect time as the 40-minute minimum drive-time was achieved right before the pits opened. As a result, everyone stopped at the first possible opportunity for tires, fuel and a driver change.
During the first stop, McAlister was able to take the overall lead by staying in his BMW while Cicero got out in favor of Robert Noaker, last year’s Mustang Challenge champion. The yellow ended up being extended due to an unusual incident.
Stallion Motorsports’ Celso Neto was warming his tires in the tri-oval when he clipped Choksey’s Supra. Choksey, who was well down the order after a black flag to repair the rear bumper, spun and hit the Cupra of Eddie Gou. All three cars were effectively out on the spot.
Neto was given two stop-and-60-second hold penalties as a result of the crash, even though the team did not continue. One was for causing the crash, the other for illegal weaving during the class split.
Shortly after the restart, Noaker was able to sweep around McAlister to take the lead. Further back, Victor Gonzalez Racing’s Franco Girolami had contact with Montreal Motorsports Group’s Louis-Phillippe Montour entering the infield. The result was that Montour slid into the tires and broke his steering to bring out the second caution. Girolami was given a drive-through penalty for the contact.
After the restart, Rebel Rock Racing’s Andrew Davis was able to drive himself up to second and pull away from the rest of the pack. Eventually, he ran down Noaker and took the overall lead entering the Le Mans chicane.
The third yellow flew shortly before halfway when Victor Gonzalez Racing’s Dr. William Tally stalled exiting the International Horseshoe. That brought everyone back to the pits.
The restart saw PANAM Motorsport’s Thiago Camilo spin in West Bend. The chain reaction saw KohR Motorsports’ Billy Johnson run in the back of VRC Motorsports Group’s Dan Ammann, spinning out the No. 91 Porsche. Johnson ended up with a broken splitter and the hood covering the windshield. The damage ultimately ended his day.
The second half of the race saw a couple of new players enter the mix. Circle H Racing’s Thomas Merrill was able to drive up to the lead in his Aston Martin. However, Davis was eventually able to get the lead back.
Later on, after a crash for Baker Racing’s Dean Baker, Liddell got into the No. 71 Aston Martin. Once he got in the car, he was able to pull away from the pack.
The final round of stops changed things up a bit. Liddell pitted with 41 minutes to go for four tires and fuel. Meanwhile, Merrill stopped and only took two tires. The difference in pit stop times allowed Merrill to jump over Liddell. Once the final round of pits were complete, Merrill ended up with the overall lead.
However, Liddell had the faster car. When Liddell got out of the pits, he ended up roughly seven seconds behind Merrill. While Travis Hill stayed out as long as possible in his Shopify-sponsored Porsche, Liddell was cutting into the advantage.
By the time Hill pitted and Merrill took the lead, Liddell was only a little more than a second back. A couple of laps later, Liddell made the move on Merrill in the International Horseshoe exiting turn 2. Merrill could do nothing to prevent Liddell from making the pass.
From there, Liddell was able to open up a comfortable gap and hold on for the win. It is Rebel Rock Racing’s first victory since Sebring in 2024.
In TCR, Stallion Motorsports’ Celso Neto inherited the class pole after Victor Gonzalez Racing’s No. 99 was moved to the rear due to bodywork issues.
That said, Neto’s time at the front of the field in his Cupra was short-lived. Bryan Herta Autosport’s Mason Filippi moved forward from fourth on the grid to take the lead in the first 10 minutes.
Girolami, forced to start at the rear due to the penalty, showed that the issue with his Cupra did not give him any kind of an advantage. He took only 17 minutes to move up from 16th to third.
Eventually, the race became a three-man race for the lead between Filippi, Neto and Girolami. The Hyundai was able to hold onto the advantage until the caution flew.
During the first caution, Girolami was able to get out of the pits first and took the lead. However, Joshua Buchan was quickly able to get the No. 33 Hyundai back to the lead.
Pit strategy allowed Mario Farnbacher, driving in place of the injured Larry Pegram, to get his new Honda Civic Type-R into the class lead. Much of the third hour and into the final hour featured Farnbacher doing battle with BHA’s Denis Dupont.
Farnbacher led until he made his final pit stop with 31 minutes to go. He proceeded to lock up the right front tire getting into the pits. That didn’t result in a speeding penalty, but leaving a replacement tire that didn’t get installed on the Honda unattended resulted in a drive-through penalty that ended their chances.
The tire eventually went down before Farnbacher served the penalty. As a result, Farnbacher ended up going from leading the race to pulling out of the race with 20 minutes to go without even getting back to the pits.
The penalty elevated BHA’s Bryson Morris to the class lead. Dupont was right there and ran up to Morris’ rear bumper in the closing laps.
With two laps to go, Dupont got a run on Morris exiting the International Horseshoe and ran him side-by-side through the Kink. In West Bend, Dupont was able to outbrake Morris and take over the lead.
From there, Dupont opened up a small gap and held on to take the class victory with Preston Brown. It is the second straight year that the pair has taken TCR honors at Daytona.
Brown and Dupont’s margin of victory was .408 seconds over HART’s Tyler Chambers, Chad Gilsinger and Cameron Lawrence. Buchan, Filippi and Morris dropped back to third, while Maddie Aust, Andre Castro and Mark Wilkins were fourth. Baker Racing’s Sam Baker and James Vance took advantage of their Audi’s preference for long runs to finish fifth.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge BMW M Endurance Challenge Unofficial Results
Next up for Pilot Challenge teams is the challenging and very bumpy 3.74-mile Sebring International Raceway for the Alan Jay Automotive Network 120. Coverage will stream live on the IMSA Official YouTube channel and on Peacock March 20.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the Frontstretch Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.