Speed hinders Paul Miller Racing at Long Beach

Co-drivers Bryce Miller and Sascha Maassen unofficially retained their top-five position in the 2012 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón GT point standings after two races, and the No. 48 Dunlop/Chopard/TOTAL Porsche 911 GT3 RSR was right on pace throughout the Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach, giving the Paul Miller Racing team reason for optimism after two of 10 races.

Miller and Maassen co-drove the No. 48 Porsche to an eighth-place result in the GT class and all involved believed a fifth-place run might have been within reach. The die was cast for the team on its lone pit stop of the two-hour timed event when Miller turned the car over to Maassen near the halfway point of the race. Somewhere in the process, ALMS officials determined that the No. 48 was guilty of speeding on pit lane, which brought Maassen back on to pit road for a costly drive-through penalty.

Maassen rejoined the race in seventh position after the penalty. His lap times over the second half of the race were similar to many other top GT contenders but the loss of track position and the lack of any full-course cautions over the second half made any positions gains impossible. Then, with five minutes remaining, Maassen lost seventh spot to the Flying Lizard Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister. Nevertheless, Miller and Maassen unofficially maintained fifth place in the point standings.

"The positive thing is that we found some speed in our car," Maassen said. "I think we were pretty good also compared to our Porsche colleagues and this is something we are also looking at, because we have to measure ourselves first compared to the Porsches and that was good. This time we had some bad race luck. We got a pit speed violation. I don't know how or when it happened. Also, I made a mistake at the end of the race. I missed a brake marker and that's when the 45 car came by us. It happens. Still, we did a good race. I think we can be happy and we see progress."

The starting grid for the race was established based on championship points due to a rainout of qualifying on Friday so Miller started the unseasonably chilly race from fifth place. He ran his entire stint in positions five through seven, and was sixth when he pitted to give way to Maassen.

"I'm really pleased with the team," said Bryce Miller. "They gave us a good car today that was consistent and held a really good pace. It was quite competitive. We're the only team in the field that has a new car and a new tire combination, so this is a challenge for us, and for the team to come out swinging and throw a setup on it like this with the conditions we've had the last couple days, I'm really pleased about it. Dunlop also gave us some good dry pressures on a tire combination that we hadn't run in the dry here as well on this car, so hats off to the crew and Dunlop for that."

"Otherwise, we had a couple mistakes today that cost us. I think we definitely would have had a sixth place today if not a fifth place. I think a fifth place was possible. We had a pit speed violation and we're not really sure how this happened yet, but we'll go to work and figure out how it happened, why it happened and fix it. I'm just really happy we were able to score points here this year, because last year it didn't end well for us, so it's nice to collect these points and carry it with us into the remainder of the season."

Team owner Paul Miller echoed his son's post-race sentiments saying "We were really encouraged by our pace today. Even though it was a frustrating result, we're very much in the game and able to run with the pack. We actually surprised ourselves with our pace relative to several other cars that we look to for an indication of our performance. From a pace point of view, we're very pleased. We just had one little mistake and it cost us dearly. We really think this was a fifth-place car today, which would have been very rewarding under the circumstances. The guys really did a great job with the car."

Next up for the No. 48 Dunlop/Chopard/TOTAL Porsche team is the American Le Mans Series Monterey presented by Patrón at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on May 12. That race will see the debut of a new, Porsche-specific Dunlop tire, which the team eagerly awaits.

"I'm really quite optimistic," Bryce said. "I think the team has really continued to deliver a reliable car to us that can finish races over a period of time now stretching back to last season. The reliability is really good here and that's important in an overall average when it comes to collecting points throughout a championship, so I'm really pleased with that. There's improvement ahead for us, because we're only going to learn the car more and figure out how to make it faster. Also, the tire is only going to get better as we continue to develop it.

"Laguna is an exciting event that I think we're all looking forward to because it'll be the first event that we see a purpose-built Porsche RSR Dunlop tire on our car. It's going to be progress for us going forward. To have these two results under the conditions that we're working with is really strong for our team. Hopefully it gets better and we can start to change our approach and get more aggressive and compete more towards the sharp end of the pack."

60th Anniversary Twelve Hours of Sebring - Flying Lizard

Sebring proved to have it in for the Lizards again this year when the No. 45 was collected before the race even started by the No. 58 Luxury Racing Ferrari. Suffering substantial rear suspension damage in the incident, Joerg Bergmeister--who was starting eighth on the combined WEC/ALMS GT grid--was grounded on course for 30 minutes before officials could get the car back to the team's garage. Once back in the garage, the crew worked rapidly to replace the No. 45's complete left rear suspension, shock, and rear axle and repair bodywork. The Porsche was back on course just under the 1 hour mark but had lost 26 laps on the GT leader due to the lengthy repair.

