October 5, 2009 - Sonoma, California
Back in California after a soggy, shortened Petit Le Mans, Flying Lizard is readying for the ALMS season finale this Saturday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, California. The team has led the GT2 drivers' and team championships since the second race of the 2009 season, but the title is still open and it's down to the final race. In the Flying Lizard No. 45 Porsche, Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long are 19 points ahead of Jaime Melo and Pierre Kaffer of the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari. Laguna Seca is worth 25 points for first place, so if the No. 45 finishes tenth or better (and completes 70 percent of the overall leader's race length, which is required to score points), Bergmeister and Long will win the GT2 drivers' championship and Flying Lizard will win the team championship - no matter where the No. 62 finishes. With third place worth 18 points, if the No. 62 finishes third or worse, the No. 45 will win the championship, even if they do not finish the race. In the No. 44 Flying Lizard Porsche, Johannes van Overbeek will team with Seth Neiman, who is in seventh place in the drivers' championships.
Flying Lizard chief strategist Thomas Blam commented, "The championship has been a moving target for us this year. We had a very strong first half of the season and built a good points margin, but we've seen that lead erode over the last several races. The pressure is on: in a four-hour race at a track like Laguna Seca, a lot can happen. We have to stay focused on putting together a strong car and finishing; we don't want to take any chances with traffic. We've been fast at Laguna in the past and had fast cars at Petit in both the wet and the dry, so we expect that we'll be on the pace on Saturday."
Blam continued, "Laguna Seca is a difficult track: historically there have been a lot of cautions, partly because it was so easy for cars to get mired in the gravel traps. We understand that they've made some improvements this year and have added some asphalt beyond the curbs. If that change is successful, we should see fewer cautions this year and a smoother race. With thirteen GT2 cars, including the new Jaguar, it will be a large field. Seven Challenge cars will also race, which will add to the complexity. So far this year, they've done a great job and hopefully that will continue."
Follow the Race
The race gets the green flag at 2:45 pm PT on Saturday, October 10. In the USA, it will be televised tape delayed on SpeedTV, starting on Sun. Oct. 11 at 11:30 am PT. In Europe, it will be tape delayed on MotorsTV, starting on Sun. Oct. 18 at 17.00h UK/18.00h CET.
Fans can listen to Flying Lizard team radio on raceday and read race reports on the team blog at
Flying Lizard Motorsports: performance sportscar racing.
Follow the team on Twitter @FlyingLizard_MS or to receive text updates on your mobile phone send FLMS to 30364.
About Flying Lizard Motorsports
2009 is the sixth consecutive ALMS season for the Sonoma, California-based GT2 team. Since its first year of competition in 2004, the team has finished every year in the top three in the ALMS GT2 team and drivers' championships. Notably, in 2008, the team won both the ALMS GT2 drivers' (No. 45 Porsche of Joerg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler) and team championships. In 2007, Flying Lizard was second in the ALMS GT2 team championship and No. 45 drivers Johannes van Overbeek and Joerg Bergmeister finished second in the ALMS GT2 drivers' championship.
Flying Lizard is sponsored in the American Le Mans Series by ShoreTel, a leading provider of enterprise IP telephony solutions and eSilicon, a semiconductor company, both based in Sunnyvale, California; and RedlineCoffee.com, a premium coffee company dedicated to motorsport enthusiasts, based in Boulder, Colorado. Team partners include Porsche and Michelin.
Flying Lizard Seeks to Clinch GT-2 Titles at Laguna Seca Season Finale 
