April 16, 2011 – The high-consequence Long Beach circuit claimed the No. 45 of Patrick Long and Joerg Bergmeister nearing the halfway point of the race after an impact with the concrete wall damaged the suspension beyond what could be repaired during the short two-hour race. Darren Law and Seth Neiman fared better, bringing the No. 44 to an 8th place GT finish from its 13th place start. The No. 56 BMW won in GT, the No. 4 Corvette finished in P2 and the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari was P3.

At the time of the incident, Long was in P1, nearing the end of his first stint. The No. 56 BMW was P2 and the No. 4 Corvette in P3. Patrick explained, “I had been fighting hard since starting fourth on the grid: the BMW, the No. 4 Corvette and I had all led. Just before the incident, the No. 01 Ferrari had come out of the pits on cold tires. I drove two corners off-line trying to get around. Then, going into Turn 8, I was on the inside and braked in my normal position but I had so much debris on my tires that I couldn’t get the tires stopped and flush-hit the concrete wall in the exit. At any other track, that would have meant just two wheels off in the dirt but unfortunately here that was the end of our race. I feel really badly that this happened: everyone worked really hard to get us here and to see it send so abruptly is tough.”

Law added, “We had better luck in the No. 44: a trouble-free run in a solid car. Traffic was very difficult this year because the GTC and LMPC classes were equal to us down the straight; the only way to get by was to force your way through under braking or through the corner. And here, there was no room for error so you had to be very careful. We are happy that we brought the No. 44 home without a scratch and now have some good momentum going into the next event.”

Up next for the Lizards is the 24 Heures du Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France, June 11-12, 2011.

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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