Sister Lizard Porsche No. 44 fared better: Seth Neiman started near the back of the GT grid and after an uneventful stint, turned the wheel over to Darren Law in P12 (combined). Over the next several hours, the Lizard drivers cycled through their stints - with Andy Lally taking over from Law in the No. 44. In the No. 45, after Bergmeister returned to the race and completed his stint, he turned the wheel over to Patrick Long, then Marco Holzer.

By the six-hour mark, Darren Law was back in the No. 44 and had moved up to P10 (combined). The No. 45 was now P13 (combined) with Joerg Bergmeister again behind the wheel and now 25 laps down on the GT leader.

Shortly past the halfway point, Lizard engineers made the decision to bring the No. 45 behind the wall a second time under yellow to replace a defective gear potentiometer. Bergmeister went directly to the garage where the crew replaced the gear sensor. The No. 45 returned to the pits for driver change to Patrick Long , who was back out on track 40 minutes later, still in P13.

By hour nine, the No. 45 was still P13 (combined), and the No. 44 had moved up to P8 (combined). Bad luck struck again when Joerg radioed in that he had another problem in the left rear. The crew called him into the pits immediately, and diagnosed a broken left rear subframe. The No. 45 went behind the wall for the third time to replace the subframe. Meanwhile, a final pit stop for the No. 44 and driver change to Andy Lally moved the Porsche back to P9 (combined). On the last lap, Lally was able to overtake the P8 GT car for position, moving to P8 (combined). The No. 45 rejoined just a few minutes before the checkered, to finish P13 (combined). The ALMS GT-only finishing positions were P6 for the No. 44 and P10 for the No. 45 and points were allocated according to those results. The No. 56 BMW won in ALMS GT.

Bergmeister commented, "It was a very unfortunate to get hit before the green flag even dropped. But the guys did an incredible job in fixing the car and getting us back on track - not just once, but three times. It's possible that all of our problems stemmed from that initial accident; so other than that incident, we really had a problem-free race. I'm happy that we managed to get some points for the championship."

Lally added, "It was a wonderful first experience as a Lizard: I'm honored to be a part of the team and had a great time with a fun group. I enjoyed all of my stints - it was an exciting race. At the end of the race, when I was closing in on the No. 02 Ferrari with half a lap to go, we both got caught up in traffic and I was able to sneak by to gain a position and points. It was definitely the cherry on top of a very cool weekend."

Visit the team website at www.lizardms.com.

60th Anniversary Twelve Hours of Sebring - Paul Miller Racing

The scene in the Paul Miller Racing pit after a grueling 60th Anniversary Twelve Hours of Sebring was pure jubilation as Bryce Miller, Sascha Maassen and Rob Bell co-drove the No. 48 Chopard/Dunlop/TOTAL Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to a seventh-place GT result. Two of the cars finishing ahead were FIA World Endurance Championship entries, so the driving trio actually earned fifth-place points from the longest event on the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón schedule. "Obviously, we've been on a learning curve, both with the car and the tires at the same time, so to be the first Porsche in ALMS is a huge accomplishment for us," said team owner Paul Miller. "I'm very excited for the guys. The car ran like a train all day and all night, so we're really pleased. It's just great and so far beyond what we could have expected. We were just hoping for a little more attrition in front of us, because there was no change in that order for the last five, six hours of the race. The last half of the race, it was the same six guys in front of us. Nobody dropped out. It was amazing. There were guys doing two-minute flats and 2:01s, it was just incredible, all the way through, and there was zero attrition. It was amazing."

It was Bryce Miller's best result in three Sebring starts, but it didn't come without a few tense moments as the laps wound down. Miller took over in the cockpit for Maassen to drive the final stint with slightly more than an hour remaining with the singular goal of preserving the team's seventh-place position. While he was never challenged for position, Miller ran the entire closing stint in fuel conservation mode and had one liter of fuel remaining in the fuel cell after the race. He also survived contact from a Rebellion prototype inside of the final five minutes. "We kept looking for opportunities and mistakes and other crews making mistakes in the pit stop rounds, and just stayed true to our strategy," said Bryce. "We had a couple hiccups along the way, but all in all, that's where it counted. We kept it pretty tight. It was tight enough and the race pace was good enough, and we kept it clean enough, that at the end we were there. That's what counted. The fuel call that the guys on our cart made was just absolutely exceptional. I got the fuel reserve light on the very last lap and it just couldn't have been called any better. It's just an awesome feeling. I'm really proud of the team and everyone here. We really deserve it. I'm just proud for the guys."

