Mid-Ohio Starts Second Half of Lizard's 2012 ALMS Season

July 31, 2012 – Sonoma, Calif. – The Lizards head to the heartland this week for Saturday's Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge, the sixth event on the 10-race ALMS schedule. The driver lineup for the race is Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long in the No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR and Marco Holzer and Seth Neiman in the No. 44.

After a disappointing final result following the No. 45's first-place finish at Mosport (read the race report). Bergmeister and Long are now sixth in the 2012 ALMS GT drivers' championship with 39 points. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen of the No. 3 Corvette lead with 80 points. The Lizards are fourth in the team championship with 50 points; Corvette Racing leads with 94 points. There are 108 points possible left in the season.

Flying Lizard chief engineer Craig Watkins discussed the unique setup challenges of the 2.258 mile, 13-turn Mid-Ohio road course, "Mid-Ohio is a complex track in terms of race setup. It's all about transitions and tires: there are a lot of tight radius turns, some of them right/left and some left/right combinations. It's crucial to have a balanced racecar that can handle fast transitions but still optimize tire wear. There's only one significantly fast straight at Mid-Ohio, and that leads directly into a Serpentine 'S' of four consecutive slower turns. The cars need to be engineered to get through there quickly, and then be ready for the higher speed turns that lead to the Carousel. One additional factor is the 2012 aero package: we haven't yet tested it here, but we expect that the increase in downforce will definitely help the car in the turns."

The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge gets the green flag at 1:05 pm ET on Saturday August 4, 2012. ABC will broadcast the event, featuring live coverage which begins at 2 p.m. ET. Americanlemans.com will broadcast qualifying live and offer in-car video live during the race. The race will also be broadcast live in Europe on MotorsTV, in Latin America/Middle East on Fox and in Canada on Rogers 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 stores online and in the paddock.

The privateer team is based in Sonoma, California.

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