Lizards at Long Beach for ALMS Round 2

April 12, 2011 – Flying Lizard heads to Long Beach, California today for round two of the American Le Mans Series: the ALMS at Long Beach race on Saturday, April 16. Following the team’s sixth and seventh place finishes at the season-opener at Sebring in March (for the No. 45 and No. 44 Lizard Porsches, respectively) Flying Lizard is currently third in the GT team championship. No. 45 drivers Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long are fifth in the GT driver championship and Seth Neiman and Darren Law are sixth in the No. 44.

Long Beach is the first of two street circuits on the ALMS schedule this year (the second is Baltimore, in September). The race will run two hours on the 1.968, 11-turn temporary course along on the shores of Long Beach. Lizard chief strategist Thomas Blam commented, “Flying Lizard has historically done very well at street circuits and Patrick and Joerg have won here the last two years. Long Beach is always very tough race: the pavement is a rough racing surface and there’s no absolutely no run off. This year it’s a large field – 31 entries across six classes – imagine that group all trying to navigate the hairpin turn together. And at two hours, it could be a one-stop race depending on how the yellows fall. Altogether, there is zero margin for error.”

Patrick Long added, “Long Beach is a wild ride. It’s the shortest event of the year and there’s almost no track time prior to the race. In some ways, this really levels the playing field: to do well here you can’t make even the smallest mistake. And the high car count will definitely change the dynamics of the race and make it a very intense two hours.”

Follow the Race
The race gets the green flag Saturday, April 16 at 4:30 pm PT. Follow Flying Lizard live through the race blog and team radio (www.lizardms.com), on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/FlyingLizardMotorsports), and Twitter (FlyingLizard_MS). The race is broadcast live on ESPN3.com and tape delayed on Sunday, April 17 on ESPN2, starting at 2 pm PT (5 pm ET). Viewers outside of the U.S. may also view the race live at www.americanlemans.com. Qualifying will also be broadcast live on ESPN3.com.

About Flying Lizard Motorsports
Flying Lizard Motorsports has competed in the American Le Mans Series GT class since 2004. The team has finished in the top three in the ALMS GT drivers’ and team championships every year since 2004. In 2010, Flying Lizard No. 45 drivers Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long won a hard-fought battle for the GT drivers’ championship. In 2009 and 2008, the team swept all ALMS GT titles: drivers’ championship (Bergmeister and Long in 2009, Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler in 2008); Flying Lizard won the team championship; and Porsche won the manufacturer championship. In 2009, the Flying Lizard No. 44 Porsche also won the Michelin Green X Challenge championship.

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 team is sponsored in the ALMS by Openwave Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: OPWV), a global software innovator delivering context-aware mediation and messaging solutions for communication service providers and eSilicon, a semiconductor company.

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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