Maassen started the race from just outside the top 10, but moved up to ninth before 30 minutes were gone. He moved up to a race-high position of fourth briefly during the first wholesale pit stop cycle and drove a monster double stint to solidify the team's top-10 position. "It's a great result," said Maassen, a five-time Sebring class winner. "This is the toughest race of the whole year and we're just starting with so many new partners, with a new Porsche and a new Dunlop tire, all these new things that we have to put together. We finished the race and we finished the race strong. There were only two factory Corvettes and two factory BMWs from the ALMS in front of us, and we are the best-placed Porsche. I'm very, very happy."

The seventh-place performance matches Bell's best run in four Twelve Hours of Sebring appearances, as he also finished seventh in his Sebring debut in 2008. He brought an extensive background with Dunlop to the race week at Sebring and feels the team now has a clear direction on how to move its program forward. We learned we need to work hard and go forward and work with Dunlop as a partner," Bell said. "You come to the first race of the year, especially at Sebring, which is really difficult, and that's your judge. That's where you know where you are for the rest of the season. We now know we've got work to do. That's good for the guys. They can see it, it's in black and white, but there's determination here to move on. It'll be what it will be, but we all know motor racing is difficult. That's why we love it."

Next up for the Paul Miller Racing squad is the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach on April 13-14.

Paul Miller Racing {link} have a brand new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR for the 2012 Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series {link} driven by Bryce Miller and Sascha Maassen who will be joined by Rob Bell for the two endurance races on the ALMS schedule. As well as a brand new Porsche Paul Miller Racing are also using Dunlop tyres for the first time too.
The three drivers began to acquaint themselves with their new Porsche GT3 RSR for the first time during the two-day ALMS Winter Test at Sebring International Raceway. While there’s still plenty of work to be done between now and the season-opening 60th Anniversary Twelve Hours of Sebring fuelled by Fresh From Florida on Saturday, March 17, the two days in Central Florida were certainly well spent.
"Obviously, Porsche has built an incredible car, as we learnt at this test," said team owner Paul Miller. "It's still early days and we have a lot of work ahead of us, but we were really encouraged by this first test. We were not striving to set the world on fire and were treating these last couple days as more of a shakedown, but we are really pleased, not only with the car, but the new Dunlop tyres as well."
"We had a very positive first test with our new Porsche and the Dunlop tyres that are new for us too," Maassen said. "Even though the test was meant to be a shakedown only, we managed to go quicker than we ever ran before and we hope to have a lot more potential as well." "I was happy to hear that Rob Bell will join us for the Twelve Hours of Sebring. He is not only quick, but he knows a lot about the Dunlop tyres. We are now continuing to prepare for a hopefully successful race in Sebring!"
The team will return to Sebring later in February for another test before the race week in March. The 2012 ALMS season begins with the 60th Anniversary Twelve Hours of Sebring fuelled by Fresh from Florida on Saturday, March 17.

Flying Lizard at the 2012 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring

Flying Lizard Motorsports announced today its driver lineup for the 2012 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The team will field two new racecars in the GT class for the ALMS season: the No. 45 and No. 44 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs. Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long, both Porsche factory drivers, will return for their fourth consecutive season driving together in the No. 45; this will be Bergmeister's fifth year with the team. Bergmeister is a five- time ALMS GT drivers' champion (2005-2006 and 2008-2010). The 2008, 2009 and 2010 championships were won with Flying Lizard in the No. 45. Long has won the title three times: 2005, and 2009-2010, each with Bergmeister. At Sebring, the pair will be joined by Porsche factory driver Marco Holzer. 2012 will be Holzer's second year with the team. After Sebring, Holzer will return to his regular seat in the sister No. 44 Porsche for the season.
For Sebring, in the No. 44, Seth Neiman will be joined by Darren Law and Andy Lally. Law has driven with the Lizards since 2004 and will return as a guest driver at in 2012. Sebring will be Lally's first race with the team. Lally heads to Sebring following a GT win last week at the 2012 Rolex 24 At Daytona (with Magnus Racing). 2012 is Lally's fourth GT win at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Among his notable achievements in endurance racing and stock car racing, Lally was named NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year for 2011. Click here for more information on Lally.

