Flying Lizard Motorsports 2008

Laguna Seca - Raceday October 18

2008-10-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

6:45 pm - Checkered flag. No. 46 5th, No. 44 6th, and No. 45 10th at Laguna Seca. With this, the No. 46 drivers Johannes van Overbeek and Patrick Pilet secure third in the GT2 drivers' championship, joining No. 45 drivers Joerg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler, who won the GT2 drivers' championship after Petit. The team also won the GT2 team championship. Congratulations to the entire Lizard team for a fantastic season.

6:35 - In the No. 44, Darren is now past the No. 007 and is now in sixth. Patrick in the No. 46 is fifth. In the No. 45, Wolf is in tenth. 9 minutes left.

6:33 - Darren has closed the gap to the No. 007 to less than nine seconds. He is running ten seconds faster per lap. So he should be able to catch him. less than 11 minutes left. In the No. 46, Patrick has not been able to close the gap on the No. 21 - they are running about the same pace.

6:28 - 17 minutes left. No. 46 has closed the gap to the No. 21 to about five tenths of a second. If he can get past him, No. 46 will move into P4.

6:20 - The No. 12 and the No. 11 got together but continued, thankfully! No. 46 now P5. No. 44 P 7. No. 45 P 10. Patrick is very close to the No. 21 and may be able to get past him.

6:19 - Green flag. We heard Darren say that he got passed on the restart, but not sure if it was for position.

6:12 - Double yellow - car off in Turn 10. The No. 11 Viper. This yellow splits the GT2 pack - No. 87 and No. 46, had been on the same lap, and now the 87 will get the waveby and move up one lap. Positions: P1 No. 71; P 2 No. 62, P 3 No. 87; P 4 No. 46; P 5 No. 21; P 6 No. 007; P7 No. 44. No. 45 is P 10. 29 minutes left in the race.

6:10 pm 35 minutes left.

6:04 pm. Positions: P1 No. 71; P 2 No. 62; P 3 No. 87; P 4 No. 46. No.44 is P 7 and No. 45 is P 10. In the No. 46, Patrick is 13 seconds behind the No. 87 but they are on the same lap. They are both 2 laps down on the No. 71 and No.62. In the No. 44, Darren is one lap down on the No.007 which is in sixth. The No. 44 is several laps down on the overall leader. In the No. 45, Wolf is now less than a lap down on the No. 54 in ninth - Wolf is running more than five seconds a lap faster than the No. 54 at this pace, he could pass him before race end. 38 minutes left in the race. Darren also has a chance to pass the 007 car, which is in sixth.. Darren is running seven seconds a lap faster.

6:01 pm - Green flag.

5:56 - and still yellow. I don't have the exact numbers at my fingertips here, but I would guess that we have spent at least 75 percent of the race (so far) under caution. Positions are: P1 No. 71; P 2 No. 62; P 3 No. 87, P 4 No. 46, P 5. No. 21. No. 44 is P 8 and No. 45 is P 10. 49 minutes left in the race.

5:46 - and immediately a yellow flag.. for one of the Penske Porsches which went off course into the gravel.

5:45 - Green flag.
5:42 pm All three Lizard cars pitted nearly simultaneously. The No. 45, which did not do a driver change, was out first. Darren Law took over in the No. 44 and Patrick Pilet in the No. 46. Wolf Henzler is still in the No. 45. Still yellow.

5:38 pm - Correction on the No. 45, they will pit, but just for tires and fuel, no driver. Wolf will stay in the car for now. Still yellow.

5:35 pm - A car off in Turn 3. Double yellow. The crews ready for pit stops. We are in the driver change window so the drivers are hustling to get ready for their next stints. Assuming that the cars come in, it will be Darren Law getting in the No. 44, Joerg Bergmeister getting in the No. 45, and Patrick Pilet in the No. 46.

5:30 pm - No. 71 is now in the lead. No. 62 is in second. No. 21 is third. No. 46 is fourth. No. 44 is 7th. No. 45 is 11th.

5:22 pm - Johannes is less than 2 seconds behind the No. 21, but the are both 2 laps down on the GT2 lead pack. So far in the race, the No. 45 holds the fastest race lap, set by Joerg in his first stint of 1:22.698. In terms of championship points, Risi Competizione drivers Melo and Salo are now in fourth place - 24 points behind Johannes and Patrick in third. Johannes and Patrick can't catch up with the Tafel drivers who are in second, but they will hold third if they finish tenth or better (and complete the required laps), even if Risi wins the race. Risi is also in third in the team championship, and TAfel Racing is in second. Risi is 22 points behind Tafel in the team champ. 25 points are possible at Laguna (for first place). If Risi wins the race, and Tafel scores 2 points or fewer, Risi can move into second in the championship.

5:18 pm - Green flag.

5:13 - Yellow flag. One of the Acura prorotypes is in the gravel. Positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 71; P3 No. 21; P 4 No. 46; P 5 No. 87. No. 44 is P 8. No. 45 is P 12.
5:13 - Yellow flag. One of the Acura pror\totypes is in the gravel. No. 87 pitted for more fuel in that yellow.

5:12 - The No. 88 spun on course at Turn 5 but continued.

5:10 pm - Green flag. The No. 87 has served its penalty under green. I'll report positions in a minute. 1 hour 33 minutes left.

5:08 pm - still yellow. The No. 45 pitted for tires and fuel. The No. 87 pitted under yellow, and received a stop and go penalty + 60 second hold for an infraction during the pit stop.

4:59 pm - No. 73 Tafel Racing Ferrari deep in the gravel at Turn 5. Will go yellow. 1 hour and 45 minutes left to go. GT2 lead positions remain unchanged. No. 46 is P5. No. 44 now P 9. No. 45 is now P 12.

4:51 pm - Positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 71; P 3 No. 21; P 4 No. 87; P 5 No. 46; P 6 No. 44. No. 45 is P12. No. 62, 71, and 21 are on the same lap. No. 87, 46 and 44 are on the same lap, 1 lap down on the GT2 leaders. No. 45 is 5 or laps down on the GT2 leaders. Johannes is less than 5 seconds back from the No. 87.

4:40 pm - Green flag. On exiting the pits, No. 44 received a pit lane speed violation penalty and must stop again under green.

4:37 pm - No. 44 pits for driver change to Seth Neiman, tires and fuel.

4:36 pm - Still yellow. Positions P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 71; P 3 No. 21; P 4 No. 44; P 5 No. 87; P 6 No. 46. No. 45 is P 13. Darren Law is still on his first stint in the No. 44. Wolf Henzler and Johannes van Overbeek are in the No. 45 and 46 respectively.

4:31 pm - Double yellow. Prototype in the gravel at Turn 1. The No. 44 gets ready for a pit stop and driver change to Seth Neiman.

4:17 pm - Positions are: P1 No. 62; P 2, No. 71; P 3 No. 21; P 4 No. 44; P 5 No. 87; P 6 No. 46; P 7 No. 99. No. 45 is P 13.

4:26 - Green flag.

4:21 - The No. 45 pits for tire and fuel and driver change to Wolf Henzler. The No. 62 is P1, the No. 71 is P2. The No 21 is in third. The No. 21 got the waveby (allowing him to go by the overall leader under yellow and rejoin the pack - effectively gaining a lap) but Darren in the No. 44 did not. This will put Darren one lap down on the three GT2 lead cars. The No. 46 also pitted during the caution for fuel, tires, and driver change to Johannes van overbeek.

4:19 pm - Still yellow. The No. 62 and the No. 21 are in the pits.

4:15 pm - The No 16 Krohn Racing Ferrari is in the gravel off the corkscrew. Double yellow.

4:13 pm - On track, Joerg Bergmeister in the No. 45 has now regained almost an entire lap and is just behind the No. 71, which is in second (but Joerg is 4 laps down).
4:07 - Mika Salo in the No. 62 made a very bold pass of the No. 21 in the corkscrew. The No. 62 took the lead and the No. 21 moved to second. The No. 71 in third is looking for his opportunity to pass the No. 21. Darren Law in the No. 44 is still a bit behind the No. 71. The GT2 cars are facing continual prototype traffic as groups of the faster cars take every opportunity the can to thread through the GT2 bunches.

3:59 pm - The No. 21 Panoz is in the lead. The No. 62 Risi Ferrari is close behind in P2 and the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari is close behind him in P3. Darren Law in the No. 44 is in P4, but he has a bit of a gap to close up to the No. 71 - he's about 14 seconds behind. Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 has moved to P 6. Joerg is still P 14 in the No. 45.

3:56 pm - Green flag.

3:49 pm - Positions are: P1 No. 21; P 2 No. 62; P3 No. 71; P4 No. 44; P 5 No. 87; P 6 No. 40. P 7 No. 46. The No. 45, which was in the pits for a lengthy repair after being hit by the No 18 Porsche is now in P 14. Still yellow. The first 5 GT2 cars are all on the same lap. The next group of 6 GT2 cars are also on the same lap, one lap down from the leaders. the No. 44 is on the lead lap. The No. 46 is one lap down. The No. 45 is 5 laps down on the GT2 leader. All three Lizard cars still have their starting drivers.

3:45 - Darren Law pits in the No. 44 for tires and fuel. the No. 87, in the lead, has also pitted. Darren beat the No. 87 out of the pits, gaining a position on them. I'll report GT2 positions in a minute once the field settles in. We heard from race control that this will be a more lengthy yellow as they have sent out sweepers to try and clean the dirt and marbles off the track - the dirt is contributing to the number of issues.

3:43 - The No. 11 Viper is in the gravel. Double yellow again... The Viper has been pulled out and is now underway again.

3:40 pm - Green flag. Positions on the restart: P 1 No. 87; P 2 No 21; P 3 No. 44; P4 No 62. No. 46 is P 11 and No. 45 is P 14.

3:39 pm - Still yellow.

3:36 pm - The No. 12 is out of the gravel and is continuing. Joerg reports that the steering wheel is slightly off but so far he is OK.

3:35 pm - The No. 45 is out again. They may bring him back in again - the No. 12 car is stuck in the gravel so the course is double yellow.

3:34 - Green flag.

3:31 - No. 46 is in the pits for tires and fuel top up.

3:30 - The No. 46 will pit shortly. Still yellow.The crew is stil working on the tie rod repair.

3:27 - The crew is still working on the repair of the No. 45 in the pits.

3:23 - Joerg is in the pits - they diagnosed that they need to change an inner tie rod. Still yellow flag. Although the No. 45 has already clinched the drivers' championship, the team needs the No. 45 to finish as high as possible to help Porsche secure the manufacturers' championship and increase the No. 46's chances at getting third in the drivers' champ.

3:20 - Joerg was off in the No. 45 after impact from teh No. 18, which spun on course and is now stuck in the gravel. Joerg was able to continue but has damage - it's unclera from the TV - could be suspension damage.

3:17 pm - Green flag.

3:14 pm - Positions: P 1 No.87; P 2 No. 21, P 3 No. 44, P 4 No. 62, P 5 No. 45. No. 46, which had a punctured tire early in the race, is now in P10.

3:11 pm The No. 45 is in pit lane for tires and fuel. Still yellow.

3:07 pm - Double yellow. The No. 61 Krohn Racing Ferarri is in the pits with a flat tire and damaged bodywork from the flat.

3:04 pm - The nose and right front bodywork of the No. 06 Penske Spyder is damaged after colliding with the back of another prototoype. There's a large piece of bodywork in the road so I expect another yellow to remove that.

3:03 pm - Green flag.

2:59 pm - Still yellow, the No. 44 just pitted for tires and fuel top up. The No. 46 has also just pitted.

2:53 - The No. 18 is off and deep in the gravel. Double yellow

2:52 - Darren Law is now in P7. Joerg maintains the lead in the No. 45 with the No. 87 close on his tail. Joerg passed the No. 87 at the start to take the lead.

2:50 pm - Patrick is in the pits unexpectedly with a punctured left front tire. The crew replaced all four tires and sent him out again. It's unfortunate, because it puts him at the back of the GT2 pack, but this is a four hour race, so we have a long way to go.

2:50 pm - Postions - P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 87; P 3 No. 71; P 4 No. 62; P 5 No. 46; P 6 No. 18; P 7 No. 21; P 8 No. 44.

2:48 pm - One of the Lizard Porsches cut across the gravel in the corkscrew. I believe it was the 44. Patrick reports a vibration in the No. 46.

2:45 pm - Green flag. In the No. 45, Joerg passed the No. 87, who was on the pole, at the start, to take the lead. Patrick Pilet is now in fifth.

2:43 pm - The cars are underway for their pace laps.

2:39 - Engine start -30 seconds to pace car.

2:35 - Two prototypes are starting at the back of the whole field, behind the last GT2 car. Lizard starting drivers are Darren Law in the No. 44, Joerg Bergmeister in the No. 45 and Patrick Pilet in the No. 46.

2:21 pm - Good afternoon from Laguna Seca. The fog has completely cleared off and it's a beautiful sunny day here. The cars are now on the grid. The Lizard Porsches are starting second (No. 45), fourth (No. 46), and fifteenth (No. 44) on the grid.

** We are broadcasting our team radio - for details, see www.lizardms.com -
"Follow the Race" section. **

** The race is broadcast on NBC Sports - it is tape delayed. For broadcast details see www.lizardms.com **

10:20 am - Checkered flag on the session. Johannes is P2 in the No. 46, Wolf is P4 in the No. 45 and Seth is P 13 in the No. 44. ** Join us again this afternoon around 2:15. Race starts at 2:45. **

10:16 am - Johannes van Overbeek moves into P1 in the No. 46. Wolf Henzler is p3 in the No. 44. Seth Neiman is P12 in the No. 44.

** We will be broadcasting our team radio - this morning during warmup and during the race, which starts at 2:45. **

***The race will be broadcats on NBC Sports, tape delayed. For broadcast details see the home page at www.lizardms.com ***

10:12 am - No. 45 pits for driver change to Wolf Henzler.

10:10 - No. 46 pits for driver change to Johannes van Overbeek.

10:07 am - We are underway again. 13 minutes left in the session.

9:58 am - Red flag on the first lap. Not sure of the reason, although one of the Dyson prototypes spun and the TV coverage shows another prototype (tne No. 48) stopped on course. This is a the only warmup session today so the teams are anxious to get out. The tires and the track are very cold -by the time they get warmed up the session will be nearly over.

9:55 am - Good morning from foggy and cool Laguna Seca. The heavy fog from this morning is starting to lift but visibility is still low in some areas. Morning warmup has just begun and all three Lizard Porsches are heading out. Seth Neiman is in the No. 44, Joerg Bergmeister in the No. 45 and Patrick Pilet in the NO. 46.

Laguna Seca - Practice and Qualifying - Friday Oct. 17

2008-10-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

3:25 - Checkered flag on qualifying. No. 45 is second, No. 46 is fourth and No. 44 is 15th.

3:21 - No. 46 Strategist radios to Patrick to pit - he was not able to improve the time and will return to the pits.

3:17 - Joerg now P2 in the No. 45. Patrick is P4. Neiman is P 15 and is back in the pits. Joerg radios in that he thinks he is done and heads back to the pits. The No. 87 is P1. Seth and Joerg are both in the pits, but Patrick will try for one more fast lap.

3:15 - The No. 62 Risi Ferrari took a shortcut across the gravel at the corkscrew, laying down dirt and gravel all over the corkscrew exit on his way back onto the track.

3:12 pm - Patrick went off but quickly continued. He radioed in that he will take one lap to clean off the tires, then attempt another fast lap. He is currently P2. Seth is P 14. Joerg is P10.

3:09 pm. After a few laps, Patrick is now P4. Seth is P 10. Joerg is just heading out.

3:07 pm - On the first lap, Patrick reports a big vibration on the steering wheel.

3:05 - Green flag on qualifying. Seth Neiman will qualify the No.44, Joerg Bergmeister the No. 45 and Patrick Pilet the No. 46.

2:55 - Checkered flag on the session. The cars and drivers will hang out in pit lane until we get the green flag on qualifying.

2:50 - Everything going well so far. Just 5 minutes left in the practice session. qualifying begins at 3:05. Joerg is currently P2.

2:30 pm - Still a red flag, Darren Law is now in the No. 44 and Patrick Pilet in the No. 46.

2:27 - 2 cars off in Turn 6 - including one of the Audis. The No. 88, which also went off in Turn 6 (but separately from the Audi) appears to be high sided on a berm in the gravel.

2:26 - Joerg reported that he went off in Turn 6 but continued. He was called intot he pits.

2:17 pm - Joerg Bergmeister takes over from Wolf in the No. 45. 35 minutes left in the session. The No. 45 also pits for a change.

2:05 pm - In the No. 45, Wolf Henzler, now in P2, pits for a setup change. In the No. 46, engineer Craig Watkins has been working with Johannes to resolve what Johannes refers to as a "snappy oversteer".

2:00 pm Good afternoon from Laguna Seca. It's a beautiful day here - sunny and warm with a light breeze. All three Lizard Porsches are out for this afternoon's practice session. It's the last chance for the engineers to make setup changes before qualifying, which starts at 3:05 pm today.

Wolf Henzler is in the No. 45 and is currently P1 after just a few laps. Johannes van Overbeek is in the No. 46 - he is P4 in that Porsche. The No. 46 was rebuilt after its crash at Petit using a spare 2007 chassis. In the No. 44 Seth Neiman currently in the car.

Petit Le Mans - Raceday

2008-10-04T05:06:00.000-07:00

8:57 - Checkered flag. No. 45 is P2 and No. 44 is P 6. No. 46 was retired due to an accident. Risi No. 62 wins. With this result, the No. 45 drivers Joerg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler clinch the drivers' championship, and the Flying Lizard team gets the team championship. Congratulations to everyone!!!!

8:53 pm - Approx six minutes left in the race. Joerg is 4.5 seconds behind the No. 62 Risi Ferrari, which is in the lead.

