Bergmeister Qualifies No. 45 Seventh in GT, Holzer Ninth in the No. 44 for Petit Le Mans
October 19, 2012 – Braselton, GA. – In today's Petit Le Mans GT Pro qualifying session Joerg Bergmeister clocked the seventh fastest time in the No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche with a time of 1:19.225; Marco Holzer was ninth in the No. 44 with a 1:19.524.
Holzer commented on the session, "It wasn't our best qualifying for sure. The car was a bit difficult to handle today but I am confident it will be good for the race tomorrow. It's such a long event: we have to make sure we stay out of trouble and manage traffic. With 42 cars across so many different classes it's going to be really tough."
Bergmeister added, "I wasn't expecting us to be at the front today; tomorrow I'm sure we'll be solid and on race pace, especially in the long runs. I know our crew guys will do everything they can to help us gain an advantage in the pits."
The series' flagship event, which runs 1000 miles or 10 hours maximum, gets the green flag on Saturday, October 20 at 11:30 am ET. For the race, Porsche factory driver Patrick Pilet (France) will join season-long drivers Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) in the No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. In the No. 44, Nick Tandy (UK) will join Marco Holzer (Germany) and Seth Neiman (USA).
Heading into Petit, Bergmeister and Long are currently third in the ALMS GT drivers' championship with 99 points and are in contention for second. (There are ten drivers who could possibly take the second place title.) The Lizards are third in the team championship with 110 points, 23 points behind BMW Team RLL in second. There are 24 points possible at Petit.
The race will be broadcast live on ESPN3.com and ALMS.com and tape-delayed on ABC, starting Sunday Oct 21 at 1 pm ET. The race will also be broadcast live in Europe on MotorsTV, in Latin America/Middle East on Fox and tape delayed in Canada on Sports Net. Flying Lizard will broadcast the team radio live throughout the race; read the team race blog for frequent team updates at www.lizardms.com.
About Flying Lizard Motorsports
Flying Lizard returns to the American Le Mans Series for their ninth season and the fourth consecutive season for Bergmeister and Long together in the No. 45. The Lizards have won two ALMS GT team championships (2008 and 2009) and have finished in the top three each year since 2004. The team has secured three ALMS GT drivers' championships: Bergmeister and Long took the title together in 2009 and 2010 and Bergmeister with Wolf Henzler in 2008. Bergmeister is five-time ALMS GT drivers' champion (2005-2006 and 2008-2010) and Long has won the title three times (2005, and 2009-2010), all with Bergmeister. Bergmeister is the only driver in Grand-Am and ALMS history to win the championship in both series in the same year (2006).
Flying Lizard has also competed in the 24 Heures du Mans from 2005 through 2012, finishing third in 2005, fourth in 2006, sixth in 2008, sixth in 2011, and fourth in 2012.
Visit the team website at www.lizardms.com. For the latest team racing apparel and Porsche gear visit the Flying Lizard storesonline and in the paddock.
The privateer team is based in Sonoma, California.