BMW M3 GTR

BMW’s M3 GTR is finally coming to a European race circuit! It makes its European debut at the Nürburgring on the 3rd of October, with a second outing planned on the 17th of October.
The car is enetered into the final 2 rounds of the German VLN Endurance Championship by the works favoured Schnitzer team and will be driven by current WTCC drivers Andy Priaulx (17th Oct.), Augusto Farfus (3rd Oct.), Dirk Müller (17th Oct.) and Jörg Müller (3rd Oct.).The two events are seen as important development excercises for the M3 GTR as BMW try and improve their car for the coming 2010 season. Results in America have proven to be good but the GTR is yet to be a consistant class winner and the races at the world’s toughest race track are hoped to bring an extra competive edge.

ALMS Miller Motorsports Park.

GT2 in the Utah Grand Prix, second round of the ALMS {link} was very much a Porsche benefit as the Jörg Bergmeister / Patrick Long Flying Lizard Motorsports {link} Porsche 911 GT3 RSR took a dominant 74 second victory from the Farnbacher Loles Racing {link} 911 GT3 RSR of Marc Lieb and Wolf Henzler. Porsches also finished 5th (Johannes Stuck / Nicky Pastorelli – VICI Racing {link}) and 6th (Johannes van Overbeek / Seth Nieman – Flying Lizard Motorsports) in GT2.
BMW’s E92 M3s, run by Rahal Letterman Racing {link}, finished 8th and 9th in GT2 showing increased performance and better reliability.

Winners of the Challenge class in their Snow Motorsport run Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car were husband and wife team Martin and Melanie Snow.

Sebring 12 hours

Audi {link} were celebrating the debut win of the R15 on Sunday as it won the Sebring 12 hours. The new car was relatively untested making the win hugely impressive. Even more remarkable was that this year's Sebring race covered the greatest distance at the highest average speed ever, thus the Audi R15 truly had a baptism of fire.

The other German car debuting at the Sebring 12 hours was far less successful. BMW's E92 M3s showed great pace in spurts but both Rahal Letterman Racing {link} cars retired before 6 hours of racing has passed.

They were not the only GT2 cars to suffer at Sebring as the expected Porsche challenge never really got started with not one of the Stuttgart marque making it into the top 3 in GT2.

Sebring 12 Hours

Audi and BMW start their racing seasons this weekend at Sebring International Raceway in the Sebring 12 hours {link}. The ALMS opening round sees the cream of American sportscar racing battle it out round the oldest road course race track in America.

Despite not entering the ALMS this year (citing the economic downturn) Audi are hoping to continue the winning tradition started by the ultra-successful R8 and R10 TDI. Times from testing have shown the R15 to be the fastest car in its class and overall by well over half a second. With the R15 TDI only expected to appear at Sebring and Le Mans the pressure is on Audi to win both of the classic endurance sparts car events.

BMW have entered a brace of E92 M3s run by the Rahal Letterman team into GT2. Whilst they were trailing the Flying Lizard Porsche 997 GT3 RSR after the first test day there pace was impressive. Both Flying Lizard and Rahal Letterman are expected to complete the whole ALMS championship so the BMW v Porsche battle is expected to be played out throughout the year.

Audi R15.

Audi is readying the all new R15 TDI LMP1 race car in preparation for its assault on the Mobil 1 12 hours of Sebring (21st March 2009) and then the Le Mans 24 hours.

First pictures of the new car clearly show how R15 is a new car, carrying very little over from the R10. The new V10 TDI engine produces 600PS and around 1050Nm of torque whilst remaining efficient, compact and light weight.

BMW M3 GT2

As Audi withdraw from the ALMS and Porsche take a sabbatical BMW increase their involvement! Having formed a partnership with Rahal Letterman Racing {link} in America BMW are preparing for their first full season of ALMS competition with the latest M3.
The project was launched at the Chicago Motorshow in February this year and has now completed over 1000 miles of testing at various circuits in America. The new M3s will face stiff opposition from European manufacturers Ferrari and Porsche plus various American manufacturers like Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Panoz.
The 2009 ALMS GT2 championship looks likely to be the most interesting and hotly contested for a while with BMW and Rahal Letterman Racing aiming to be in the mix right from the start.

The first round of the ALMS {link} is the Mobil Twelve Hours of Sebring {link} on March 21 2009.