8:46 pm - No. 62 P1. No. 45 P2. No. 71 P3. The No. 71 is 2 laps down from the No. 45. If the No. 45 finishes ahead of the No. 71 (and scores points) it will clinch the drivers and team championships. There is a 29 point lead right now in the drivers and a 35 point lead in the team, and only 25 points possible at Laguna.

8:37 pm - Green flag. The No. 45 is 5 seconds back from the No. 62 Ferrari which is in the lead.

8:37 pm - About 22 minutes left. The race is expected to end just shy of its 10-hour maximum.

8:34 pm. Positions remain unchanged: P1 No. 62, P2 No. 45, P3 No. 71, P4 No. 61, P5 No. 99, P6 No. 44.

8:31 pm - Yellow flag to remove the No. 11.

8:22 pm - The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari appears to not have brake lights.

8:12 pm - The No. 45 is out again quickly. Joerg is still in the car.

8:09 pm - The No. 45 will pit this lap for tires and fuel. Positions: P1 No. 62, P 2 No. 45, P 3 No. 71, P 4 No. 61, P 4 No. 99. P 6 No. 46 (retired), P 7 No. 44.

7:57 - No. 46 has been retired. Patrick Pilet, who was driving at the time of the accident, is OK. It was another really tough break for the No. 46.
The No. 26 Acura was involved, as was one of the Intersport prototypes. It appears from the TV replay that an incident resulted in the Intersport prototype being stalled on course facing against traffic with no lights at the crest of the hill of Turn 12. It was fully night and visibility was low. Patrick was one of several cars which crested the hill after the incident. As a group of cars crested the hill and each moved to avoid the Intersport prototype, the No. 46, at the rear of the group, came over the hill. He did not have enough time to avoid the car and hit the Intersport car nearly head on. The No. 26 Acura was also significantly damaged, but I'm not sure at this time if it just hit the debris or impacted one of the cars.

7:45 - Patrick is back in the pits. He appears to be OK. I do not have info on the other drivers. We are yellow flag. This a very severe accident and three of the cars involved have been significantly damaged.

7:41 - Big crash involving the No. 46, one of the Acuras and what looks like one of the Intersport prototypes. I will update you when I know more.

7:40 - Green flag.

7:38 - the No. 45 pitted for tire and fuel. He's back out again in P2, without losing a position. Still yellow, green this time by. We now have a 2 lap lead on the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari. The No. 62 Risi Ferrari is still in the lead.

7:32 - No. 44 is back on track with Darren Law behind the wheel. Still yellow.

7:28 - Still Yellow. No. 44 has moved down to P7 as the result of its lengthy pit stop. No. 45 is P2, No. 46 is P4. About 1 hour left

7:23 - Positions: No. 62 P1; No. 45 P2; No. 71 P 3; No. 46 P 4; No. 61 P 4, No. 99 P 6, No 44 P 7. No 44 is still in the pits as the crew repairs the broken water pipe.

7:22 - The No. 73 is going slow on course with an apparent problem. This may be a lengthy yellow because the tire wall has been affected.

7:20 am - The Vici No. 18 Porsche is in the tire wall at tire 12. Joerg radios in that the Ferrari (not sure which one) may have a problem. Double yellow. It was a very hard hit. Driver is out fo the car and appears to be OK.

7:18 pm - Positions are: P1 No. 62, P 2 No. 45, P 3 No. 71, P 4 No. 46, P 5 No. 61; P 6 No. 44. No. 44 is still in the pits as they repair the broken water pipe. No. 007 is off drivers right at Turn 6. Timing and scoring appears to be functioning again which is extremely helpful...

7:15 pm - No. 45 is in and out with Joerg Bergmeister behind the wheel.

7:12 pm - The No. 62 Risi Ferrari is in the pits. The No. 44 has water coming from the front. They do not want the water to get into the pit lane because the No. 45 is coming in and it could cause them problems. In the No. 44, they diagnose a blown water pipe next to the engine. To fix it, they will have to pull off the under tray. Very disappointing for that car, which was in P5 at the time of the incident.

7:10 pm - The No. 44 is in the pits for driver change to Darren Law, tires and fuel. The No. 44 thinks they may have a water leak. I believe they also have a penalty for a fueler having his goggles up - 20 seconds held in the pits.
The No. 45 will be in in one lap or so.

7:06 pm - The No. 45 crew is working to determine when to pit the No. 45. The No. 62 Risi Ferrari is expected to pit shortly.

7:04 pm - Patrick is in the pits in the No. 46. Johannes van Overbeek takes the wheel and is out again quickly with new tires and full fuel.

6:58 - Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 went into the gravel but continued. He will pit shortly for driver chagne to Johannes, tires, and fuel.

6:50 - The sun is setting and we are approaching dusk. Temperatures are starting to drop.

6:46 - GT2 positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 45 (Marc Lieb); P 3 No. 71; P 4 No. 46, P 5 No. 87, P 6 No. 44. No. 87 appears to be out of the running, so No. 44 will move to P 5.

6:44 - The No. 87 was slow on course and pulled off. He appears to be unable to restart and is being towed back. He was in fifth. This will put the No. 44 into fifth.

6:36 - The No. 62 got by the No. 45 to take the lead.

6:32 pm - On course it's now the No. 46, then the No. 45, then the No. 62, then the No. 71 - all nearly nose to tail. Only the No. 62 and No. 45 are on the same lap.

6:28 pm - We can see on the TV footage the No. 62 in P2 putting a lot of pressure on the No. 45 in the lead. Just in front of them is the No. 46, who is 2 laps down. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari, which is one lap down is just behind the No. 62.

6:14 pm - Here's what I think the status is:

No. 45 P1 and No. 62 P2 - on same lap
No. 71 P3 - one lap behind GT2 leader
No. 46 P4 - one lap back from the No. 71, 2 laps from GT2 leader
No. 44 - P6.

We have under 3 hours left.

6:13 - No. 15 Acura is off course after impacting the wall. He is continuing but slowly with a broken rear wheel and other damage.

6:09 pm - No. 45 is out again very quickly in P1. No. 62 is P2 and I think No. 71 is P3.

6:07 pm - No. 45 is pitting for a fuel top-up. No. 44 is pitting for a driver change, tires and fuel. No. 46 will not pit.

6:00 pm - To summarize. After that last round of pit stops: No. 62 is P1. No. 45 is P2. No. 71 is P3. No. 87 is P4. No. 46 is P5. No. 44 is P6. All three lizard cars pitted, but No. 44 did only a partial pit stop and did not switch drivers. No. 45 did their driver change to Marc Lieb and No. 46 did theirs to Patrick Pilet. I think everyone in the lead GT2 group has pitted in the last 10-15 minutes except possibly the No. 87. We don't have timing and scoring right now so it's very difficult to determine exactly where everyone is. I believe that the gaps are:
No. 62 and No. 45 are on the same lap - lap 252
No. 71 is on lap 251 - one lap back from the leader
No. 87 and No. 46 are on lap 250 - 2 laps back from the leader

5:57 - Still yellow. the No. 44 pitted for a quick fuel but did not do a driver change and was out quickly with just a splash. I expect them to pit again later in the yellow.

5:51 pm - Double yellow - the No. 73 is on the apex curbing at Turn 4. The timing is not great because both the No. 44 was getting ready to pit and is low on fuel.

5:47 pm - No. 45 pits for driver change to Marc Lieb, tires and fuel. No. 46 will pit shortly.

5:42 pm - The No. 45 had held the lead for over 3 hours, but was passed by the No. 62 Risi Ferrari which took the lead briefly until the pitted, and Wolf Henzler in the No. 45 once again took the lead. The No. 71 also pitted in the last 10 minutes. The Lizard cars are just getting ready for their pit stops, which should happen in the next few minutes. Positions are: P1 No. 45, P 2 No. 62, P 3 No. 46, P 4 No. 71, P 5 No. 87 and P 6 No. 44. Because our timing and scoring screens are not working , it's hard to be exact about the gaps between the cars. I'll try and report it once we are done with our pit stops.

5:00 - No. 4 Corvette is slow on course.

4:54 pm - No. 45 with Wolf Henzler is in the lead. No. 62 is P2. No. 71 is P3. No. 87 is P4. No. 46 is P5. No. 44 is P 6. Wolf is still one lap ahead of the No. 62. The No. 62 is one lap ahead of the No. 71. I believe the No. 71 and No. 87 are on the same lap. In the No. 46, Johannes is just under one lap behind the No. 87. Seth Neiman in the No. 44 is one lap behind Johannes. Hopefully timing and scoring will restart soon.

4:47 -Timing and scoring screen is frozen again. I'll report positions when it comes back online. I believe we still have the lead in the No. 45, with the No. 62 in second.

4:45 - The No. 46 also pitted and is out with new tires, fuel, and driver change to Johannes van Overbeek. No. 44 pitted just behind him for driver change to Seth Neiman, tires and fuel.

4:43 - Wolf is out again although there appeared to be short delay on his start in the pits. I'll report positions in a minute.

4:42 - They call Joerg into the pits for tires, fuel and driver change to Wolf Henzler. The No. 62, which was in second, also just pitted and exited the pits just as Joerg was coming in. Joerg was in the lead at the time of his pit stop.

4:40 pm - Joerg radioed in I thought he said that he went off in the Esses but the car seems OK. Chief Strategist Thomas Blam lets Joerg know that they are ready if he wants to pit now. In the No. 44, Darren Law has received the fuel warning light, so he should be in shortly.

4:38 pm - Teams are readying for their next pit stops. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferarri is in the pits. the No. 71 was in P3 at the time. They are out again quickly, with no tire change (they are doublestinting their tires).

4:21 pm - Lead GT2 positions remain unchanged. There are about 10 minutes left in this stint for the drivers of the three Lizard Porsches - Pilet in the No. 46, Law in the No. 44 and Bergmeister in the No. 45.

4:14 pm- The Intersport car is stopped in Turn 10. He has rejoind so no yellow. It is starting to cool down as we approach dusk and as the wind picks up. The temperatures could drop as much as 20 degrees over the next few hours.

4:13 pm - Correction - the No. 87 had fallen farther back than I thought during its pit stop to repair a flat tire. Positions: P1 No. 45, P 2 No. 62, P 3 No. 71, P 4 No. 46, P 5 No. 44, P 6 No. 87, P 7 No. 61. Joerg radios in that he thinks he hit some debris in the left front.

4:10 pm - Positions: P1 No. 45, P 2 No. 62, P 3 No. 71, P 4 No. 87, P 5 No. 46, P 6 No. 44. The No. 62 is slightly less than one lap down on the No. 45. The No. 87 and No. 71 are more than one lap down on the No. 45. the No. 46 and No. 44 are one lap down from the No. 87 and the No. 71. We are now past the halfway mark - nearly 5 hours into what is tracking to be about a nine-hour race.

4:00 pm- The No. 46 went off course but continued without incident. The No. 87 has a front flat and was slow on course until they could get into the pits.
3:52 pm - Positions: P1 No. 45; P2 No. 87; P3 No. 62; P4 No. 71; P 5 No. 46, P 6 No. 44.

3:48 pm - Darren went off in the No. 44 - going a bit wide in 1 but he quickly rejoined and says he thinks everything is OK.

3:44 - Green flag. Joerg was able to retain the lead in the No. 45 after the pit stop. The No. 87 in P2 and No. 62 in P3 are (almost) one lap down from Joerg. The No. 71 in P 4 is more than 1 lap down. The No. 45 and No. 44 are on the same lap and are 2 laps down from the No. 45.

3:39 pm - No. 46, No. 44, and No. 45 all pit nearly simultaneously. Driver changes to Patrick Pilet in the No. 46, Darren Law in the No. 44 and Joerg Bergmeister in the No. 45. It looks like No. 46 was out first, with No. 44 second and No. 45 third. At the time of the pit stop, the No. 45 was two laps up on the No. 44 and No. 46, who were on the same lap.

3:37 pm - The wave by is beginning to catch the overall leader.

3:33 pm - Still yellow. The No. 44 will pit for driver change to Darren Law, tires and fuel.

3:25 pm - We are back. Hopefully this will be a better Internet connection.
After the No. 87's spin and resulting pit stop, the No. 71 was able to move into P2. The No. 62 has also gained a position, passing the No. 44 to take fourth. Positions: P1 No. 45, P 2 No. 71, P 3 No. 87, P 4 No. 62, P 5 No. 44, P 6 No. 46. We are nearing the halfway point of the race. No. 73 Tafel Racing Ferrari is off i nthe wall with what appears to be heavy damage. Full course yellow.

3:13 pm - The No. 87, which was just behind the No. 45, spun and went off course after being hit by the No. 50 prototype but was able to contiued. It looks like he has a flat tire and will be pitting.
** Note that I am having Internet problems here - I am working to resolve. Blog and Radio will be offline for a few minutes **

3:08 pm - Marc was able to get by the No. 61, as did the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche, which is in P2. The No. 87 is putting a lot of pressure on the No. 45. Unfortunately timing and scoring screens appear to be frozen again...

3:06 pm - Marc Lieb, in the lead, radios in that the No. 61 Ferrari is blocking him.

3:02 pm - The No. 62 Risi Ferrari has overtaken Johannes to move to P4. Johannes in the No. 46 is now P6. Positions: P1 No. 45, P 2, No. 87, P 3 No. 71, P 4 No. 44, P 5 No. 62, P 6 No. 46. No. 45 and No. 87 are on the lead lap. No. 71 and No. 44 are on the same lap. No. 62 and No. 46 are one lap back from the No. 71 and No. 44.

2:55 pm - Green flag.

2:50 pm - We are just over 3 and a half into the 1000-mile race, which is tracking to finish under nine hours. No. 45 is in the GT2 lead, the No. 44 is fourth and the No. 46 if fifth. The No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche is second and the No. 71 TAfel Racing Ferrari is third. Still yellow.

2:39 pm - Green flag. The No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche had also pitted in that yellow, but the No. 45 beat them out to take the lead. The No. 87 is now P2. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari is now P3 (one lap down on the No. 45 and No. 87) and the No. 44 Porsche is P 4. The No. 46 Lizard Porsche is now P5 and I believe he is 1 lap down on the No. 71 and No. 44. I'll confirm that in a minute.(yes, that's correct.) The No. 12 Jean Richard prototype is off now - full course yellow.

2:34 pm - No. 44 is in the pits for driver change to Seth Neiman, tires and fuel. No. 45 pits last of the three for driver change to Marc Lieb, tires and fuel.

2:32 pm - Timing and scoring screens have restarted. No. 46 is pitting for driver change back to Johannes van Overbeek, tires and fuel. No. 44 and 45 will also pit.

2:25 - We have some timing and scoring issues here. Timing and scoring screens have frozen and it's unclear who the overall leader is. During a yellow, the pace car will get to the overall leader by waving by the cars until the pace car is in front of the overall leader. Once the pace car has the overall leader, the pack will stay in that position (no passing allowed under yellow) until the course is green again.

2:20 pm - Double yellow - the 888 prototypes is off drivers right. Appears to be debris on the track. Positions: P1 No. 87, P 2 No. 45, P 3 No. 44, P 4 No. 71, P 5 No. 61, P 6 No. 46. It's good timing for the yellow for the Lizards who are in their window for driver changes and will take advantage of the yellow for pit stops, driver changes, tires and fuel. The No. 45 and No. 46 both need to conserve fuel. They want to pit as late as possible in the yellow but can't run out of fuel.

2:10 pm - No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari is in the pits. He was P2 at the time of his pit stop. this will move No. 45 up to P2 and No. 44 up to P3.

2:02 pm - The No. 18 Vici Porsche is in the pits.

1:57 pm - No. 45 has moved to P3, and No. 44 to P4 (apparently having passed the 007 which is on a much slower pace). No. 46 has also passed them and is now P6. the No. 62 Risi Ferrari, in P9 (who is two laps down on the No. 46 and 3 laps down on the No. 45 and No. 44), has moved through the Lizard Porsches and is approaching the No. 45. The No. 62 is currently running the fastest pace of the GT2 field.

1:50 The No. 88 is in the wall at the exit of Turn 3.

1:45 pm - The No. 73 Tafel Racing Ferari went off course but has rejoined.

1:41 - The No. 45 and No. 44 have passed the No. 61 Ferrari to move into P 4 and P5, respectively. The No. 46 has also passed the No. 61 physically on track. but is still one lap down. The No. 62 Ferrari is right behind the No. 44 on track, but is two laps down on him (and the No. 45)

1:37 pm - Green flag. All three Lizard Porsches are running together- on track they are in this order No. 45, then No. 46, then No. 44. However No. 45 is P4, No. 44 P6 and No. 46 P7. the No. 46 is one lap down on the No. 45 and No. 44.

1:34 pm - Positions: P1 No. 87, P 2 No. 71, P 3 No. 007, P 4 No. 61, P 5 No. 45, P 6 No. 44. No. 45 and No. 44 are the same lap, 1 lap down on the No. 87, No. 71, and No. 007.

1:29 - Both No. 46 , No. 45, and No. 44 are all called into the pits. Shot fuel only for all 3 cars. No. 45 was in and out first, No. 44 in and out second, and No. 46 in and out third. Still yellow. the three cars should be running together, but the No. 45 is 1 lap down on the No. 45, and No. 44 who are on the same lap (I believe - I will confirm that and report positions in a minute).

1:28 pm - Still yellow as race officials continue to work on preparing the tire wall that was damaged by the impact from the No. 48

1:20 pm - Just past the 2-hour mark, positions: P1 No. 87, P2 No. 45, P 3 No. 71, P 4 No. 44, P 5 No. 007, P 6 No. 61, P 7 No. 21, P 8 No. 46. The GT2 field pit stops have been very staggered so it's difficult to tell right now who has what amount of fuel. All cars should have completed their first driver change by this point.

1:17 pm - No. 46 is in the pits for fuel. No. 45 and No. 44 are staying out for now. Still yellow.

1:10 pm - I expect the Lizard Porsches to take advantage of what will probably be a lengthy yellow to pit for fuel. All driver changes have been completed so it will be just fuel, possibly tires.

