Flying Lizard Motorsports at their sixth ’24 Heures du Mans’

Flying Lizard Announces 2010 Le Mans Program: Bergmeister, Law and Neiman to return in the No. 80

May 3, 2010 – Sonoma, Calif. – Flying Lizard Motorsports announced today the details of their sixth 24 Heures du Mans program. Drivers Joerg Bergmeister (Germany), Darren Law (USA), and Seth Neiman (USA) will return in the No. 80 Porsche GT3 RSR for the 24-hour endurance classic, June 12-13 at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France. The No. 80 will be sponsored by ShoreTel and Openwave, both sponsors of the team’s 2010 ALMS season.

Flying Lizard has competed in GT2 in the 24 Heures du Mans from 2005 through 2009, finishing third in 2005, fourth in 2006, and sixth in 2008. “Le Mans is such a great and unpredictable race,” said Flying Lizard principal and No. 80 driver Seth Neiman. “We are honored to have the opportunity to participate again in 2010. We’ve run the gamut of experiences here; each year we learn more about how to compete in this incredible event.”

Lizard chief strategist Thomas Blam added, “This will be the second year that Joerg, Darren and Seth have driven together at Le Mans. Last year Joerg qualified on the pole; we had a fast car and a strong showing until the hour 15 crash. This year, we expect an even tougher GT2 field with both Corvette and BMW now in the mix. We are coming off our recent ALMS win in the streets of Long Beach and we hope to carry that momentum through Laguna and to Le Mans.”

All three drivers have significant endurance racing experience. Bergmeister is a Porsche factory driver and is currently tied for the lead in the 2010 ALMS GT championship in the Flying Lizard No. 45 Porsche (with co-driver Patrick Long). He has raced at Le Mans eight times, three years with Flying Lizard: 2007, 2008 and 2009. He won GT2 in 2004 (with Sascha Maassen and Patrick Long) and has finished on the podium three times. In the ALMS, Bergmeister is four-time GT2 champion: 2005, 2006, 2008 (with Wolf Henzler) and 2009 (with Patrick Long). He has won the Rolex 24 at Daytona three times — in GT in 2009, both GT and overall in 2003 and GT in 2002.

Law and Neiman co-pilot the No. 44 Flying Lizard Porsche in the ALMS in the 2010 season. Neiman finished seventh in the ALMS GT2 drivers’ championship in 2009 and Law was tenth. In 2009, Law won overall at the 2009 Rolex 24 at Daytona; notable ALMS finishes include second in 2008 in the No. 44 at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring(with Neiman and Alex Davison) and 2nd in GT2 at Long Beach and Detroit (with Patrick Long) in 2007. Since 2005, Law has consistently finished in the top ten of the Porsche Cup ranking of non-factory Porsche drivers: 5th in 2009, 4th in 2008, 2nd in 2007, 7th in 2006, and 10th in 2005.

In the ALMS, Flying Lizard has won back to back GT2 team and driver championships: 2008 and 2009. Two races into the ALMS 2010 9-race season, the No. 45 is currently tied for the championship lead.

Follow the Race
The 24 Heures du Mans begins at 15.00 h CET (9:00 am Pacific Time) on Saturday June 12. Flying Lizard will broadcast the team radio live during the race. Fans can follow English-language broadcast on Radio Le Mans http://www.radiolemans.com/ and SpeedTV. Live timing and scoring at http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/pages/accueil_gb.html.

About Flying Lizard Motorsports
Flying Lizard Motorsports competes in the American Le Mans Series GT class. The team has finished in the top three in the ALMS GT2 drivers’ and team championships every year since 2004, their first year of professional competition. In 2009, the team swept all ALMS GT2 titles: Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long won the drivers’ championship in the No. 45; Flying Lizard won the team championship; Porsche won the manufacturer championship; and the Flying Lizard No. 44 Porsche won the Michelin Green X Challenge championship (new for 2009). It is the team’s second consecutive triple championship: in 2008 Joerg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler won the ALMS GT2 drivers’ title in the No. 45; Flying Lizard won the team championship; and Porsche won the manufacturers’ title.

Flying Lizard has also competed in the 24 Heures du Mans from 2005 through 2009, finishing third in 2005, fourth in 2006, and sixth in 2008. The privateer team is based in Sonoma, California.

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