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.

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.

Flying Lizard at the 2012 24 Heures du Mans

Flying Lizard {link} announced today that the team has received two entries for the 2012 24 Heures du Mans in Le Mans, France, on June 16-17, 2012. The full entry list was unveiled today by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) in a press conference in Paris.

The Flying Lizard entries will be the No. 80, which will compete in the GTE Pro class, and the No. 79, which will compete in the GTE Am class. Both racecars will be Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs. The full entry list is here.

Flying Lizard team principal Seth Neiman commented, "It's an honor to be invited to participate at this prestigious event. 2011 was our first year fielding two entries and we are pleased to be able to return in 2012 with the No. 80 and No. 79 Porsches."

Flying Lizard has competed in the 24 Heures du Mans for seven consecutive years: 2005 to 2011. The Flying Lizard No. 80 finished third in 2005, fourth in 2006, sixth in 2008 and sixth in 2011.

The driver lineup will be announced later this Spring.