1:07 pm- The No 48 prototype is in the tire wall in a very hard hit. The car has actually climbed up the tire wall. The driver is out of the car and appears to be fine. Double yellow.

1:05 pm ET - Positions: P1 No. 87, P 2 No. 45, P 3 No. 71, P 4 No. 44, P 5 No. 007, P 6 No. 61, P 7 No. 21, P 8 No. 46.

12:59 - No. 62 is in the pits. Not sure if there is an issue or not. No looks like a standard pit stop and driver change to Mika Salo.

12:54 - Green flag.

12:53 - P1 No. 87, P 2 No. 45, P 3 No. 71, P 4 No. 62, P 5 No. 61, P 6 No. 44. No. 46 is P 9

12:50 pm - No. 44 pits again for driver change to Lonnie Pechnik. Still yellow.

12:43 pm - Still yellow. All three cars pit. No. 44 is in first in for fuel and tires but no driver change. No. 46 is in second for fuel and tires to complete the pit stop that they shortened a few minutes ago when they changed drivers to Patrick Pilet. No. 45 is also in for fuel, tires, and driver change to Wolf Henzler. I'll report positions in a minute. Still yellow.

12:39 - The No. 66 is in the gravel - double yellow. The No. 46, which was in the pits, cut its pit stop short and left the pits as quickly as it could to get back on course.

12:38 pm ET - The No. 46 pits for a driver change from Johannes van Overbeek to Patrick Pilet.

12:34 - Joerg in the No. 45 had moved to P2 when the No. 62 pitted. The No. 71, which was in P3, then passed Joerg to move into P2. Positions: P1 No. 87, P 2 No. 71, P 3 No. 45, P 4 No. 46, P 5 No. 21, P 6 No. 44.

12:31 - No. 62, which I think was the car which almost collided with the No. 88 when it spun, has pitted for fuel and tires. At the time of his pit stop, No. 62 was in the lead. I'll report positions in a minute when things settle back in.

12:27 - No. 99 has pitted and also No. 61. Joerg in the No. 45 now moves to P3. No. 888 prototype is sideways on track. He was able to continue.

12:22 - Joerg has passed Johannes to take P 4. The No. 71 also passed the No. 46 and is now in fifth. The No. 46 is sixth. Darren Law in the No. 44 is ninth. No. 62 still in the lead. No. 87 P2. No. 99 P 3.

12:16 - One hour into the race. Joerg continues to close the gap to Johannes. Joerg is running about 1 second faster per lap than Johannes. Johannes is P4, Joerg is P5. Darren is P9. All three Lizard Porsches have pitted once. The No. 62 in the lead, has not yet pitted. The No. 87 in P2 has pitted once. The No. 99 in P3 has not yet pitted.

12:12 Darren moves to P 9 in the No. 44. Positions: P1 No. 62, P 2 No. 99; P 3 No. 87; P 4 No. 46, P 5 No. 45, P 6 No. 71, P 7 No. 61, P 8 No. 21, P 9 No. 44. Joerg is closing the gap to Johannes - now 4.6 seconds back.

12:09- Joerg has passed the No. 61 Ferarri to move into P5. Johannes is now P4, with the No. 87 now P3. Joerg is 6 seconds behind Johannes. Darren is still P 10.

12:07 - The 888 prototype is slow on course and the No. 30 Intersport is also slow on course.

12:02 - Joerg now P 6.

12:00 - Johannes now P3 in the No. 46. Joerg now P 7 in the No. 45. Darren is P 10 in the No. 44. No. 62 still P1. No. 99 Ferrari now P2.

11:58 am - Green flag.

11:54 am - Still yellow. No. 62 is P1. No. 99 is P2. No. 61 is P3. None of those cars have pitted yet. No. 46 is P4. No. 40 is P5. No. 87 is P 6. No. 45, which pitted last of the 3 Lizard Porsches, is now P 7. No. 44 is P 11.

11:45 - No. 45 pits for tires and short fuel. He is out again quickly. At the time of the pit stop, he was P 4. The No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche also pitted. The No. 62, 71, and 99 did not.

11:41 - Car off drivers' left under the bridge. Looks like a Patron Acura prototype. No. 9. Double yellow. Drivers is fine but he cannot get the car restarted. I expect most GT2 cars to pit during this yellow.

11:29 - No. 46 now P9. No. 44 P 11. Joerg in the No. 45 is P4.

11:32 am - No. 71 in P 3 is putting a lot of pressure on the No. 87 in P2.

11:27 am - Green flag. After their respective pit stops, No. 46 has moved to P 10 and No. 44 now P 13. GT2 lead pack is unchanged. P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 87; P 3 No. 71; P 4 No. 45, P 5 No. 99.

11:26 am Joerg radios in that he thinks the No. 71 may be losing some fluid. Still yellow.

11:22 - Johannes pits in the No. 46 for a splash of fuel. No. 44 will also pit for the crew to look at Darren's cool suit. Johannes is out very quickly with fuel. The course is still yellow. Darren's cool suit connection has been repaired and he is out again.

11:19 - I spoke too soon, the No. 30 Intersport prototype has stalled on course. Yellow flag. Good news for the No. 1 Audi which missed the race start, but has now just entered the track. The No. 30 is proceeding slowly on course but it looks like it will need to be towed. So far, all Ok with the Lizard Porsches. Darren radioed in that his cool suit does not appear to be working.

11:18 am - Thankfully, a clean race start for the entire field. No. 62 is P1, No. 87 P2, No. 71 P 3, No. 45 P 4.

11:15 am - Green flag.

11:11 - Engine start and cars are rolling for their pace lap.

10:58 - Just a few minutes to engine start. All cars have been notified that they can move up one position to fill the gap from the Audi, which crashed on its recon lap and will start from pit lane. We will still be starting 4th, 14th and 15th (No. 46) on the GT2 grid. Two of the Acuras are gridded behind the No. 45, but they are in front of the No. 44 and No. 46. The final starting grid will be posted shortly on the IMSA website - www.imsaracing.net.

The race is being broadcast live on SpeedTV. It will start as scheduled at 11:15 am ET.

10:30 am - All three Lizard Porsches are on the grid. Joerg Bergmeister will start in the No. 45, Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 46, and Darren Law in the No. 44. Joerg will start fourth on the GT2 grid. The No. 46, which had been severely damaged during morning practice on Friday, did not qualify so Johannes will start from the back of the grid. In the No. 44, Law will start 15th. There are at least two Acuras, and now the Audi, which will be starting from the back of the field behind the GT2 cars which will make for an interesting start. I'll report final starting positions in a few minutes.

10:26 am - Well, it was not an auspicious start to the pre-race activities as the Audi crashed on the first outlap (of the recon lap(s) that precede the gridding of the cars). There was quite a bit of debris spread across the track. The Lizard Porsches were all out on track behind the Audi and all three cars reentered the pits so that the crews could check the tires to ensure there were no problems from the debris. As a result of the incident, Race control has extended the pit exit open time by 4 minutes. All cars must be out of the pits before the pit exit closes. If they don't make that, they will need to start the race from pit lane.

*** We'll be back with you around 11:00 am ET today. The race gets the green flag at 11:15 am ET and will last 1000 miles - expected to run just over 10 hours. We will broadcast our team radio during the race - for details see the "Follow the Race" tab at www.lizardms.com. The race is broadcast live on SpeedTV. See you in a few hours! ***
Checkered flag.
3:39 am - Red flag. The No. 8 Mazda had a hard hit into the tire wall. Driver is out of the car and appears OK. This will probably be the end of the session.

8:33 - No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari now P1, No. 45 P2, No. 21 P 3. No. 46 is P5 and No. 44 P 6.
8:29 - No. 46 also pits for driver change from Patrick Pilet to Johannes van Overbeek. In the No. 44, Darren Law radios in that he is pitting for a setup change to increase grip on turn in.

8:28 am - The No. 45, which is currently P1, pits for a driver change to Wolf Henzler, tire pressures and temps.

8:17 - The No. 46 pits after an install lap. So far, all looks ok.

8:15 am - Green flag. Darren Law is in the No. 44, Joerg Bergmeister is in the No. 45, and Patrick Pilet is in the No. 46.

8:10 am - We have the five minute warning and the cars quickly moved from the pit stalls to line up at pit out. It's not as cold today as it was yesterday - it will help the drivers get the tires up to temp more quickly.

Oct 4 - 8:07 am - Good morning from Road Atlanta - race day! We have a short 25 minute warmup this morning before the race, which starts at 11:15. The No. 46 crew completed the extensive repair overnight on the Porsche after it was damaged during yesterday's morning practice. As a result, the car did not make qualifying and will start from the rear of the grid. The No. 45 qualified fourth and the No. 44 was 15th.
***We will be broadcasting our team radio this morning and during the race - to listen see the "Follow the Race" tab at www.lizardms.com.***

Petit Le Mans - Qualifying October 3

2008-10-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

3:50 pm - Checkered flag. No. 45 is P4 and No. 44 is P 15. No. 46 did not qualify (still under repair due to an accident earlier today) and will start from the rear of the grid in tomorrow's race.

3:45 - Joerg radioed in that he is coming in- his final lap was not as fast as the one prior in which he hit the water so he's done. It looks like No. 62 will take the pole. 5 more minutes.

3:41 - The No. 62 Risi Ferrari with Jaime Melo at the wheel is now P1. No. 87 is P2, No. 71 P3 and No. 45 P4. Joerg radioed in that he hit some water on his first fast lap and it affected his lap. He said he will try one more lap.

3:39 - Joerg is out again in the No. 45. There are 10 minutes left in the session. No. 44, which was also in the pits for a setup change, is also heading out on track again.

3:37 - No. 62 moves to P2 with a 1:19.510. No. 87 still P1 with a 1:19.487. No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari is P3 with a 1:19.795. No. 45 now P4 with a 1:19.885. No. 44 is P 15.

3:36 - No. 87 is still P1, No. 71 is P2, No. 45 P3. Joerg is still in the pits, but will go out again in a minute.

3:33 - No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche is now P1. Joerg is pitting for a setup change. He will go out again for another attempt at a fast lap.

3:31 pm - Joerg is P1, but the No. 62 has not yet gone out. The No. 99 JMB Ferrari, which showed some good times in the earlier practice sessions is P3. No. 28 is P2.

3:25 pm - Green flag on the qualifying session.

3:15 pm - Good afternoon from Road Atlanta. Only two of the three Lizard Porsches will qualify in this afternoon's qualifying session - the No. 44 and the No. 45. The No. 46 suffered extensive damage in this morning's practice session and will not be back on track in time for qualifying. The crew hopes to have repairs complete in time for race day warmup tomorrow.

Joerg Bergmeister will qualify in the No. 45. Seth Neiman will qualify in the No. 44.

Petit Le Mans - Practice Sessions - Race week

2008-10-01T10:16:00.001-07:00

Friday Oct. 3 - Morning Practice

10:05 am - Checkered flag. The No. 45 and No. 44 will head back to the garage. The No. 46, which is still in the gravel off course, will be brought back on a roll back. Once it is back in the garage, the crew will be able to assess the damage and start on repairs. Qualifying begins at 3:25 this afternoon.

9:58 - Seth Neiman is out in the No. 44, taking over for Lonnie. The No. 46 is still in the gravel, where it will probably remain until the end of the session. In the No. 45, Joerg is still in the car, and is currently P3 in the session. The No. 11 Viper has a puncture and has pulled off course. We will probably go red again. No - the car is far enough off that they will stay green to finish out the session.

9:55 - No. 46 is in the gravel. Johannes radios in that the car took a hit head on into the wall. Johannes is out of the car and appears to be fine. Johannes radioed that the throttle stuck - the replay shows him going straight off course into the gravel.

9:52 - The No. 2 Audi was going backwards on course after spinning and narrowly avoiding a collision with the No. 12 Intersport. He is going again with no apparent damage.

9:51 am - Green flag. What a mess this session has been. The engineers have not had any time to do any setup changes given the number of red flags. 13 minutes remaining.

9:47 - Lonnie Pechnik is in the No. 44. Joerg is still in the No. 45 and Johannes van Overbeek now in the No. 46. Joerg radis in the Intersport just blew a tire but was able to continue and is working slowly back to the pits. The tire and related bodywork scraps will need to be removed from the track so red flag.

9:46 - Ok we are going again. The Acura is on the rollback and heading back to its garage. Green flag. 16 minutes left in the session.

9:36 am - Red flag. Major incident with the No. 26 XM Acura and the Intersport No. 12 protoype. The No. 26 XM Acura has significant damage and is undrivable. The driver is out of the car and appears to be fine.

9:33 am - Green flag. About 30 minutes left to go.

9:30 am - Joerg Bergmeister takes over from Marc Lieb in the No. 45. Still red flag but it should be a short one as they pull the No. 15 Acura out of the gravel. The No. 46 checked out OK and was sent back out.

9:29 am - The No. 15 Acura is in the gravel in Turn 7. Red flag. Things are definitely not getting off to a good start this morning. We have only 30 minutes left in the session and the tires are not even yet up to temp on the cars.

9:27 am - In the No. 46, Patrick is back in the pits.

9:26 am - Green flag.

9:21 am - The No. 46 is in the wall after impact from one of the Dyson Spyders near Turn 1. The No. 46 is in the wall. Driver is fine, rear car damage. He is deep in the gravel. The daamage does not look too extreme from the TV, but the car will surely be full of gravel which will take the crew some time to clean out. The crew advises Patrick to try and start the car and drive it back but to keep offline to minimize the amount of gravel on the track. Car chief Bill Rader advises Patrick to return to the pits and they will assess if the car can finish out the session or if they need to return to the garage.

9:18 am - Green flag. The No. 44 crew cleared Darren to head out again. They refilled the water, but did not see any problems. They advise Darren to let them know if there are any other alarms.

9:17 am - When the No. 46 arrived in the pits, the driver side door glass was missing. The crew is replacing the door.

9:15 am - In the No. 44, Darren pits for the crew to check out the car - he received a water temp alarm and said he smells coolant. Red flag - looks like it was to remove a large piece of bodywork debris from the track, apparently off of the No. 15 Lowe's Acura.

9:14 - Green flag. The session started 10 minutes late, but we are going now. 10:05 checker.

9:00 am - We have the 5 minute warning. Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 headed out to get in line. In the No. 45, Marc Lieb also headed out. Darren Law is also in line in the NO. 44. RAce control just notified us that there may be a slight delay as they finish some wall repairs on the course.

8:50 am - Good morning from Road Atlanta. We are just a few minutes away from this morning's practice session. It's another beautiful day here in Braselton, Georgia. It looks like it will be sunny and warm with some high clouds and low humidity. It's still cool on the track after temperatures dipped into the 40's last night. This morning's sesion is our only track time today before qualifying this afternoon. The No. 44 is back together after a rebuild following yesterday's incidents in morning and afternoon practice. I hear it warming up in the garage behind me - a good sign. The No. 46 and No. 45 are in their pit stalls waiting for the call to line up at pit out. Both Patrick Pilet and Johannes van Overbeek are out in the pits getting ready for their turn at the No. 46. In the No. 45, Marc Lieb will be the first driver out for the morning. Darren Law is now in the No. 44 and is heading into the pit lane from the garage.

****
8:34 pm - Joerg radios in that he has the bobble and has switched to reserve fuel. He is called into the pits. Engineer Stefan Pfeiffer confirms that they are done for the night. It doesn't look like the No. 44 will make it out tonight so we are done for the day. We'll be back with you on Friday for morning warmup at 9:05 am ET. ** Jennifer

8:20 - Red flag, debris online in turn 10. The No. 46 has completed their laps and will head back to the garage. I can see that the No. 44 is almost back together in the garage but I don't know if they will make it back out in the session - just 35 minutes left.

8:15 pm - Wolf pits in the No. 45 for driver change to Joerg Bergmeister. In the No. 46, Patrick Pilet has completed his third lap.

8:10 pm - Johannes is back in the pits for driver change to Patrick Pilet.

8:08 pm - Green flag. Wolf Henzler is in the No. 45, taking over for Marc. Johannes will stay in the No. 46 and complete the remaining two of his three laps.

8:00 pm - Red flag. Debris in turn 8. Johannes was able to get one lap in, I think. Both he and Marc are heading in.

7:57 - Green flag.

7:53 pm - Red flag... to remove the No. 21 Panoz from the gravel. The No. 46 is now in the pits getting ready to go out for its 3 laps each for Johannes and Patrick.

Oct 2 - Evening practice - 7:45 pm - Tonight's evening practice will run until 9:00 pm. Each driver is required to do 3 laps at night tonight. The No. 45 is out on track with Marc Lieb currently behind the wheel. The No. 46 is just about to head out. The No. 44 is still in the garage with the crew still focused on trying to get that car out on track in time for the session after this afternoon's impact with the wall...

** Checkered flag on the afternoon practice session - Oct. 2 - we'll see you back in a few hours for night practice which starts at 7 pm ET. ** Jen

4:03 pm - Jaime Melo in the No. 62 has the fastest time of the session with a 1:19.302. Jeoerg in the No.45 is fourth and Patrick in the No. 46 is 8th.

3:57 pm - Patrick is out again for the last few minutes of the session. Joerg is also out again. 5 minutes left in the session.

3:52 - Joerg pits for a setup change. Less than 11 minutes left in the session.

3:49 - No. 46 pits for a setup change. Patrick Pilet is still in the car.

3:47 pm - No. 45 is in the pits for new tires. Joerg is currently P2, Patrick in the No. 46 is P 7.

3:37 -The No. 44 will be returned back to the garage after the session for what will unfortunately, be major repairs. No. 46 is in the pits for a setup change. Patrick Pilet is in the car. Joerg is out in the No. 45.

3:32 - Seth is off in the No. 44 in the esses. The driver appears to be fine but there's damage to the front and the rear. It's a tough break for the No. 44 crew who had a rebuild after this morning's incident. I don't yet know what happened that caused the incident, although Seth radioed that he was cut off.

