Flying Lizard No. 45 4th and No. 44 7th at Mid-Ohio

No. 45 Takes Michelin GreenX Challenge

August 7, 2010 – Lexington, Ohio – At Mid-Ohio today, the Lizards pushed through to a fourth and seventh place finish in the toughest GT field to date. In addition, the No. 45 won the Michelin GreenX Challenge in GT today as the racecar performing with the lowest environmental impact. A podium finish was not in the cards for the team, but both the No. 45 and the No. 44 had a completely problem-free race, starting from 8th and 13th on the grid, respectively. The No. 62 Risi Ferrari took the win, with the No. 4 Corvette in P2 and No. 92 BMW P3.

Patrick Long, who started the race in the No. 45, commented, “After a tough qualifying session, we set out to stay within our plan. We knew that just maintaining track position here was going to be tough. We methodically worked our way through as others made mistakes on track. We were able to capitalize on our pitwork again this race- these guys set the bar in the GT class – to finish 4th, and in the end, Joerg and I retained the drivers’ championship lead. We know we’ll have to fight for it every remaining race, down to the wire.”

For the 2 hour and 45 minute race, the sixth of the nine-race ALMS season, Long started in the No. 45 and Seth Neiman started in the No. 44. After a clean race start, Long moved quickly to P7 as the GT leaders split into two groups – with the No. 62 and No. 61 Risi Ferraris in P1 and P2, the No. 4 and No. 3 Corvettes in P3 and P4 and the No. 90 and No. 92 BMW in P5 and P6.

Nearing the one hour mark, with Patrick still P7, the GT leaders had spread out – but with the top nine cars all still on the same lead lap. The first yellow of the race sent most of the GT field into the pits for their first pit stops. The No. 45 and No. 44 both pitted under yellow; Joerg Bergmeister took the wheel of the No 45 (back out in P6) and Patrick Pilet the No. 44 (back out in P10)

Over the next two hours–several yellows and one final pit stop for tires and fuel- – both Bergmeister and Pilet moved steadily up the field as the GT lead pack continuously shuffled positions. With 15 minutes to go, at the restart of the final yellow of the race, Bergmeister had climbed to P4 and Pilet to P7. With the No. 62 Risi Ferrari in the lead, the No. 4 Corvette in P2 and the No. 92 BMW in P3, Bergmeister could not find an opportunity to pass and had to settle for fourth. Pilet finished seventh.

No. 44 Car Chief Sam White added, “It was a great team effort to move from thirteenth to seventh in such a tough field. At the end of the race, the No. 44 crew pulled off a perfect pit stop that put us back on the lead lap, and Patrick was running the fastest car in GT.”

Patrick Pilet, who joined the Lizards for Mid-Ohio commented, “Seth did an excellent job in the first part of the race and we had a perfect racecar today. I pushed during my whole stint, the tires were excellent and I just drove as fast as possible to catch the GT pack. We got a waveby on the second to last yellow, which put us back on the lead lap, but unfortunately, 20 minutes before the end, the leader overtook and 30 seconds later we had another yellow, so that eliminated my chance to catch any more GT cars. It’s always a pleasure to drive with Seth and the Lizards – thanks to the crew for making this weekend such a great experience.”

With the fourth-place finish today, Bergmeister and Long still retain an eight- point lead in the ALMS GT drivers’ championship and the team is now third in team standings. For full standings, see www.americanlemans.com. For details on the remaining schedule for the Lizards, visit www.lizardms.com.

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 2010, finishing third in 2005, fourth in 2006, and sixth in 2008. The privateer team is based in Sonoma, California.

Flying Lizard is sponsored by ShoreTel, a leading provider of enterprise IP telephony solutions; Openwave Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: OPWV), a global software innovator delivering context-aware mediation and messaging solutions that enable communication service providers to create and deliver smarter services; eSilicon, a semiconductor company; and RedlineCoffee.com, a premium coffee company dedicated to motorsport enthusiasts. Team partners include Porsche and Michelin.

© RIF | Flying Lizard Motorsports