Flying Lizard Qualifies Second in GT2 for their First 24 Heures du Mans
Flying Lizard Qualifies Second in GT2 for their First 24 Heures du Mans
June 16, 2005 — Le Mans, France — Johannes van Overbeek qualified the Flying Lizard Motorsports’ No. 80 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR second in GT2 today for this weekend’s 24 Heures du Mans. With a time of 4:06:658, the Flying Lizard Porsche was the fastest qualifying Michelin-shod GT2 car and was quicker than the 2004 GT2 pole.
For photos, see our photo gallery.
These two sessions were the first time for the team on the track since the June 5 test day which was the inaugural run for both the No. 80 Porsche and all three drivers: Johannes van Overbeek, Lonnie Pechnik and Seth Neiman.
Qualifying for the race consisted of eight hours of practice sessions over two days in which each team’s fastest lap time overall constituted their qualifying time. Although today was clear and mild, yesterday’s sessions were hampered by rain which significantly limited everyone’s track time. van Overbeek commented on the qualifying, “The pressure was on in today’s sessions to get a good setup for the race. We didn’t have much track time on Wednesday, so we really had only the two sessions tonight to get it right. For the first part of the session today, the track was greasy, much warmer than we’ve run here before, and green from yesterday’s rain. Over the first session things improved and considering the limited time we ran over the last two days, I’m happy with the result today. Thanks to our partners Michelin and Porsche for making this possible.”
Flying Lizard crew chief Tommy Sadler added, “Wednesday was really something of a wash for us: because of the rain we weren’t able to learn much. But Thursday’s clear weather helped us complete the setup. Our goal was to learn the track, keep the car clean and on track, and be as prepared as we can for this weekend’s race. We’ll have one more brief warmup on Saturday to do a final shakedown and we’ll be ready to go.”
The team changed to their race engine between the two evening sessions today. Sadler added, “The guys did a great job on a clean, seamless engine change. We were able to get the car on track by 11 pm for the last hour of the qualifying session.”
The 24 Heures du Mans begins at 4 pm CEST on June 18 and finishes at 4 pm CEST on June 19. Follow the Lizards progress during the race on their website race blog at www.lizardms.com, watch Speed Channel coverage beginning at 9:30 a.m. EST (6:30 a.m. PST) on Saturday and listen to the 24-hour live radio coverage at www.radiolemans.com.
About Flying Lizard Motorsports
In 2005, their second year of competition, Flying Lizard competes in the GT2 class of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). This follows the team’s successful inaugural season in which they finished second in class in both Drivers’ and Team points in the 2004 ALMS championship.
The red, black and silver No. 44 and No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs will run the entire 10-race ALMS 2005 season. The Porsches are sponsored by eSilicon, a semiconductor company that manufactures and designs custom chips for the world’s leading electronics companies, and ShoreTel, a leading provider of enterprise IP telephony solutions.
The team is managed by six principals: drivers Johannes van Overbeek, Lonnie Pechnik and Seth Neiman; chief engineer Craig Watkins; crew chief Tommy Sadler; and team manager Eric Ingraham. Visit the team website at www.lizardms.com.
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