3:22 - the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche went off track and reentered just behind Johannes in the No. 46. Luckily there was no contact.

3:21 - Neiman is in pit lane in the No. 44 for a setup change.

3:17 pm - Looks like the GT2 Corvette went off course as it is going slow on track and is completley covered with dirt.

3:14 pm - No. 45 is called into the pits for a front shock change. In the No. 46, Johannes radios in that he'd like to come in for a setup change.

3:05 pm - Green flag on the session. Seth Neiman is in the No. 44 and Wolf Henzler in the No. 45. Johannes van Overbeek is in the No. 46. The front of the No. 44 was rebuilt after this morning's incident with the Autocon prototype. Neiman reports that the car seems loose, but so far, no major issues. Johannes is currently P2 in the No. 46, Wolf Henzler is P5 in the No. 45.

3:00 pm - The cars are lining up to head out for this afternoon's practice session. We have 1 hour on track this afternoon, then another 2 hours this evening, starting at 7 pm.

Oct 2 -
** See you this afternoon at 3:05 for our second session of the day **
11:28 - Red flag - again. And checkered flag on the session. We don't know yet the reason, although the No. 44 is missing its front bumper and quite a bit of left front damage, so it appears to have been involved in the incident. Driver of the No.44 is fine.

11:25 - Green flag. Johannes van Overbeek is in the No.46, Seth Neiman in the No. 44, and Wolf Henzler in the No. 45. Just five minutes left in this morning's session.

11:16 am - Red flag. Impact in turn 1- not sure yet which car was involved, although Johannes (now in the No.46) radioed in that he saw Patron/Highcroft prorotype in the wall.

11:04 am - Darren is in the pits for driver change to Seth Neiman. He is currently in P4.

11:00 - Lieb is in the pits in the No. 45 for a setup change. Patrick Pilet is also in the pits for a setup change.

10:53 - Darren Law is in P3 in the No. 44. Marc Lieb in P3 in the No. 45 and Patrick Pilet in P 7 in the No. 46.

10:49 - Green flag.

10:46 - Red flag to remove a piece of debris from the track.

10:33 - Green flag and we are running again. Red flag was to remove the No. 48 prototype from the track - not sure what the issue was with them.

10:31 am - Red flag on the first lap of the session. We did not see any incidents but there are reports of a lot of oil from the previous session.

Oct 2 - 10:30 am - Good morning from Road Atlanta. It's another gorgeous fall day here - cool and breezy with low humidity. Today is Thursday, October 2 - and the day we get the most on track time prior to this Saturday's race. We have three sessions today: 10:30-11:30 am, 3:05 to 4:05 pm and 7 to 9 pm. This evening's practice is, obviously, night practice - and each driver must complete three laps during the night session.

Darren Law is in the No. 44, Patrick Pilet is in the No. 46, and Marc Lieb is in the No. 45. All three Lizard Porsches are in the pits, with engines on ready to head out to the line to pit out.

*******
Oct 1 Test Session complete
2:40 pm - Checkered flag. We'll be back with you tomorrow! For a full schedule, see the schedule tab on the Lizard Home page. ** Jen

2:35 pm - Five minutes left in the session. The No. 44 is heading back to the garage - there is apparently a hole in the muffler and the crew does not want to risk a fire. That leaves the No. 45 as the last Lizard Porsche on track with Marc Lieb behind the wheel.

2:25 pm - Lonnie Pechnik takes over the wheel from Darren Law in the No. 44 for his first spin on the trck. Marc Lieb will also take over from Wolf Henzler in the No. 45. Lieb is a guest driver for this race - he was part of the winning trio at Sebring - Bergmeister, Henzler and Lieb won in GT2 at the season opener in March.

2:00 - No. 46 is heading back to the garage. It will probably not be back out in this session. No. 44 is in the pits for a driver change to Darren Law. No. 45 is in the pits for driver change to Wolf.

1:53 pm - Joerg is in the pits for a setup change. He will stay in the car for now. In the No. 46, Johannes is still sitting in the pits.

1:45 pm - No. 45 is currently P4, No. 46 P 6, and No. 44 P 14. The No. 46 has been in the pits for a good 10 minutes now - Johannes is reporting an engine misfire on restart and the engineers are trying to determine the cause.

1:38 pm - So far, so good in the session. No. 46 is in the pits and the crew is making some chassis ride height and aero adjustments. The No. 44 is also in the pits - they appear to be working on his brakes. Bergmeister, van Overbeek and Neiman are all still in the car.

1:22 pm - Joerg is P2 in the session so far. The JMB Ferrari (No. 99) is currently P1. All three cars are cycling rapidly through setup changes, directed by engineers Craig Watkins (No. 46), STefan Pfeiffer (No. 45), and Sebastien Constans (No. 44).

1:15 pm ET - Good afternoon from Road Atlanta. It's a beautiful day here, the first official track session of the week before this weekend's Petit Le Mans. All three Lizard Porsches are on track - Johannes van Overbeek is in the No. 46, Seth Neiman is in the No. 44 and Joerg Bergmeister is in the No. 45. This is the first session of the week - we have three sessions on Thursday, one practice session and qualifying on Friday, then the race on Saturday.

Detroit Raceday - August 30 Lizards 1st, 2nd and 4th!

2008-08-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

5:21 pm - Checkered flag. No. 45 wins in GT2 at Detroit. No. 46 is second, No. 44 is fourth. It was almost a first triple podium for the team, but not to be, as Risi No. 62 Ferrari takes third. Great race by all three Lizard Porsches. Congratulations to the entire team.

5:19 pm - 90 seconds to go. Lizards still P1 (No.45), P2 (No. 46), P4 (No. 44)

5:16 pm - 4 minutes left. Unfortunately, it looks like our hopes of a triple podium are rapidly disappearing as the No. 44 loses time to the No. 62 Risi Ferrari, which passed to take third. No. 45 is still in the lead, and the No. 46 in second.

5:12 pm - 8 minutes left. No. 45 is first, No. 46 is second, No. 62 has passed the No. 44 and Martin reports that he was hit during the pass. He reports that he was hit again.

5:10 pm - Green flag.

5:08 pm - GT2 positions: P1 No. 45, P2 No. 44, P 3 No. 46, P 4 No. 62, P 5 No. 61. We believe that the No. 62 may be still having problems with their door. We also believe they may use the yellow to pit for tires. All Lizard cars should be good to the end of the race for tires and fuel and should not need to pit.

5:05 pm - Some good news - Wolf is back on the radio.

5:02 pm - The No. 21 spun on course and impacted a tire wall, but (narrowly) avoided another car. He continued, but the course is yellow to remove debris. This is not good news for us - it will allow the No. 62 to reclose the gap to the No. 46 and to the No. 44 and No. 45 and could allow the No. 61 to regain a lap to get on the same lap as the lead group. The No. 44 and No.

5:00 pm ET - 20 minutes to go. Wolf Henzler in the No. 45 is in first. He is 32 seconds ahead of the No. 44 in second, and 45 seconds ahead of the No. 46 which is in third. Mika Salo on the No. 62 is in fourth, and is 55 seconds back from Wolf, 10 seconds back from Johannes. Johannes is running the fastest pace of the three Lizards right now, working to build more of a gap from the No. 62. We have not been able to hear Wolf since the last pit stop and driver change, but we believe that he can hear us.

4:54 - Mika Salo in the No. 62 has passed the No. 21 to take fourth. He is now 7 seconds back from Johannes in the No. 46, who is in P3.

4:51 pm - Lizards back to first, second and third. Johannes made a quick recovery following his contact with the No. 7 Penske prototype, and resulting spin off course and punctured tire, which required a pit stop for a new tire. Johannes had been leading at the time of the incident. No. 21 is in fourth, and the No. 62 is in fifth.

4:50 pm - 30 minutes left. Wolf Henzler in the No. 45 is P1. He is 27 seconds ahead of Martin Ragginger the No. 44 in P2. Johannes van Overveek in the No. 46 has passed the No. 21 to move back to third. The No. 21 Panoz is fourth and the No. 62 Risi Ferrari is fifth.

4:44 pm - 36 minutes left. The No. 45 is in P1, the No. 44 is P2, the No. 21 is P3, the No. 46 is P4 and the No. 62 is P5. The No. 45, No. 44, No. 46 and No. 62 should be good on fuel for the rest of the race. I can't confirm if the No. 21 will make it or will need to stop again. the No. 62 is just 3 seconds behind Johannes in P4. Johannes is gaining on the No. 21 Panoz in P3 which is running a significantly slower pace. The No. 62 is running a slightly slower than normal pace - it is possible that they may still be having problems with the driver side door, which caused issues earlier for them.

4:41 pm - 39 minutes left. The engineers are trying to determine how hard the cars can push without risking running out of fuel. No. 7 has been assessed a black flag, stop and go for avoidable contact with the No. 46.

4:39 pm - Positions: P1 No. 45, P 2. No 44, P 3 No. 21, P 4 No. 46, P 5. No 62. The No. 62 is putting a lot of pressure on the No. 46.

4:38 - Johannes pits for tire change and is out quickly again in the No. 46 and is just ahead of the No. 62. This is for position. Johannes is P4 and No. 62 is P5.

4:36 pm - The No. 46 appears to have collided with one of the Penske prototypes and spun and went off course. He was able to continue but believes he has a left rear flat.

4:35 pm - 45 minutes to go. Lizards P1, P2, and P3 - No. 46, No. 45, and No. 44. . The No. 44 in P3 is +22 seconds from the No. 21 in P4.

4:27 - P1 No. 46, P 2 No. 45, P 3 No. 44, P 4 No. 21, P 5 No. 62. All three Lizard Porsches are on the same lap and running close together. The No. 21 in fourth is 9 seconds back from the No. 44. The No. 62, which had to pit twice successively under green, first to repair an open door and again to serve a penalty, is now in fifth, 40 seconds back from the No. 21.

4:26 - More bad news for the No. 62 Risi Ferrari - a stop and go penalty for exceeding pit lane speed limit. They will need to pit again to serve the pentaly. They were in P5 at the time of the penalty.

4:23 - Green flag. The No. 62 has pitted to repair the driver door, putting the Lizard Porsches first, second, and third in GT2. We do not think that we have radio communication with the No. 45 - we think Wolf can hear us, but we can't hear him. Positions: P1 No. 46, P 2 No. 45, P 3 No. 44.

4:20 pm The No. 62 is indeed in the lead, but he keeps opening and sutting the door. There may be a problem. He may need to come in again. Positions: P1 No. 62, P 2 No. 46, P 3 No. 45, P 4 No. 44, P 5 No. 21. Still yellow.

4:19 pm - The No. 46 pits for driver change from Patrick Pilet to Johannes van Overbeek, fuel and tires. No. 44 pits for driver change from Lonnie Pechnik to Martin Ragginger, tires and fuel. No. 45 pits lst of the three for driver change from Joerg Bergmeister to Wolf Henzler, tires, and fuel. The No. 46 needed more fuel thatn the other two cars, so had a slightly longer stop. I thought I saw a red Ferrari beat either the No. 45 or No. 44 out of the pits, but not sure if it was the 61 or 62 or the 45 or 44. I'll report positions in a minute.

4:07 pm - No. 54 has spun, flat right rear, in turn 7. Double yellow to recover the No. 54 from the track. Drivers are getting ready to do a driver change. All of the GT2 leaders should be coming in. P1 No. 46, P 2 No. 62, P 3 No. 44, P 4 No. 21, P 5 No. 45. The No. 45 will also take advantage of the yellow to come in for a driver change back to Wolf Henzler. The yellow will help the No. 44 and No. 45, allowing them to close the gaps among the cars.

4:04 pm - GT2 positions. P1 No. 46, P 2 No. 62, P 3 No. 44, P 4 No. 21, P 5 No. 45. Patrick Pilet in the No. 46, who has been driving for 90 minutes on his starting tires is still the fastest GT2 car on the track.

4:00 pm - 1 hour and 20 minutes left in the race. The No. 44 now in P3. No. 21 moves to P4.

3:57 pm - GT2 positions: P1 No. 46, P2 No. 62, P 3 No. 21, P 4 No. 44, P 5 No. 45. The cars which have not yet done driver change (all of the top 5 except the No. 45) are entering their window for driver change - I expect most of them to pit within the next 20 minutes (if there is no yellow that is, if there is a yellow, they will pit earlier).

3:54 - Joerg in the No. 45 is back on the pace after a few slower laps held up by traffic. Joerg is in P5 and is 17 seconds behind Lonnie Pechnik in the NO. 44 in P4 and is 35 seconds back from Patrick Pilet in the No. 46, who is in the lead. The No. 73 Tafel Racing Ferrari is in the pits.

3:50 - Patrick in the No. 46 (in the lead) and Jaime Melo in the No. 62 (in second) are far outpacing the rest of the GT2 field - 2 to five seconds per lap. They are running a nearly identical pace, but Patrick is 12 seconds ahead of the No. 62.

3:47 - The No. 62 has passed the No. 21 to move to P2. Positions: P1 No. 46, P 2 No. 62, P 3 No. 21, P 4. No 44, P 5 No. 45. The No. 46 is 10 seconds ahead of the No. 62 in P2 and 24 seconds ahead of the No. 45 in P5. The No. 45 does not need to do a driver change - Joerg Bergmeister is in the car and Wolf Henzler started - but the other four GT2 leading cars do - the No. 46, No. 62, No. 21, and No. 44. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari, which started second, had a lengthy pit stop and dropped out of the lead group and is now 11th.

3:46 - In the lead in the No. 46, Patrick's lap times are getting faster every lap. He has nearly a 10 second lead on the No. 21 now and is running 2 to 3 seconds faster per lap.

3:42 - The No. 15 is off course and blocking the track in Turn 4. He continued but it was pretty close for several cars coming around the blind corner to encounter him first drivers' left, then right, then in the middle of the track. Patrick now 7 seconds ahead of the No. 21. The No. 62, in P3, has closed the gap to the No. 21 to three tenths. In the No. 44 in P4, Lonnie is staying close to the No. 62 Ferrari. Joerg is 7 seconds behind the No. 44 in P5. The No. 46, No. 62, No. 21, and No. 44 all still need to pit for driver change. The No. 45 does not.

3:39 pm - In the lead, Patrick in the No. 46 is building a gap on the No. 21 Panoz, which is running a slower pace. The No. 62, which is in P3, is 3 seconds back from the No. 21.

3:36 pm - Green flag. Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 is P1. No. 21 is P2. No. 44 with Lonnie Pechnik is P3. No. 62 Risi Ferrari is P4. No. 45 with Joerg Bergmeister is P 5. Lonnie radios in that the No. 62 has passed him to move into P3. The No. 46 has not yet pitted in the race. The No. 44 has pitted once for short fuel and tires, but still needs to do its driver change to Martin Ragginger. The No. 45 has pitted once for tires, fuel and driver change from Wolf Henzler to Joerg Bergmeister. The No. 62 has pitted once but still has its starting driver, Jaime Melo. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari, which had been in second place at the time of its pit stop, is stuck in the pits and apparently will not start. The No. 16 Dyson prototype is in the tire wall but has rejoined. No yellow.

3:29 pm - Still yellow. No. 46 P1, No. 21 P2, No. 44 P3, No. 62 P 4, No. 61 P 4, No. 45 P6. (I believe that the No. 61 has a stop and go penalty still to serve so that will put the No. 45 into P5.)

3:26 pm - No. 46, which has not yet pitted, is in P1. The No. 44, which pitted early in the race, but still has starting driver Lonnie Pechnik, is P3. Timing and Scoring shows No. 45, which did pit and did a driver change, tires and fuel, in P6. I'll report in a minute. Still yellow as they have do do some repairs on the tire wall that was impacted by the Audi.

Race control says that a black flag should be shown to car No. 71 and when that car is running again (it's still in the pits and apparently cannot start) it must serve a start and go for running over pit equipment.

3:24 - No. 45 pits for short fuel, tires, and driver change from Wolf Henzler to Joerg Bergmeister No. 46 stays out for now. Clean stop for the No. 45. The No. 46 did not pit, so Patrick Pilet is in the lead. The No. 71 Tafel Ferrari is still in the pits and apparently will not start.

3:22 pm - The No. 71 and No. 73 Tafel Ferraris are in the pits. The No. 71 had been in P2 at the time of its pit stop, so No. 46 moves to P2 and No. 44 to P 4. Wtill yellow. Lizard Porsches No. 45 and No. 46 are getting ready for a pit stop.

3:16 pm - All three drivers are readying for possible pit stops and possible driver changes. Still yellow. GT2 field: P1 No. 45, P 2 No. 71, P 3 No. 46, P 4 No. 21, P 4 No. 44, P 6 No. 62, P 7 No. 61. The No. 62, which had been in second, pitted under this yellow but no driver change - Melo is still in the car. Several other GT2 cars have also pitted, allowing Lonnie to move into P5 in the No. 44. The No. 45 and No. 46 have not yet pitted during the race. The No. 44 pitted for a short fuel and tires early in the race during the first yellow. The No. 61 has been given a black flag and a stop and go penalty for exceeding the pit lane speed limiti.

3:12 pm - The No. 2 Audi is in Turn 13 in the tire wall. Double yellow. We can see the driver in the cockpit and he appears OK. Signficant damage to the left rear of the car.

3:10 pm - GT2 lead positions remain unchanged from the start. Wolf Henzler in the No. 45 is in the lead, Jaime Melo in the No. 62 is P2, Dominik Farnbacher in the No. 71 is in P3, and Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 is in P4. they are once again bunched togehter nose to tail. The No. 2 Audi is off in Turn 8 now sideways across the track.

3:07 pm - Here comes another pack of prototypes - weaving through. Lonnie now P8 in the No. 44.

3:06 pm - Two prototypes have made it safely through and now the four GT2 cars are again bunched together.

3:05 pm - Looks like the No. 62 touched the No. 45 briefly and is trying for an opportunity to pass. A group of prototypes is coming and will need to thread through the GT2 group.

