Flying Lizard No. 46 Second, No. 45 Third in GT2 at Mid-Ohio: Fourth Double Podium of the Year

July 19, 2008--Lexington, OH-- The Flying Lizard No. 46 and No. 45 Porsches were nose to tail when they took the checkered to finish second and third, respectively, in GT2 at today's Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio. The No. 44 Porsche had a mechanical failure halfway through the race and was retired.

The first part of the race was fairly uneventful for the Lizards. 45 minutes into the race, in a very competitive 14-car GT2 field, the No. 45 (with Joerg Bergmeister starting) and No. 46 (with Patrick Pilet starting) had held their starting positions (third and fifth, respectively) for the first hour of the race. The No. 44 (with Seth Neiman starting) was in eleventh.

At the first yellow flag approximately 50 minutes into the race, the Lizard Porsches all pitted late in the yellow for driver change, tires and fuel. By the time the Lizards pitted in the yellow, most of the GT2 field had already pitted, and nearly every car in the lead group had issues in the pits. As a result, the No. 45 and the No. 71, which did not pit until late in the yellow, were now P1 and P2, both on the same lap. The No. 46, which had pitted before the No. 45, headed out quickly with Johannes van Overbeek at the wheel. The No. 45, which had battled clutch problems since race start, had trouble starting after its pit stop and lost some precious time out of the pits, pushing the No. 45 from second to fifth. Unfortunately, the No. 44, had a mechanical failure and did not leave the pits after its driver change from Seth Neiman to Lonnie Pechnik.

After the field reshuffled from the first pit stops, just past the 1 hour mark, the No. 46 was now fourth in GT2 and the No. 45 in fifth. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari was now P1, with a more than one lap lead over the next closest GT2 car. Over the next hour and 45 minutes, the two Lizard Porsches combined solid strategy and good luck to move through the GT2 field to finish second and third, with the No. 46 just edging out the No. 45. It is the fourth double podium for the Lizards this year. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari, which elected not to change tires on its last pit stop, and kept its early one lap lead on the field for the rest of the race, took the win in GT2.

A full race report will be available later this weekend.

About Flying Lizard Motorsports
2008 is the fifth consecutive ALMS season for the Sonoma, California-based GT2 team. Since its first year of competition in 2004, the team has finished in the top three in the ALMS GT2 team and drivers' championships, but has not yet won the GT2 title. In 2007, the team was second in the ALMS GT2 team championship and drivers Johannes van Overbeek and Joerg Bergmeister finished second in the ALMS GT2 drivers' championship.

Flying Lizard is sponsored by ShoreTel, a leading provider of enterprise IP telephony solutions, and eSilicon, a semiconductor company, both based in Sunnyvale, California. Team partners include Porsche and Michelin.

Visit the Flying Lizard website and online store at www.lizardms.com.

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