Porsche RS Spyder

After a tremendous season in 2008 there will be fewer Porsche RS Spyders competing in 2009. The works Penske {link} Spyders that won the Drivers, Manufacturers and Team LMP2 championships in the ALMS in 2008 will not be racing in 2009. Penske will instead be racing in the Grand-Am Rolex Series {link} using Porsche engines - continuing a relationship between the American team and German manufacturer that started in 1972!
Porsche has yet to decide whether to step up to the LMP1 class, to continue developing the ultra successful Spyder or whether it is best to support customer teams in LMP2 and GT classes - especially now that Audi have drastically reduced their involvement in both the ALMS and LMS series.
A Porsche/Penske challenge on LMP2 at Le Mans has not been totally discounted, neither have any firm commitments been made. The organisers of Le Mans have offered Penske two starting places but that is all that is certain at present.

Audi R15

Audi will defend its Le Mans{link} title with a new endurance LMP1 diesel competition car. Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich commented "The step from R10 to R15 is significantly larger than it was from the R8 to the R10." Despite having a lighter, more compact TDI engine the R15 will, unfortunately, have a more limited campaign than either the R8 (petrol powered) or R10 (TDI).
Due to the global economic crisis/uncertainty Audi have withdrawn from both the ALMS {link} and LMS {link} series leaving the R15 to contest Sebring and Le Mans in 2009. Where that leaves the Champion team who ran the ALMS Audi effort is, at present, somewhat unclear.

Audi 1 & 2 in season finale.

Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr lead home their Audi team mates Emanuele Pirro and Christijan Albers as the Bavarian manufacturer took victory and second overall in the American Le Mans Series race at Laguna Seca.

Excellent strategy and the sheer power of the R10 TDI away from restarts helped the Audis move into the lead after qualifying down on the 5th row of the grid. Once in the read they did not relinquish it.
Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr dominated the ALMS {link} championship, finishing on a total of 219 points (each) with fellow Audi driver Emanuele Pirro finishing second with a mere 156 points.

BMW M3 GT.

Coinciding with the launch of the latest BMW M3 the Bavarian marque will return to the American Le Mans Series {link}. The M3 GT will be developed in Germany by BMW Motorsport but is likely to be run by an American team when it makes its debut either later this year or for a full season in 2009. The BMW M3 GT is expected to be built to compete in the GT2 class ensuring it goes head-to-head with Ferrari and Porsche.

Porsche still undecided.

Despite announcing British driver Richard Westbrook as one of their factory drivers for 2008 Porsche’s {link} plans for the coming motorsport season still remain a little uncertain. The Stuttgart manufacturer are waiting for their supported teams to finalise their 2008 plans before announcing their complete driver line up.

Porsche RS Spyder.

Patrick Long has been promoted to full-time driver in Penske Racing’s {link} American Le Mans Series Porsche RS Spyder team. Across the Atlantic Jan Lammers will be driving Horag’s {link} Porsche RS Spyder in the Le Mans Series.

Audi R10TDI.

Another German manufacturer to taste glory in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was Audi. Racing their R10 TDI {link} the Bavarian company dominated the LMP1 class all season long. Their title success means that the ALMS LMP1 championship has now been won by Audi Motorsport an astonishing 8 times.
The Audi R10TDI also won the exceptionally demanding 24 hour race at Le Mans.

Porsche RS Spyder.

Porsche’s customer specification racecar has had a tremendously successful season racing in the 2007 American Le Mans Series {link}. Not only did the Penske team {link} win the LMP2 class in the championship the team’s drivers also won the LMP2 drivers championship. The Porsche RS Spyder clearly proved to be the best LMP2 car in 2007, clearly out performing all class competition. in doing so it won its class 11 times. The RS Spyder stunningly also managed to win 8 events outright beating the far more powerful LMP1 cars!
The RS Spyder {link} has been developed by Porsche as a customer car for use in the ALMS and LMS {link} race championships. With no works teams entered Porsche has aimed to foster customer team relations and in 2008 there should be a plethora of teams racing the RS Spyder. The ALMS has been the main focus of development and the vast majority of cars are expected to enter that series but there are some teams (including Horag Racing {link}) planning to contest the LMS series too. Currently there are no concrete plans for any teams to contest the 24 hours race at Le Mans {link}.
Porsche have deliberately shied away from mentioning the classic race at La Sarthe whilst developing the RS Spyder but with their exceptional record of success at the world’s most famous endurance race it will surely only be a matter of time before an RS Spyder takes the flag in France.