3:02 pm - All four GT2 leaders are bunched up nose to tail. The No. 45, No 62, No. 71 and No. 46. Just half a second spread from the No. 45 to the No. 46.

2:56 pm - Wolf holding P1 with No. 62 Risi Ferrari close behind him. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari is in P3, close behind the No. 62. No. 46 is P4. In the No. 44, Lonnie is regaining the positions that he lost during his pit stop and is back up to 9th.

2:53 - Green flag.

2:51 - No. 44 pits for fuel and tires. Still yellow. Race should restart this time by. Clean fast stop for the No. 44 and Lonnie is out again.

2:44 - Still yellow. Wolf radios in that there is not much grip on the track.

2:39 pm - The No. 007 is in the tire wall. Double yellow. Positions: P1 No. 45; P2 No. 62; P 3. No 71; P 4 No. 46; P 5 No. 61; P 6 No. 21; P 7 No. 44.

2:37 pm - It was a clean race start.

2:35 pm - Green flag.

2:28 pm ET - We have engine start and the cars will head out shortly for 2 pace laps.

Starting drivers: Lonnie Pechnik in No. 44; and Wolf Henzler in the No. 45,
and Patrick Pilet in the No. 46.

*** Race will begin at 2:35 pm ET. We are broadcasting our radio live - to listen, click on the Follow the Race tab at www.lizardms.com. The race is also broadcast live on SpeedTV. ***

1:52 pm - Good afternoon from Detroit. Recon laps are just finishing - cars have only a few more minutes before pit exit closes and the grid closes. Everything is OK so far with the three Lizard Porsches and they are all on the grid. The No. 45 will start on the pole, the No. 46 starts fourth and the No. 44 seventh. The weather is clear and beautiful today - but fairly warm and still humid from all of the rain last week.

10:35 - Checkered flag. No. 46 was P3 in the session, No. 45 P 4 and No. 44 P 5. We'll be back with you around 2 pm ET this afternoon for the race! See you then.
*** Jen

10:30 am - The No. 44 hustled in for a driver change to Martin so that he could get in a few laps in the session.

10:28 am - So far so good in the session. 6 minutes left.

10:20 am - Green flag. Because of the rain yesterday during both practice sessions, this is the first dry track running that we've had this week, other than the qualifying session. We have 15 minutes left in the morning warmup - basically all of the setup time that we'll get for this afernoon's race. Wolf Henzler put the No. 45 Porsche on the pole yesterday so that car will start from the front of the grid. The No. 46 is 4th and the No. 44 is 7th.

*** Reminder that we are broadcasting our team radio during this morning's warmup session and the race. The morning warmup session started 20 minutes late - so it will run from 10:10 am ET to 10:35 am ET. The race begins at 2:35 pm ET and will be broadcast live on SPEEDtv. **

10:12 am ET - Lonnie Pechnik is in the No. 44, Joerg Bergmeister is in the No. 45, Johannes van Overbeek is in the No.46. All three cars are lined up with the rest of the field at pit out, waiting for the No. 2 Audi to be loaded on the roll back. Looks like there some significant damage to that car. Driver is fine.

August 30 - 10:10 am ET - Good morning from Detroit. Things are a bit delayed this morning because of heavy fog this morning. The session is just starting, but on the first green lap, the No. 2 Audi went into the wall and we are now red flag. He may be able to continue under his own power but we are red flag right now.

Detroit - August 29 - No. 45 on the Pole!

2008-08-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

4:56 pm - Wolf in the No. 45 on the Pole for Detroit. On his last lap! congratulations Wolf for a great qualifying session. No. 46 is P4 and No. 44 P 7.

4:55 pm - And Wolf moves to P1 again. Two cars to go...

4:54 pm - And the No. 71 moves to P1, then the No. 62 overtakes him which is probably for the pole. One lap left but we expect traffic this lap.

44:53 pm - Wolf moves to P1! just 1 minute left in the session!

4:50 pm - Five minutes left. No. 46 will stay out. No. 44 is in the pits for a change and will head out again. No. 45 is out again. No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari is in the run off again but does not appear to have impacted the wall. He'll probably finish the session there. No. 46 is called in but Patrick says he thinks he has one more fast lap and asks to stay out.

4:47 - Pfeiffer calls the No. 45 in to check tire pressures and to make a change. Wolf was about to hit a lap with traffic, so this is a good time to make the change. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari was shown on TV in a run off. Not sure what happened there. No. 62 Risi Ferrari now P1.

4:45 pm - Wolf moves briefly to P1, then the No. 71 tops him to take the fastest lap of the session. No. 46 is P4 and No. 44 now P5. No. 45 engineer Stefan Pfeiffer notes that the tire pressures are still coming up so Wolf's fastest lap could be still to come.

4:43 pm - No. 62 is currently in P1. No. 71 in P2. No. 46 P3. No. 45 is P5 and No. 44 P 8. We should see Wolf and Martin on their faster laps starting the next lap.

4:39 pm - No. 45 heads out with Wolf at the wheel and No. 44 follows him out with Martin at the wheel.

4:36 pm - No. 46 engine fires up and Patrick heads out of the pits. No. 44 and 45 still in the pits. All three Lizard Porsches should be on slicks.

4:35 pm - Green flag. Lizard cars are going to wait in pit lane a bit - hoping that the track will dry out and there will not be a red flag.

4:30 pm - Looks like qualifying will go forward as scheduled. Because there is still water on the course, teams may start on either wets or on their marked, qualifying tires. If cars go out on wets and the course is too wet, the cars may come back in and change tires to the qualifying tires. This is an exception - normally during dry qualifying, cars must start and stay on the same marked, qualifying tires, of which 3 must be the tires that the car starts the race with. Patrick is qualifying in the No. 46, Martin in the No. 44 and Wolf in the No. 45.

4:20 pm - checkered flag. We still do not know if qualifying will be held or not. I'll keep you posted. It is scheduled to start in 15 minutes at 4:35

4:17 pm - Patrick calls in that he thinks he can go to slicks now but it is too late to get him onto slicks and out again before the end of the session.

4:14 pm - Five minutes remain. This will be a tough qualifying session - they have an almost dry line, but offline it is still quite wet, which will send the cars, which will qualify on slicks, spinning if they go off line. We will know shortly if the qualifying will be held.

4:13 pm - Martin is out in the No. 44, also on wets. 7 minutes left in the session.

4:08 pm - Patrick is out in the No. 46 on wets. The sun is out now which will help the track dry faster. The No. 6 Penske prototype nosed into the tires but continued.

4:04 pm - The track is rapidly drying out but still has wet spots. Wolf Henzler just went out in the No. 45 on wets. 16 minutes left in the session.

3:50 - 30 minutes remain in the practice session. We are still parked in pit lane and the track is still wet although it has stopped raining.

3:35 - Green flag. The course is again green - the No. 62 Ferrari and a few other cars have gone back out but the course is really wet. The rain has stopped for now so hopefully it will dry out quickly. The three Lizard Porsches are parked in pit lane until the track dries out more. There's no benefit for us to run on rain tires at this point - the race tomorrow is predicted to be a dry race, and we won't learn anything more on wets. We'll wait until we can run again on slicks before heading out.

3:28 - Red flag to remove the No. 40 which hit the tire wall.

3:26 - Heavy rain has started on the front straight. All three cars are called into the pits. They are all on slicks and it is not possible to drive in the rain on slicks. Looks like the NO. 40 car is stopped on course in Turn 13. It's a shame that it had to start raining just when the session began. if this continues for the whole session, we will have almost no setup time before the race tomorrow.

3:22 - The No. 6 Penske is off in one of the run offs but is continuing. We can see heavy rain drops now on the No. 45 windshield from the in car camera.

3:20 pm - Green flag on the session. Joerg reports rain drops on his windshield. the track is still dry and the cars are on slicks, but we are hearing from race control that there is moisture already in Turn 12. the No. 37 Intersport prototype has stalled on track and is now moving slowly. Still green flag.

3:15 pm ET - Good afternoon from Detroit. We had a wet morning practice session, and now that the track has completely dried out, it is threatening rain again just in time for the start of this afternoon's session. Hopefully the rain will hold off until after qualifying, which is scheduled to begin at 4:35 pm. All three Lizard Porsches are in line ready to go out - Martin is in the No. 44, Joerg in the No. 45 and Patrick in the No. 46.

10:30 am ET - Checkered flag. We'll see you again this afternoon at 3:20 pm ET.

10:27 - The No. 45 pits and that will be it for that car for the session. The No. 44 is the only Lizard Porsche still out. This afternoon's one-hour practice session will start at 3:20 pm ET. Qualifying will follow the session, starting at 4:35 pm ET. Reminder that SpeedTV.com will broadcast qualifying live. For info - see www.speedtv.com.

10:25 - The 007 Aston Martin GT2 car is in the runoff in Turn 8. Course is still green.

10:24 - Lonnie pits in the No. 44 for driver change to Martin. The No. 44 is also still on rain tires. Five minutes left in the session. Wolf now has the fastest time in the session.

10:17 am - Lonnie Pechnik is heading out in the No. 44. No. 46 is heading back to the garage. Wolf is still out in the No. 45.

10:12 am - Wolf is back in the No.45 and will head out. He is still on rain tires. Looks like one of the Dyson prototypes is in the tire wall with a light impact, but was able to continue. Just over 15 minutes left in the session.

10:07 am - Johannes van Overbeek is out now in the No. 46 Porsche for his first run around the track. No. 44 and No. 45 are still parked in pit lane. The track is looking much drier now on video coverage.

10:00 - All three Lizard Porsches are still sitting in pit lane. The track is drying out so if the rain holds off we will probably go out again at the end of the session, which goes until 10:30 am ET.

9:37 am - Weather looks like it will clear up for a short time, then heavier rain is on the way. We have been out on rain tires the entire session so far. No. 45 engineer Stefan Pfeiffer lets the No. 45 crew know that they have done enough work on wets and will wait in the pits with the hope that the track will dry out and they can move to slicks. I expect that if/when the heavy rain hits, the three Lizard Porshes will head back to the garage. Martin has had a clean few laps in the No. 44 and just set the fastest time of the session. Car chief John Wright calls him into the pits. The No. 46 is still in the pits, waiting for the track to dry out a bit.

9:25 - Martin is out in the No. 44 for his first lap around the circuit. Joerg radios in that there is a lot of standing water on the track. All cars are still on rain tires.

9:20 am - Joerg is out in the No. 45. The No. 46 is parked in pit lane with the No. 44, waiting until the rain lets up. I think Joerg may be the only car on track right now.

9:16 am - The No. 44 is in the pits. Strategist John Wright makes the call to hold the car until the rain lightens up a bit. No. 45 is in the pits for driver change to Joerg.

9:14 am - The rain is getting heavier. No. 44 will pit for a driver change to Martin. No. 45 is called into the pits. Lonnie just spun in the No. 44, momentarily blocking the course, but luckily was abe to continue without incident.

9:08 am - Wolf has the fastest time so far in the session but with all the cars on rain tires, the times are very slow. Lonnie in the No. 44 is P2.

9:02 am - All three Lizard Porsches have completed one installation lap safely and are back in pit lane. The track is very wet and slick, although the rain appears to be letting up. Rain is predicted to be sporadic throughout the day, so there is a chance that this afternoon's 1 hour practice session and qualifying could be rained out. So, even with the wet conditions, we want to take as much advantage of this morning's session as we can. Thankfully, tomorrow (raceday) is predicted to be clear with no chance of rain.

8:55 am ET - Good morning from wet and humid Detroit. The rain started just in time for this morning's 90 minute practice session. The three Lizard Porsches are lined up 1, 2, 3 at pit out- there of the few cars which have elected to go out on the slick track. Even with the rain, because we have limited practice time this week, the Lizards will go out in the session. Three Lizard drivers (Lonnie Pechnik, Patrick Pilet and Martin Ragginger) have not yet driven at this track and need the practice time. Starting in the cars are Wolf Henzler in the No. 45, Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 and Lonnie Pechnik in the No. 44. Martin Ragginger is a guest driver wiht us tihs weekend. He is a 20-year old Porsche Junior Factory Driver and will team with Lonnie Pechnik in the No. 44 for this race. (Seth Neiman has family commitments this weekend and will be back with us at Atlanta.)

Detroit will be Martin's first ALMS race, and his first race ever in an RSR - he drives with the UPS Porsche Junior team in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup series.

Mosport Raceday August 24 - 3rd, 7th and 9th

2008-08-24T07:02:00.001-07:00

Update - 6:15 pm - We were notified by IMSA that the No. 45 will be awarded third place, after a penalty was assessed on the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari. I will update more when I know more.

Update *** Checkered flag - Lizards are No. 45 P 4; No. 44 P 7; No. 46 P 9. The final pass by the No. 71 is under review . If results change, I will update the blog. ***

5:50 pm - On the last lap, the No. 71 passed Joerg on the inside, once again making prolonged contact as he passed. Race control is reviewing the incident. No. 45 is now P4. No. 62 is P1; No. 87 P2; No. 71 P 3, No. 45 P 4. No. 44 is P 7 and No. 46 P 9.

5:48 pm - In his last attempt, the No .71 dropped a wheel off and lost some time.

5:47 - The No. 71 made impact with the No. 45 twice more on his last attempt to pass.

5:44 -Less than six minute remaining. Joerg has been able to hold off the No. 71 but so far, but he reports that the No. 71 keeeps hitting him from the rear. The No. 71 made impact twice on the driver side in his last attempt to pass.

5:38 - Six laps to go and the NO. 71 in P4 is still nose to tail with the No. 45 in P3 - the No. 71 is nearly touching the rear of the No. 45.

5:29 - The No. 62 went by the No. 87 to retake the lead. The No. 87 is P2. Joerg in the No. 45 is P3. Joerg in P3 is doing everything he can to hold off the NO. 71 Ferrari which is in P4. No. 44 P7 and No. 46 P 10.

5:25 - 25 minutes left in the race.

5:21 - The No. 62 was split from the No. 87 by GT1 traffic, giving the No. 87 back a bit of breathing room. No. 45 still P3, No. 4 P 7. No 46 P 10.

5:19 pm - Joerg reports that he was hit by the No. 71 Ferrari in the turn 8 or 9 in the last lap. The No. 62 in P2 is putting a lot of pressure on the No. 87 in the lead.

5:18 pm - It may come down to a fuel chase at the end. The No. 87 pitted earlier than the rest of the GT2 leaders on the last yellow so they will have slightly less fuel than the No. 62 in P2 and the No. 45 in P3.

5:08 pm - The No. 62 got by Joerg to move to P2. Joerg now P3. No. 44 P6. No. 46 P 10

4:58 - The No. 46 is back out after the crew replaced the starter. No. 87 still in the lead, and No. 45, 62, and No. 71 still nose to tail in P2, P3, and P4 respectively. No. 44 is P 6. No. 46 has fallen back in the field after the lengthy pit stop - to P 10. ABout 50 minutes left in the race.

4:53 pm - No. 87 is P1; No. 45 P2; No. 62 P 3; No. 71 P 4. No. 87 has a gap in front of the field, but the No. 45, No. 62 and No. 71 are nose to tail. In the No. 44, Lonnie has moved to P6. No. 46 is still in the pits as they complete the starter change.

4:51 pm - Green flag. No. 46 still in the pits under repair.

4:48 pm - No. 71 pitted and No. 62 pitted. I'll report positions in a minute. No. 46 still sitting in the pits. No. 44 will pit in a minute.

4:42 - No. 45 and No. 46 are called into the pits. Clean pit stops for both cars, short fuel and tires. The No. 45 is out quickly but the No. 46 will not start. They put the car back up the jacks, wheels off. They believe that they need to replace the starter.

4:38 pm - I expect all three Lizard Porsches to pit late in this yellow.
The crews are lined up on the walls. Pit stops would be for fuel and tires only, not driver changes. Positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 45; P 3 No. 71; P 4 No. 46. No. 44 is P7. It's unclear if the No. 62 or the No. 71 will pit - they could double stint tires.

4:35 pm - No. 87 pitted. early in the yellow.

4:31 - Major incident - a solo incident with one of the Intersport cars - it looks like it was the No. 30 although I can't confirm tha tyet. 2. Yellow flag. Not sure which one. Driver is out of car and talking to officials. TV coverage shows a very heavy impact with the concrete wall. Ambulance is on the scene.

4:30 pm - The No. 71 has closed the gap between him and Joerg to less than 1 second.

4:23 pm - the No. 71 has passed the No. 87 to take P3. This puts him behind Joerg in P2.

4:16 pm PT. Positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 45; P 3 No. 87; P 4 No. 71; P 5 No. 46; P 6 No. 21; P 7 No. 44. The No. 62 is about 3 seconds ahead of Joerg in the No. 45. The No. 71 in P4 is putting a lot of pressure on the No. 87 in third.

4:08 pm - The No. 71 has passed Patrick to take P 4. Patrick in No. 46 is now P5. Timing and scoring shows Johannes still in the car, but it's Patrick.

4:06 pm - The No. 62 just got by in traffic on the outside as Joerg moved to the inside to avoid the No. 12 car which was slow on course. This puts the No. 62 back in the lead. Joerg is now P2.

4:05 pm - Green flag.

4:02 pm - No. 45 was able to beat the No. 62 and the No. 87 out of the pits, and also I believe the No. 71 which puts him in the lead. The No. 46 is out in fourth, ahead of the No. 71. Seth is in eighth. Positions: P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 62; P 3 No. 87; P 4 No. 46; P 5 No. 71

4:00 pm - No. 45 pits first, No. 46 pits second, and No. 44 pits third but nearly all three in the stalls simultaneously. Joerg Bergmeister will get in the No. 45, Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 and Lonnie Pechnik in the No. 44

3:57 pm - Waveby begun.

3:55 pm - No. 87 reported by race control to have no headlights. Cars are require to have functioning headlights.

