Better all round performances from the four AMR Vantage GT4 crews at Watkins Glen
Sunday, June 22, 2025
Round five of the season and it was back to a two-hour race format this time around as the #46 Team TGM AMR of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb again showed their one lap qualifying pace to secure their umpteenth front row start to yesterday’s race.
Featuring another thirty-nine strong GS (GT4) and TCR based grid, the next best was the #71 Rebel Rock Racing AMR of Frank DePew and Robin Liddell in P14 with the two Bronze Cup entered #64 Team TGM Aston of Ted Giovanis and Hugh Plumb and the #15 Van der Steur of Ben and Christine Sloss a bit further back in P18 and P19 respectively in class.
Fast and furious through the opening laps for the lead group in GS saw the #46 car hold position up until the first Full Course Yellow after only five minutes of racing – but just for a stranded TCR on the kerbs. Back to green and Holton stole the lead to the race from the Mustang which he then held convincingly up until the midway pitstop and driver change – a stop that was also done under another FCY.
With the ‘lesser’ driver aboard the other three cars having survived the opening laps, their track position would obviously improve once their faster drivers were aboard with Liddell again being the one to watch for progress within the #71 car.
Getting back to racing, the #46 car has also dropped to P2 behind the Toyota, but Liddell was already up to P8 with still fifty minutes remaining as the lead pack came across the next set of TCR backmarkers for the next time around. That was how the #46 car found themselves being bumped down the order as Plumb elected to take the TCR car around the wrong side of it only to be pushed back down to P5 as a consequence.
Going into the final twenty minutes, there were still only 3.5 seconds between first to fifth at the head of the train but three quick and consecutive FCY’s for stranded cars would bite hard into that remaining race time for all concerned.
Eventually having to make do with a P5 finish, this race saw the return of the feisty pair within the #46 Team TGM Aston Martin with the #71 Rebel Rock AMR finishing just two places back. The accolades again came from within the Bronze Cup sub-class as Mr and Mrs Sloss this time overcame their recent poor form to take the BC win P14 overall in GS and two places ahead of the #64 Team TGM of Giovanis and Plumb who took second in BC to maintain their title defence this season.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