3:48 pm - This will be very helpful for the Lizards as it should allow the No. 45 and the No. 46 to close the gap to the Ferraris in the lead. I expect all three Lizard cars to pit late in the yellow for tires, fuel, and driver change.

3:46 - Double Yellow - the No 18 is off in Turn 2 in what appears to be a hard impact into the tire wall. No report yet on driver. From TV coverage it appears that he lost a wheel or some element of the rear suspension which caused him to lose a wheel, spin and impact the wall. This will be a long yellow as they need to do significant repoair to the tire wall. It's a shame as I believe this was a brand new car for that team.

3:43 pm - Positions remain unchanged. The Porsches in P3 (No. 45), 4 (P 87), and 5 (No. 46) are not making any headway on closing the gap to the Ferraris in P1 (No. 62) and 2 (No. 71). In the No. 44, Seth is now P8.

3:38 pm - In the No. 46, Johannes reports that the car is starting to get very loose.

3:34 pm - Lead positions remain unchanged. Wolf is P3, 17 seconds back from the GT2 leader, No. 62 Risi Competizione and 8 seconds back from P2, the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari. Johannes is P 5, less than 4 seconds back from the No. 87 in P4.

3:26 - Wolf was able to pass the No. 87 and takes third. Johannes in the No. 46 has closed the gap slightly to the No. 45 and No. 87 and will work now on reeling in the No. 87. Unfortunately, the No .62 Ferrari in the lead now has a 16 second lead over Wolf. The No. 71 in second position has an 11 second lead over Wolf. The No. 46 is in fifth and the No. 44 in ninth.

3:18 pm - Wolf still trying to get past the No. 87 and is nose to tail but has not get been able to pass. The No. 87 is starting to make a few mistakes as Wolf increases the pressure and stays right behind him. Unfortunately, the Ferraris have widened the gap and the No. 62 is now 13 seconds ahead of the No. 45.

3:16 pm - Johannes got by the No. 21 to retake P5.

3:14 pm - Wolf is being held up by the No. 87 but cannot get by him. Positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 71; P 3 No. 87; P 4 No. 45; P 5 No. 21; P 6 No. 46. No. 44 is P9.

3:10 pm - The No.71 got past the No. 87 to take second.

3:06 pm - Johannes reports that he got bumped by the No. 21 at the start but all seems to be ok. He lost one position in the incident and is now P6. Wolf had a clean start and has maintained P4. He is behind the No. 62 in P1, the No. 87 in P2 and the No. 71 in P3. The No. 71 is putting a lot of pressure on the No. 87 and looking for an opportunity to pass. Wolf is staying close behidn teh No. 71 also looking for an opportunity. Seth in the No. 44 is P9.

3:05 pm - Green flag.

3:00 pm - Pace lap underway.

2:58 pm - Engine start and cars are rolling for pace laps. There will be two pace laps for this race.

2:41 pm - Good news - it looks like the rain weather may blow over completely and we can have a dry race start.

*** We are broadcasting our team radio, but with the heavy cloudcover our Internet connection will be intermittent so if you get disconnected, wait a minute and then try again. Instructions for listening in are at the Follow the Race tab on the home page.***

2:25 pm ET - The cars are on the grid. Nearing race start (scheduled for 3:05 pm) skies are now threatening rain. Because of the high probability of rain at race start, race control is allowing teams to change to rain tires on the grid up until 2:50 pm. All three Lizard Porsches are still on slicks, but we have rain tires at the grid and will make the decision at 2:45 pm. It is still dry and the skies are lightening on the edges but there are some dark clouds overhead.
Starting drivers are: Seth Neiman in the No. 44, Wolf Henzler in the No. 45, and Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 46. Starting positions are: No. 45 P 4, No. 46 P 5, and No. 44 P9.

10:30 am ET - Checkered flag on the morning warmup. Both the No. 45 and the No. 46 went into the garage early for repairs. Both cars appear to have a drivetrain-related issue and the crew are working to diagnose and repair the issues. The crew expects to have both cars out again for recon laps which start around 2:10 pm. The No. 44 had no issues during the warmup and was eighth in the session. Before the No. 46 headed into the garage, it was third. Ferraris were one and two - No. 62 was P1 and No. 71 P2.

10:18 am - In the No. 46, heading out of pit lane, Johannes reports something is wrong - he isn't sure - may be a broken axle. The crew directs him directly back to the paddock and joins him with a quad to tow him back.

10:15 am - Patrick will pit this lap for a setup adjustment, driver change to Johannes and new tires. Patrick reports "a bit" of understeer in the fast and slow corners. He is currently P2. Seth is P 7.

10:11 am - No. 44 and No. 46 are both still out. No. 46 is currently P1 in the session with Patrick Pilet. No. 44 is P 6 with Seth Neiman behind the wheel.

10:09 am - The No. 45 is heading back behind the wall for repairs. It may be a gearbox issue.

10:06 am - No. 45 is slow through turn six. Not sure what the issue is. Wolf reports no drive when he goes to the throttle. He has pitted for the crew to have a look.

10:05 am - Green flag on the 30-minute warmup session. It's noticeably cooler temperatures today with a chance of rain forecast. With the low clouds, humidity and breeze, I would guess that rain is likely at some point today.

10:04 am ET - We are just one minute from warmup start. Wolf Henzler is in the No. 45, Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 and Seth Neiman in the No. 44. We are broadcasting our team radios today during the morning warmup and race - to listen, go to the home page "Follow the Race" tab.

Mosport Aug 23 - Practice Sessions & Qualifying

2008-08-23T06:34:00.001-07:00

3:20 pm - Qualifying results: P1 No. 62; P2 No. 87; P3 No. 71; P 4. No. 45; P 5 No. 46. No. 44 is P 10.

3:11 pm ET - The No. 62 just set a new track record in GT2 with a 1:16.911 with Jaime Melo behind the wheel. No. 45 and No. 46 are in the pits. Neiman in the No. 44 is still out.

3:09 pm - No. 87 is P1, No. 62 is P2, No. 71 is P3, No. 45 is P 4, No. 45 is P5. Patrick is pitting in the No. 46 and they will call Wolf back in in a minute. The Top five GT2 cars are withing five tenths of a second of one another.

3:09 pm - The No. 62 and the No. 71 are now out on track. 10 minutes left in the session.

3:07 pm ET - The No. 11 has spun out of Turn 3 but is trying to continue.

3:04 pm - The No. 87 is now P1. No. 62 and the No. 71 tafel racing Ferrari have not gone out yet.

3:03 pm ET - Wolf is P1 in No. 45. Patrick is P2 in the No. 46, Seth is P 8 in the No. 44. They have called Wolf into the pits for a setup change.

3:00 - Green flag on the qualifying session.

2:55 - We are ready for qualifying and the No. 45 with Wolf Henzler at the wheel is getting in line. The No. 46 with Patrick at the wheel is also getting in line. Seth Neiman will qualify the No. 44 and he is also heading out.

2:36 - Race control has notified us that GT2 qualifying will be held at 3:00 to 3:20 pm

2:19 pm - Checkered flag is out on the session due to the asphalt problem. Race control has not yet made a decision about qualifying, which had been scheduled to start at 2:40. We should know shortly.

2:12 pm - Red flag. The track in turn 4 is once again starting to come up. They had repaired it yesterday but with the hot afternoon temperatures it is starting to disintegrate again.

2:11 pm - 19 minutes left in the session. No. 45 is P3; No. 46 P 6, No. 44 P 7.

2:01 pm - Seth Neiman is at the wheel of the No. 44 and had a spin on course, going into some dirt, but continued.

1:54 - Green flag.

1:47 pm ET - Red flag for debris on track.

40 minutes left in the session. Qualifying begins right after this session. Wolf will qualify in the No. 45, Patrick in the No. 46 and Seth in the No. 44. No. 45 now P3. No. 71 P1. No. 62 P 2. No 87 P 4. No 46 P 5. No 44 P 6. The No. 71 set a time of 1:17.230.

1:42 pm ET - No. 45 is P2, No. 45 is P 5, and No. 44 is P6. Joerg is in the No. 45, Johannes in the No. 46 and Lonnie Pechnik in the No. 44.

1:30 pm -ET - AFternoon Practice. Green flag on the session. The No. 45 and No. 44 are out on course. The No. 46 is just leaving the pits.

10:31 pm ET - The No. 12 prototype lost a wheel and is off course in Turn 5. So this will be the end of the session. No. 62 was P1, No. 45 P2, No. 71 P3, No.87 P4, No. 73 P5, and No. 46 P6. No 44 was P 8.

This afternoon's session is 1:30-2:30 pm ET. GT2 qualifying follows immediately after the session from 2:40-3:00.

10:26 am - Green flag. Just under 9 minutes left. Joerg is now in the No. 45; Lonnie in the No. 44 and Patrick in the No. 46.

10:21 am - Still red. They are restacking the tire wall which was pushed back by the incident. Expect green in a few minutes - will probably be about 10 minutes left in the session.

10:09 am - Red flag. The No. 4 Corvette is in the tire wall in turn 2 with a very hard hit. Driver is out of the car and standing. 25 minutes remaining. This should be at least a 4 minute red to remove the car.

10:04 am - One of the Audis spun on course, but continued without incident.

10:00 am ET Melo now P1 in the No. 62. Wolf P2 in the No. 45. Mueller P3 in the No. 71 and Johannes P4 in the No. 46

9:57 am - Wolf has pitted for a setup change. Johannes is also pitting.

9:55 - Wolf reporting a strong understeer when he turns in.

9:47 am - Wolf P1, Jaime Melo in No. 62 is P2. Johannes in the No. 46 is P3. Dirk Mueller in the No. 71 is P4. Seth is P7.

9:42 - Wolf is currently P1. Johannes is P2 and Seth is P 7. There are 11 cars in GT2 here this week at Mosport. Times are fast this morning with the cooler temperatures. Wolf's last lap time of 1:17.925 is close to last year's qualifying time of 1:17.841 (which was a track lap record.)

9:35 am - Green flag. This is a combined session with prototypes and GT. yesterday repairs were done on the track which began to disintegrate in Turn 4. Hopefully these repairs will hold through the race.

Saturday August 23 -
9:30 am ET. Good morning from Mosport. It's a bit cooler this morning with a nice breeze - warm and pleasant weather for today's two practice sessions and qualifying. All three Lizard Porsches will go out this morning for the 1 hour practice session. We have a second practice session this afternoon, immediately followed by qualifying. Wolf is in the No. 45, Johannes in the No. 46 and Seth in the No. 44.

Mosport Aug. 22 Test Session

2008-08-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

3:33 - Checkered flag. they have ended the session because of the disintegrating track. They may give us some additional track time later today to make up for the shortened session.

3:25 pm - Red flag. It looks like the track is starting to disintegrate in Turn 4 - a pot hole at the maximum acceleration point - where the rear tire will be.

3:16 pm - Joerg pits for driver change to Wolf Henzler. Joerg is still P3 in the session.

3:13 pm Johannes is now in the No. 46. He will also need to be push starte
3:11 pm - Lonnie Pechnik is the co-driver in the No. 44 Porsche. He had a flight delay yesterday and will not make today's session. The No. 44 crew may have Johannes drive the No. 44 at the end of the session.

3:05 pm - The No. 46 is back in pit lane. It looks like we will not need to do the repair during the session after all and the car can be jump started.

3:04 pm - Joerg is P3 in the session. Patrick is P 5. Seth is P 8.

3:00 - The No. 46 will have to go behind the wall to repair whatever is keeping it from starting normally. The crew have been push starting it but the officials want it repaired.

2:55 - Green flag, and start of ocmbined session. Prototypes are now on course.

2:50 pm - All three Lizard Porsches are back in the pits. Now that tires are up to speed, the engineers on all three cars are making rapid aero changes, taking advantage of the GT only portion of the session.

2:47 pm - The No. 71 Ferrari is off ourse with a flat tire. Red flag.

2:43 pm - Joerg reports to much understeer on the high speed corners and oversteer in other areas. He pits for a setup adjustment.

2:39 - Patrick is in the pits in the No. 46 for some setup adjustments. Seth is also in the pits in the No. 44.

2:32 pm ET - The No. 45 is in the pits for its install check. Joerg is P2 in the session right now. Patrick is P 5.

2:22 pm ET - Two of the three Lizard Porsches are lined up and ready to go. Joerg is out in the No.45, Seth is in the No. 44. The No. 46 is having some starter or battery issues but is now in pit lane - Patrick will be first out in that car.
This is a GT2 only session for the first 30 mins.

Aug 22 - 2:15 pm ET - Good afternoon from Mosport. We are getting ready for our first official pratice session today. The team has been here testing earlier in the week. Up until today the weather has been gorgeous - low humidity and low 80's. Today it's more humid and hotter in the upper 80s. The report from the engineers and drivers is that the track is very bumpy and abrasive. We have a bit of a head start on our setup but still have a lot of work to do in today's session and tomorrow's two one-hour practice sessions. This is race 8 of the 11 race season. We are in the lead right now in both the team and the drivers championships.

Road America - Lizards P2, P 4, P 7 !

2008-08-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

***No 45 is second, No. 46 fourth and No. 44 seventh in GT2. Congratulations to the team! **

8:17 pm - The No. 87 passed the No. 62 - the No. 62 tried to repass and spun. Wolf passed the No. 71 Tafel Ferrari to move to P2. No. 87 won in GT2. Patrick is P4.
Congratulations to the Lizards on a great result in a frustrating race. Great, clean pass by Wolf on the last lap to take second.

P1 No. 87; P 2 No. 45; P 3 No. 71; P 4 No. 46. No. 44 is P7.

8:14 pm - Wolf is putting as much pressure as he can on the No. 71. He almost had him but had to go wide and lost the gap.

8:13 pm CT - Green flag.

8:12 pm - 4 minutes left. Still yellow. P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 87; P 3 No. 71; P 4 No. 45; P 5 No. 46; P 5 No. 61; P 7 No. 44.

8:05 pm CT - The No. 26 Acura and the 007 Aston Martin are in the gravel after colliding on course. Yellow flag. The No. 71 passed Patrick in the No. 46 to take P3. The No. 45 also passed Patrick to take P4. No. 44 is P 7. Positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 87; P 3. No. 71; P 4 No. 45; P 5 No. 46. P 5 No. 61; P 7 No. 44. Nine minutes remaining. The race, most of which was run under yellow, may finish under yellow.

8:00 pm CT. 15 minutes left in the race. P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 87; P3 No. 46; P 4 No. 71; P 5 No. 45. Darren in the No. 44 is P7. The No. 71 is pushing hard on Patrick. Heard from the feed that the No. 62 does not need to stop again for fuel.

7:48 pm CT both the No. 71 and the No. 45 got stuck behind the No. 18 Porsche which is several laps back. They were finally able to thread safely by him but got separated from the pack. Wolf is stuck now behind a slow prototype that the No. 71 was able to get by. So there's now a gap between the No. 71 and Wolf in P5.

7:55 pm CT - Green Flag.

7:50 - All three Lizard Porsches are good on fuel through the end of the race. With the many cautions, they have been able to conserve fuel and can make it to the end. I believe that the No. 62 Risi Ferrari, which is in the lead, will have to stop again for fuel. I don't know the status of the No. 87, which is in P2. The No. 71 is in P4 and the No. 45 is P5. Darren in the No. 44 is in P7. We believe that the No 61 Ferrari, which is in P6, but one lap ahead of Darren, will have to stop for fuel before the end of the race. 24 minutes left.

7:42 - The No. 15 is off in the gravel in Turn 3 and it's double yellow. Looks like a broken wheel or rear suspension caused the problem. A very frustrating race so far with all of the yellows and issues.

7:41 - Unfortunately both the No. 71 and the No. 46 both went by the No. 45 on the restart. Not sure what happened, but Wolf may have been hit during the restart, forcing him wide. Positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 87; P 3 No. 71; P 4 No. 46; P 5 No. 45. No. 44 P 7. 35 minutes left.

7:39 pm - Green flag.

7:35 pm - Still yellow. P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 87; P 3 No. 45; P 4 No. 71; P 5 No. 46. No. 44 P7 but is 2 laps down on the GT2 leader. The wave by has begun to get to the overall race leader.

7:32 pm - The No. 44 pits for a short splash of fuel. The No. 45 and No. 46 may be able to make it to the end of the race without having to come in for fuel. I believe that the No. 62 Risi Ferrari, which is now P1, will have to pit again. I don't know about the No. 87 which is in P2. Because timing and scoring was not functioning properly at the start, we don't have a correct read on pit stops.

7:28 pm - Still yellow.

7:23 pm - The No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche in P2 is putting a lot of pressure on the No. 62 Risi Ferrari in the lead. One of the corvettes went off course and collected some signage and looks like he is out. Double yellow.

7:21 pm - In the No. 44, Darren is nose to tail with the No. 61 Ferrari, who is one lap up from him but once Darren gets past him, he will now be on his lap, and just one lap down on the GT2 leaders.

7:17 pm. No. 62 still P1. No. 87 P2. No. 45 P3. No. 71 P4. No. 46 P5. No. 44 P7.

7:13 pm - Green flag.

7:10 am - Green next time by. The No. 62, which did not pit yet under this yellow, is P1. No. 87 is P2. No. 45 is P3. No 46 is P4. No. 71 is P5. No. 44 is P7. The top 5 GT2 cars are all bunched up so this will be a very challenging restart.

7:06 pm - All three Lizard cars pit simultaneously. No. 44 does a driver change. No. 45 Wolf stays in; No. 46 Patrick stays in . No. 45 is quickly out of the pits ahead of the No. 46. Both cars got out of the pits ahead of the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari, which had also pitted.

7:03 pm - In the No. 45, Wolf now in the lead. No. 71 is P2; No. 62 is P3. No. 46 P 4; No. 87 P5. No. 44 is now P 7.

6:59 pm - Still yellow. Lizards are staying out for now. In the No. 45, it looks like Wolf will stay in the car during his pit stop but Joerg will change the drink bottle. In the No. 44, Darren will take over for Seth. In the No. 46, Patrick will stay in the car.

6:54 pm - A car is off in Turn 12, looks like the No. 73 Tafel Racing Ferrari was involved in the incident. Double yellow. All Lizard cars will pit under this yellow. It looks like Joerg will get into the No. 45, Darren in the NO. 44 and Patrick will stay in the No. 46.

6:49 pm - Wolf now under 4 seconds back from the No. 62. Under 90 minutes left in the stint.

6:46 - The No. 87 passed the No. 46 to move into fourth. Patrick in the No. 46 is now fifth. Positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 45; P 3 No. 71; P4 No. 87; P 5 No. 46. No. 44 is P8.

6:44 pm - Wolf, in the No. 45 in P2 has closed the gap even further to the No. 62 Risi which is in P1. Patrick in the No. 46 is P4.

6:41 pm - Looks like the No. 71 Tafel Ferrari is by the No. 46 to take P3. The No. 87, which is on a faster pace than the No. 46, is now pushing hard on the No. 46.

6:33 - 1 hour and 43 minutes left in the race. No. 62 Ferrari in the lead. Wolf in the No. 45 is P2; P 3 No. 46. No. 44 is P8. All three Lizard cars will need to stop again for fuel (they can run about 1 hour here per full fueling). Wolf is slowly closing the gap between him and the No. 62 Risi Ferrari. He is now 6 seconds back. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari in fourth is right behind Patrick in the No. 46, in third.

6:26 pm - The No. 007 has a small fire under the car. They have extinguished it in the pits. A car is also partially blocking pit in - the GT2 Dodge viper, I think.

6:23 pm - Positions: P1 No. 62; P2 No. 45; P 3 No. 46; P 4 No. 87; P 5 No. 71; P 6 No. 73. No. 44 is P8. Patrick radios in that the car is good and he is going to try to push.

6:18 - Wolf in the No. 45 now P2.

6:16 pm - The No. 87 is now in the lead. No. 62 Risi Ferrari is P2. No. 45 is P3. No. 46 is P4. No. 71 is P5. No. 44 is P8.

6:13 pm - The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferari is in the pits for tires and fuel. I think they did a driver change to Dirk Mueller. I will report positions next lap after the field settles back in.

6:12 pm - The No. 45 has a very clean stop and Wolf is out quickly. The No. 46 is out just a few seconds later with Patrick Pilet at the wheel.

6:11 pm - No. 45 pits for driver change to Wolf Henzler, tires and fuel. No. 46 pits Just after him for driver change to Patrick Pilet, tires and fuel.

6:09 pm - After positions settled a bit after the 62 pit stop- No. 45 is P1; No. 87 P2; No. 46 P3; No. 71 P4; No. 62 P5.

6:07 pm - No. 62, the GT2 leader, pits and No. 45 moves into the lead. No. 87 is P3. No. 46 is P4, No. 71 is P5. No. 44 is P8.

6:04 pm - No. 45 is getting ready to pit. No. 46 will also pit.

5:58 pm - The No. 87 got past Johannes to take P3. Johannes now P4. Wolf is getting his helmet on so they are getting close to the pit stop for the No. 45, which is in P2.

5:57 - The No. 44 is in the pits for tires and fuel. Darren did a driver change to Seth Neiman in the No. 44. No. 45 with Joerg still on his first stint, is P2. No. 46, with Johannes still on his first stint is P3. Both the No. 45 and No. 46 are close to their driver change windows. If we don't have a yellow, they should pit within 15 to 20 minutes.

5:53 pm - Darren flat spotted one of the rear tires and needs to pit for new tires. In the No. 46, Johannes has the No. 61 Ferrari behind him (not for position he is one lap back) and the No. 87 right behind the ferrari. The FErrari has just passed Johannes, and now the No. 87 is right on his tail.

5:48 - No. 62 is P1; No. 45 P2; No. 46 P3; No. 87 P4; No. 71 P5. No. 44 P8. Joerg is 8 seconds back from the No. 62, and is running a slightly slower pace. Johannes is wrestling with the No. 46 and is significantly off the pace. Johannes is holding on to P3, but No. 87 is right behind him.

5:44 - The No. 21 is in the pits to serve a penalty for a violation during its last pit stop.

5:38 - The timing and scoring that we can see is not functioning properly so apologies if coverage is a bit spotty. The No. 62 Risi Ferrari is in the lead. Joerg in the No. 45 is P2. Johannes in No. 46 is now P3, after the P 4 car, the No. 21, just pitted. Darren is in P9 in the No. 44. Darren is one lap down from the GT2 lead pack. We have 2 hours and 42 minutes left in the race - just under the normal race length.

5:36 pm - The No. 30 just went off course into the gravel but continued. Quite a lot of gravel on the track near the kink. No. 21, which was in P3 is in the pits.

5:29 pm - Joerg in the No. 45 is minus 3.3 from the No. 62 Risi Ferrari. The No. 62 is on a slightly faster pace than the No. 45.

5:26 pm - Joerg has passed the No. 21 to move into P2. No. 62 Risi Ferrari in P2. Johannes still P4. Darren P8.

5:22 pm - The No. 62 Risi Ferrari has moved past the No. 21 to take the lead. Joerg is starting to put pressure on the No. 21 Panoz. Johannes in P4. Darren is in P8.

5:18 pm CT - Positions (I think) are: P1 No. 21; P 2 No. 62; P 3 No. 46; P 4 No. 73. Joerg moved past the No. 73 to take fourth and is waiting for a chance to move past Johannes - yes, he just passed him to to take P3. The No. 46 is slightly off the pace right now.

5:18 pm CT - Green flag.

5:13 pm - The No. 71, which was in P2, finally pits for fuel - not sure if they did tires, but I don't think so. Still yellow. The NO. 21, in the lead, has not yet pitted.

5:11 pm CT - Well, nearly an hour into the race and most of it has been run under yellow. Hopefully we'll get through this and have a solid rest of the 3 hours. REminder that we are broadcasting our team radios - see the "Follow the RAce" tab on the home page.

5:10 pm - Johannes in the No. 46 has moved to P3. Joerg in the No. 45 is in P 6. Still yellow.

5:09 pm - The No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche just served a penalty for speeding in pit lane. Positions: P1 No. 21; P2 No. 71; P 3 No. 73; P 4 No. 46; P 5 No. 62; P 6 No. 45. None of the top three cars have pitted. No. 44 is P10. The course is double yellow because the No. 12 prorotype is slow on course.

5:07 pm CT - Green flag.

5:00 pm CT - Joerg is out again after pitting for the quick repair. Meanwhile the No. 44 pitted for tires, fuel and driver change to Darren Law. I will report positions in a minute. Still yellow.

4:57 - We have an issue on the No. 45 - a bolt may be missing or loose on the right front suspension so he must take the car around carefully and pit again for them to fix it.

4:54 - Both the No. 45 and the No. 46 are pitting for fuel and tires. Still yellow for the earlier No. 40 incident. Both cars are out quickly. The No 62 Risi Ferrari, which was in P2 also pitted. Confirmed that the No. 71 did not pit.

4:48 - The No. 40 Doran Ford is deep in the gravel after apparently being punted off by a prototype. Double yellow. This could be bad news for Joerg in the No. 45 in P1 because it will allow the No. 62 which is now in P2 and the No. 71 in P3 to close the gap that Joerg has built. But it could help the No. 46 which is in P4, allowing him to close the gap to No. 71 in P3. Seth in the No. 44 is now in P 11. Looks like Seth got the wave by under yellow, so he gets the lap back that he lost earlier.

4:42 - Joerg passed the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari to take the lead. Johannes is P4. No. 71 is now P2 and No. 62 P3. Seth in No. 44 is P13.

4:41 - Green flag.

4:38 - still yellow flag. Timing and scoring is back up in the pits so it will be easier to figure out where we are now. Out of the 14 car field, Joerg in the No. 45 is P2, Johannes in the No. 46 is is P4 and Seth in the NO. 44 is P 10. Unfortunately, Seth was in position just behind the overall leader, which will allow the lead GT2 pack to gain a lap on him - so he and the GT2 cars behind him are now one lap down on the GT2 leaders.

4:30 pm CT - Positions P1 No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari, P2 No. 45, P3 No. 62 Risi Ferrari, P4 No. 46.

4:28 pm CT - Yellow flag, the No. 66 is in the tire wall. It is so early in the race that most likely all three cars will stayout.
Correction - Joerg was able to pass the No. 62 in the first few laps so he is P2.
4:25 pm CT - It looks like Johannes in the No. 45, who started in fifth, was able to get by the 87 Farnbacher Porsche, which started in fourth. Joerg is P3 - behind the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari, which started on the pole, and the No. 62 Risi Ferrari, which started P2.

4:19 pm CT - It was a clean race start for the field. We are holding our starting positions - Joerg is P3 and Johannes is P5. Unfortunately we do not have timing and scoring in the pits right now due to to a technical issue so it will be a bit difficult to report positions.

4:15 pm CT - Joerg Bergmeister starting in the No. 45. Seth Neiman in the No. 44, Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 46. Green flag this time by.

4:13 pm - Pace cars is out - one pace lap. Green flag shortly.

4:07 pm CT - We are on a hold for a technical issue - it may be a timing and scoring issue. We don't know how long it will be but hopefully we'll get underway soon.

*** 3:55 pm CT - Five minutes to engine start. ** We are having connection problems here due to cloud cover so blog and radio may be intermittent.

11:30 am CT - Checkered flag on the session. All went well during the session for the Lizards. The No. 45 was P1 in a time set by Joerg early in the session. Darren is P5 in the No. 44 and Johannes is P7 in the No. 46.

11:28 am - Johannes pits for a setup change in the No. 46. Just 2 minutes left in the session so this will be a fast change.

** Reminder that we are broadcasting our radio live today during this morning's session and during the race. The race begins at 4 pm CT today. it will be broadcast tape-delayed on Speed TV - broadcast is Sunday, August 10 at 1 pm CT. **

11:22 - Darren is apparently having fun and doesn't want to get out of the car - he requested one more lap then will turn the car over to Seth Neiman who will finish out the session. Darren just came into town last night after finishing third in the yesterday's Grand-Am race.

11:21 - Patrick pits for a driver change to Johannes van Overbeek. Patick is P6, Darren is P4, Wolf still P1. 10 minutes left in the session. Wolf radios in that he went off in the grass in the exit of Turn 7 but all seems OK. He will stay out.

11:18 - Darren now P3. Wolf Henzler is now in the No. 45, still P1 from Joerg's earlier fast lap. Patrick Pilet is P5.

11:14 - Darren now P4 in the No. 44. Looks like he is happy with the setup that Seth worked on over the last few days. Patrick now P5.

11:11 am CT - Joerg is now P1 in the No. 45. Patrick is P4 and Darren is P7.

11:05 am CT - Good morning from Road America. Morning warmup is underway. Darren Law has arrived and is out in the No. 44 Porsche for his first run here. Joerg Bergmeister is in the No. 45, and Patrick Pilet in the No. 46. It is a beautiful day here and should be perfect racing weather. This morning's session will be a short 25 minutes - just enough time for us to check the setup changes that we made to the cars post-qualifying.

Road America - Race Day

2008-08-09T09:02:00.001-07:00

11:05 am CT - Good morning from Road America. Morning warmup is underway. Darren Law has arrived and is out in the No. 44 Porsche for his first run here. Joerg Bergmeister is in the No. 45, and Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 46. It is a beautiful day here and should be perfect racing weather.

Road America Aug. 8: Qualifying No. 45 P3; No. 46 P 5; No. 44 P 11

2008-08-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

3:18 pm - Red flag. No. 61 is stopped off course in the corner of 12. So that's it on the qualifying session. Lizards will qualify: No. 45 P3; No. 46 P 5; No. 44 P 11. No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari is on the pole.

3:13 pm - Joerg is heading back out for one more try at a faster lap. He is currently P3. Patrick is still P5 - one second back from the No. 87 which is in P4.
Patrick says that he tings he can get a faster lap and stays out. Joerg pits - he is P3.

3:09 pm CT - Joerg now P3. He is 1 tenth of a second behind the No. 62, and the No. 62 is about two tenths behind the No. 71. Joerg radios in that he does not think he can go faster on these tires and the crew calls him in. Patrick is P5 now. Patrick radioed in that he hit traffic, and will wait one lap, then try again for a fast lap. Seth is P 11.

3:08 pm CT - Qualifying is under way. Joerg in the No. 45 is P2 - on his first fast lap. Jaime Melo in the No. 62 is P1. Patrick Pilet in the NO. 46 is P7. Seth Neiman in the No. 44 is P10. 12 minutes left in the session.

2:50 pm CT - Checkered flag on the session. 10 minutes until qualifying.

2:45 - 5 minutes left. Joerg reports misfire again on reserve.

2:49 - 10 minutes left in the session. No. 71 is P1; No. 62 P2; No. 45 P3. No. 46 is P7 and No. 44 is P9.

2:35 - Joerg reports the No. 45 is misfiring on reserve. He is pitting for fuel and tires. 15 minutes left in the session before qualifying.

2:29 pm - No. 71 is P1; No. 62 is P2; No. 45 is P 3; No. 46 P6 and No. 44 in P9. 20 minutes left in the session. Johannes pits in the No. 46 for driver change to Patrick Pilet.

2:23 pm - Wolf radios in that he didn't like the last change - he feels like he has more understeer now. Seth reports that the car is pushy and he is starting to lose grip. Wolf is in the pits for driver change to Joerg.

2:14 - The No. 46 and the No. 45 both pit for changes. Wolf is now P2 in the No. 45 and Johannes is P6 in the No. 46. Seth is P10 in the No. 44. The No. 46 is making a rear wing aero change. The No. 45 is heading out again. Wolf will do one timed lap, then come in for a driver change to Joerg. The No. 46 is still working on their setup changes but will head out shortly with Johannes still behind the wheel.

2:00 pm - We are 10 minutes into this afternoon's practice session. Wolf Henzler is in the No. 45 - he's P1 and just radioed in that he's much happier with the car this session after the changes this morning. Johannes is in P4 in the No. 46. Seth Neiman is in the No. 44.

11:00 am - Checkered flag on this morning's practice session. No. 45 was P5, No. 46 P6 in the session. No. 62 was P1 in the session, No. 71 was P2, No. 21 was P 3 and No. 87 was P4. We'll be back with you this afternoon at 1:50 for another one hour practice session, then qualifying.

10:55 - Five minutes left in the session. No. 46 is heading back to the garage. No. 44 and No. 45 are still out.

10:45 - Gren flag. The No. 46 is back from the garage and Johannes is in the car. He radios in that the steering wheel is offset to the right. He'll finish out this session to make sure there are no issues with the car from Patrick's earlier run into the gravel. Wolf is in the No. 45 and Seth in the No. 44. The No. 45 is currently P5, No. 46 is P6 and No. 44 is P 13.

10:41 - Red flag to pick up some debris from the track. Seth is still out in the No. 44. In the No. 45, Wolf will take over for Joerg and finish out the session. No. 46 still in the garage. Darren Law, co driver in the No.44, will not be here until race day.

10:29 - Both the No. 45 and the No. 44 have pitted for setup changes. The setup here is significantly different than at Mid-Ohio, so yesterday's test session and today's practice session have required some major setup changes. No. 46 Porsche is still in the garage as the crew cleans out the gravel from Patrick's earlier off track incident. Joerg is now P4 in the session. No 62 is P1; No. 71 is P2, No. 87 is P3.

It's perfect racing weather today - sunny and warm, but a nice breeze and moderate temperatures.

10:21 - Joerg is currently P3 in the session. The No. 87 is P1 and the No. 71 is P2. No. 46 is P3 and the No. 44 is P4.

10:18 am - Patrick is rolling again after getting a sno-blower clean up by the safety crew to remove some of the gravel. He will head back to the garage, but will remain off line to try and keep gravel off of the track.

10:14 am CT - Good morning from Road America. We are 15 minutes into this morning's practice session. Joerg is out in the No.45, Seth in the No. 44, and Patrick was out in the No. 46 until he went deep into the gravel. he is fine and the car appears to be OK but it is really buried in gravel. So they will head directly back to the garage to remove the undertray and clean out the gravel. The session is only 1 hour so not sure if they will be back out again or not. We have two practice sessions today (10 to 11 and then again 1:50 to 2:50) and then qualifying. Qualifying will begin at 3:00 pm CT.

Road America - Test Day Aug 7

2008-08-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

*** Checkered flag on the session - we'll see you all here tomorrow for morning practice, starting at 10 am CT. ***

3:37 pm - Joerg radios in that the No. 45 is in the gravel at Turn 12 and he can't get out. Red flag and this will probably be the end of the session. They will have to pull Joerg out. Since the session is nearly over, the No. 46 and the No. 44 are heading back to the paddock.

***
A reminder that the race is broadcast on SpeedTV - it is tape delayed. The race is Saturday, the broadcast will be the following day, Sunday Aug 10 at 1 pm CT (11 am PT).

Lizards will broadcast their team radio live on raceday - both morning warmup and the race. For details see www.lizardms.com.
***

3:20 pm - 20 minutes left in the session. The next on track session will be tomorrow,Friday, starting at 10:00 am. There are two practice sessions on Friday, then morning warmup on Saturday, then the race. The race begins at 4 pm Central Time on Saturday, and lasts 4 hours.

All three cars are out in today's session. The No. 45 and No. 46 are both reporting a strong understeer and the engineers have worked most of the session on adjustments. Darren Law (Seth's codriver for the race in the No. 44) will not be here until Friday because of conflicts with a Grand-Am race so Seth Neiman will be doing setup solo on that car.

3:10 - Seth radios in that a car is off in the Kink. May go red shortly.

3:08 pm - No. 45 is currently P1 in the session (I think this was Wolf's time). No. 46 is P2. No. 44 now P 10. Green flag

3:01 pm - Red flag to pick up more debris.

2:48 pm CT - We are 40 minutes into the 90-minute test session. Red flag right now to pick up some debris in Turn 10. The No. 45 is P2 in the session, No. 46 is P4, and No. 44 is P 11.

2:30 pm CT - Good Afternoon from Road America. We are on track for today's test session in advance of Saturday's race. It's a very pleasant day here today - low humidity and a light breeze. It makes a nice change from the scorching temperatures at Mid-Ohio a few weeks ago.

All three cars are on track for the session. The engineers are running through basic setup changes right now - getting the cars adjusted to the high speed, 4 plus mile track.

Drivers this weekend will be Joerg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler in the No. 45; Seth Neiman and Darren Law in the No. 44; Patrick Pilet and Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 46.

Mid-Ohio - Race Day July 19, 2008

2008-07-19T05:02:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the Lizards!!! Another double podium. No. 46 is second, No. 45 third. No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari won in GT2. No. 44 was retired early in the race due to a mechanical failure.

4:57 pm - Johannes crossed the finish line in P2; Joerg in P3. With a lot of traffic on the last few laps, and the No. 87 right behind Joerg he was not able to get close enough to Johannes until the last lap.

4:51 pm - just under 4 minutes left. Joerg less than 2 seconds behind

4:48 - 7 minutes left. Joerg (in P3) is 3 seconds back from Johannes (in P2). It's really coming down to the wire - if Johannes keeps at this pace, and nothing else happens, he will secure P2. If his tires continue to drop off, and Joerg can do a faster pace, Joerg could possibly still pass Johannes to take P2. The No. 87 is still right behind Joerg.

4:46- Johannes and Joerg now going almost the same pace. Joerg 3.4 seconds back. 9 minutes left. 1:22 minute plus pace. The No. 87 is still close behind Joerg but he also did change tires and most likely will not be able to match Joerg's pace.

4:43 pm - Just over 11 minutes to go, Johannes, who did not change tires in his last pit stop, is reporting that his tires are really starting to go off now. Joerg (in P3) is just 4 seconds back from Johannes (in P2) and if Joerg keeps the pace he is going now, he could catch Johannes before the end of the race.

4:39 pm - Joerg lost a bit of time on the last lap as he let a group of the faster prototypes through. He is now 6.2 seconds back from Johannes in the No. 46. Johannes is one lap down from the GT2 leader, the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari. The No. 44 was retired earlier in the race because of a mechanical failure.

4:37 - Positions are unchanged. P1 No. 71; P 2 No. 46, P 3 No. 45. Joerg in the No. 45, on fresher tires than Johannes in the No. 46 is rapidly closing the gap between the two cars - he is now minus 4.6 seconds from the No. 46. 17 minutes left to go, lap times are 1:22 plus...

4:30 pm - 25 minutes left to go in the race. Both the No. 45 and No. 46 should be able to make it to the end of the race without stopping, assuming no problems. Johannes is in P2, Joerg is in P3. Joerg is on much fresher tires and is running 1 to two seconds faster than Johannes. Joerg is 8 seconds behind Johannes. both are one lap down on the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrarr, in the lead. The No. 87 is just behind Joerg and is in P4, but is running a slightly slower pace than Joerg.

4:29 pm - Joerg passed the No. 87 and is now P3. Johannes in the No. 46 is P2. No. 71Tafel Racing Ferrari is P1.

4:27 - The No. 3 and No. 4 have been given a second, and very hefty, penalty of five minutes in the penalty box under green for unjustifiable risk leaving the pit lane. I assume that this was from the earlier incident (and not another one).

4:23 - Joerg in P 4 is nose to tail with the NO. 87 in P3 and is putting a lot of pressure on the No. 87. Joerg's tires are much fresher so the No.87 is certainly having a tough time. No. 71 still in the lead, with Johannes in the No. 46 1 lap down in P2. Just over 30 minutes left in the race.

4:18 pm - Green flag. Correction No. 71 and No. 87 did not take new tires on their earlier pit stop. Joerg in the No. 45 has fresh tires. Johannes in the No. 46 does not have fresh tires as he did not pit - however, he was able to move up to second place when the GT2 cars which were ahead of him pitted. No. 46 P2, No. 45 P4 (Joerg passed the No. 21 to move from sixth to fifth, and the No. 62 served its penalty, moving from third to sixth, putting Joerg in fourth).

4:14 pm - Positions: P1 No. 71; P2 No. 46; P3 No. 62; P 4 No. 87; P 5 No. 21; P 6 No. 45; P 7 No. 61; P 8 No. 73. No 44 has been retired, due to a mechanical (gearbox) problem earlier in the race. The No. 3 and the 4 cars both received a significant penalty (stop under green 2 minutes plus) for running the red flag at pit exit (and then running into each other). Still yellow.

4:12 pm - A bit of a brouhaha between the two GT1 Corvettes leaving pit lane - they appeared to collide and then there was a bit of a tussle as neither wanted to concede the position to the other. Still yellow. Joerg pitted for fuel and tires, and restarted without problem. No. 87, 62 and No. 71 all pitted. The No. 87 and No. 62 did not take tires but the No. 71 did (we think the No. 71 took tires, but we can't confirm that yet). I'll report positions in a minute. The No. 46 did not pit. The No. 62 will be assessed a stop and go penalty under green, but I'm not sure yet the reason.

4:10 pm - Waveby complete. Cars are beginning to pit.

4:08 pm - The waveby has started.

4:03 pm - The No. 46 strategist Eric Ingraham has notified us that the No. 46 should be good on fuel to the end of the race (although it will be tight) - the lengthy caution is helping that situation. All of the GT2 cars ahead of the No. 46 will have to pit for fuel. This means that Johannes has the chance to take the lead (although the No. 71 is more than 1 lap ahead, the GT2 cars that are in positions 2 through 5 are on the same lap as Johannes). The cars which pit and change tires will be on fresher tires, but they will be behind him. The No. 45 will also need to pit. Hopefully they will be able to get the No.45 quickly restarted at the end of the pit stop and will not have the same problem that they did earlier(the No. 45 has no clutch).

4:00 - The pits are open but still yellow flag. Race control is asking teams to be cautious on their entry into the pits around the area of the fire.

3:54 - 1 hour left in the race. Race control notified the teams that if this yellow (and the closed pits) results in a driver exceeding his maximum allowable time in the car, that they will waive that maximum limit. The reason is that cars are till in their driver change window - since the pits have been closed for a lengthy period of time, they are not able to come in for their planned driver change.

3:51 pm - still yellow. Positions: P1 No. 71; P2 No. 87; P3 No. 62 ;P 4 No. 45; P 5 No. 21; P 6 No. 46. No. 71 is one lap ahead of No. 87, 62, 45, 21, and 46 who are all on the same lap. The other cars will all most likely need to pit again, as will the No. 45 and the No. 46 but the No. 46's pit stop should be short, since they already pitted again for fuel.

3:49 - The No. 66 Acura prototype had a fire in pit lane. It was quickly extinguished by fire crews and the driver appears to be OK but I am not sure of that. The car is sitting in pit lane, and yellow flag continues so that they can remove this car.

3:47 pm - No. 45 will pit under the yellow for tires and fuel. Because they have no clutch, they will have the same challenge as earlier in starting the car. bad news on the No. 44 - it will not be able to rejoin the race and will be retired - mechanical (gearbox).

3:45 pm - Yellow flag to remove the No. 30 prototype. The No. 45 and the No. 46 both need to hustle around so that they stay with the GT2 lead pack and don't lose a lap on the wave by.

3:44 - No. 30 prototype is off driver left in Turn 9.

3:39 pm - Green flag. Looks like Johannes lost only two positions in the pit stop under yellow - he is now P6. No. 45 is now P4. Because of the full fuel during the pit stop, the No. 46 will have to stop one additional time (assuming mostly green flag racing) for fuel, but only a short fuel. He is on the same lap as the lead GT2 group, and one lap down from the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari, the GT2 leader. Positions: P1 No. 71; P 2 No. 87, P 3 No. 62; P 4 No. 45; P 5 No. 21; P 6 No. 46. No. 44 is still behind the wall. No update yet from them.

3:38 pm - No. 46 is out of the pits and rejoins. Still yellow but expect green flag this lap. I'll report positions in a minute.

3:37 - No. 46 pits. The crew will attempt to quickly fix his water bottle and will use the opportunity to add fuel and change tires.

3:35 pm - Still yellow. The No. 46 crew may call Johannes in if the yellow lasts much longer - they will use the stop to fix his water bottle. They had to do a second waveby to correct the field lineup - the No. 12 car received a waveby and moved past the overall race leader to the back of the pack.

3:28 pm - Johannes reports that the connection to his water bottle has broken so he has no water. Still yellow. The GT2 leader, the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari, is one lap ahead of the next GT2 group - the No. 87 in P2 and the No. 62 in P3 are on the same lap as the No. 46 in P4 and the No. 45 in P5.
.

3:25 pm - Yellow flag. Pits are closed. The No. 45 cannot risk coming into the pits now because they will have the same problem restarting.

3:22 pm - No. 44 is heading behind the wall to see if they can figure out what the problem is and repair so that the car can rejoin the race.

3:20 - No. 44 still in the pits. No. 46 P 4, No. 45 P5.

3:18 pm - Joerg is in P5 - driving with no clutch. This makes it more difficult and very different than driving with the clutch - primarly in the corners where the normal clutch/brake maneuver is replaced by downshifting.

3:12 pm - Positions: P1 No. 71; P 2 No. 62; P 3 No. 87; P4 No. 46; P 5 No. 45; P 6. No 21. No. 71 is 1 lap ahead of the No. 62, the No. 87 and the No. 46, the No. 45 and the No. 21.

No. 44 is still in the pits as they try and get it started.

3:08 pm The No. 45 will not start - no pedal pressure - Joerg cannot get it started in first gear. They are bleeding the clutch. Joerg is trying to start it withouth the clutch. He is off - but unfortunately we lost some time in the pits. It looks like we are having a similar problem in the No. 44 - no clutch and he cannot get it into gear to start it - no pedal pressure. They are bleeding the clutch on the No. 44 to see if they can get going. They are trying to start it by popping the clutch. Lonnie says he does not think there is a first gear. They are trying again to start in third gear.

3:06 pm - No. 46 is in the pits for tires, fuel and driver change to Johannes. No. 44and No. 45 pit simultaneously. Driver changes to Joerg Bergmeister and Lonnie Pechnik.

3:04 pm - The No. 87 Farnbacher team had some issues in their pit stop - they had pitted before the wave by and it seems that the air jack failed or possibly sunk into the tarmac making it difficult to get the right rear wheel off - they manually lifted the car to remove it. It was a lengthy pit stop.

3:02 pm - Positions: P1 No. 87, P2 No. 45, P 3 No.71; P4 No. 62. No. 44 is P 11. No. 87 Farnbacher Loles is in the pits.

2:57 pm - Yellow flag. We are in our fuel window so I expect all three cars to stop for fuel, tires, and driver change sometime during the yellow. Wolf reports that the clutch is usable intermittently but not consistently. Although he can drive without the clutch, it will make it challenging to restart from the pit box. The No. 62 Risi Ferrari is already in the pits and it looks like they have missed the waveby - this means that they will go from P2 and be at least one lap down on the field.

2:55 pm - The No. 54 has pulled off course and stopped. I don't think it will go yellow, but possible. No 11 in the gravel - I think Turn 9. Probably will go yellow. Lead GT2 positions remain unchanged.

2:47 pm - the No. 1 Audi was hit by the No. 54 Ford as the No. 54 was going into the pits. The Audi spun but continued. The No 54 will receive a stop and go penalty of 3 minutes for "dangerous entry into the pits."

2:42 pm - Just over 30 minutes into the race, GT2 positions unchanged - P1 No. 87; P2 No. 62; P3 No. 45; P4 No. 71; P 5 No. 46; p6 No. 61. No 44 is P11. Patrick reports that he has a lot of oil on his windshield and cannot see very well. Wolf reports the same issue. They use windshield tear off screens - plastic protective screens that they can easily "tear off" during a pit stop. This helps protect the windshields from cracking from debris and also can be faster than having to manually clean the windscreen.

2:31 The No. 12 prototoype spun off course. The No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche passed the No. 62 Risi Ferrari to take the lead. Risi in P2. Wolf in p3. Wolf reports that the clutch is stuck on the floor so he'll have to drive without it for the rest of the race. Patrick still P5. Seth P11. The NO. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari in P4 is putting a lot of pressure on Wolf, who is in P3.

2:30 pm - The No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche in P2 is putting a lot of pressure on the No. 62 Risi Ferrari which is in the lead. Wolf radioed in again another problem with the clutch. We'll see if this becomes a larger issue.

2:18 pm - A clean race start for the entire field. The lead GT2 cars are starting to spread out a bit and have stayed in their starting positions. P1 No. 62 Risi Ferrari, P2 No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche, P3 No. 45 Lizard Porsche, P4 No. 71 Tafel Racing Porsche, P 5 No. 46 Lizard Porsche. No. 44 is P10. Wolf radios in that the clutch doesn't feel 100%.

2:11 pm ET - Green flag.

2:10 pm ET - No green flag. Not sure yet what happened but yellow flag start. This means that the race clock starts but that the race starts under yellow. Pace car is on track.

2:05 pm ET - cars are rolling for first of two pace laps. Wolf Henzler is starting in the No. 45, Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 and Seth Neiman in the No. 44. No. 62 Risi Ferrari is on the pole and No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche is P2.

2:00 pm ET - five minutes to engine start and pace laps. It is a double line start - so No. 45 will be in the second row, No. 46 in the third.

1:36 pm ET - Lizard Porsches are on the grid for today's 2 hour and 45 minute race. Race begins at 2:10 pm ET. We will be broadcasting our team radio during the race - see "Follow the Race" at www.lizardms.com for details.

No. 45 wlil start third on the grid, No. 46 will be fifth and No. 44 seventh.

8:30 am - Checkered flag on the session. Join us again at around 1:45 pm for this afternoon's race, which begins at 2:10 ET. No. 45 was P2, No. 45 was P3 and No. 44 P9.

8:29 am - The No. 12 Prototype spun on course, nearly collding with one of the Audis. He is on the grass but appears to be abel to continue.

8:24 - Seth is now on track in the No.44. Just a few minutes left in the session. The No. 45 is P2 and the No. 46 is P3. No. 44 is P9.

8:20 am - Chief strategist Craig Watkins calls Johannes in in in the No.46 for a quick setup change. The No. 46 is third in the session right now, the No. 45 is fourth and the No. 44 is eighth. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari is first and the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari is second. Times are starting to pick up as the tires and the track warm up.

8:15 am - 15 minutes left in warmup. WE are P3, P6 and P 7 in the session. Johannes van Overbeek has taken over for Patrick in the No. 46 and Joerg for Wolf in the No. 45.

8:00 am - Good morning from Mid-Ohio. It's cooler this morning as the cars head out for the short warmup session this morning before this afternoon's race. Patrick Pilet is out in the No. 46, Wolf Henzler is in the No. 45 and Lonnie Pechnik is in the No. 44. The race begins today at 2:10 pm ET. We will broadcast our team radio during both this morning's warmup and this afternoon's race. For details, see the "Follow the Race" tab on www.lizardms.com.

The race will be broadcast on NBC - it is tape delayed. Schedule is at "Follow the Race" tab on www.lizardms.com.

Times are much slower this morning than yesterday's qualifying session- it's much cooler than yesterday - the track is cold and green and the tires are not yet up to speed.

Mid-Ohio Qualifying July 18

2008-07-18T14:41:00.000-07:00

5:59: Risi No. 62 just bested the No. 87 time and is now P1. No. 87 is P2. No. 45 is P3, No. 71 is P4 and No. 46 is P5. No. 44 is P7.

5:58 - Patrick is getting closer but still not fast enough. He gets one more time by, then they will bring him in.

5:55 - The No. 45 was not able to better his time, so he is coming back in. Patrick is out again in the No. 46 for two timed laps.

5:50 - Wolf is now P3, behind the No. 87 Farnbacher in P1 and the No. 62 Risi Ferrari in P2. Correction - Wolf is just one one hundreth of a second off of the No. 62 in P2 and two one-hundreths off of the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche in P1. Patrick is in P4 and Lonnie in P7. Seven minutes left in the session. No. 45 is in the pits - sounds like they are going to make another go at it as is the No. 46. The No. 62 Risi Ferrari just went off course in the the grass and is pitting.

5:46 - Wolf is back in P1: + two-tenths to Domink Farbacher in the No. 71 in P2. Patrick now P3.

5:45 - Tafel Racing No. 71 is now P1. Wolf is P2, Patrick P3 and Lonnie P4.

5:40 pm - Green flag on the qualifying session. Lonnie Pechnik is out in the No. 44 Porsche, Patrick Pilet in the No. 46, and Wolf in the No. After just one lap, Patrick is P1, Wolf P3.

Mid-Ohio - Friday Practices July 18, 2008

2008-07-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

6:20 - Wolf pits for an additional change.

6:12 - Johannes is in the pits again. He is currently P4. Patrick will get in the car to finish out the session. There are apparently some beacon problems so I'm not sure if all times are being recorded.

6:06 - The crew calls Seth in for a driver change to Lonnie Pechnik.

6:04 - Johannes is out again in the No. 46.

6:00 - 30 minutes to go in the session. Joerg pits for driver change to Wolf. Johannesis also pitting for a setup change.

5:56 - Joerg is out again. After a few more timed laps, he will do a driver change to Wolf.

5:53 - Joerg is pitting again for another change.

5:51 - Johannes and Joerg are both out again. Joerg is still P1. Johannes is now P3.

4:47 pm - Johannes and Joerg are both pitting. No. 45 received a speeding warning for speeding out of pit exit on his last exit.

4:41 - Joerg in the No. 45 is pitting for a setup adjustment. Johannes spun in the No. 46 after hitting soem dirt, but no damage and is continuing.

4:35 - No. 12 car was briefly slow through turn 8, but now back up to speed. After the first few laps, Joerg is P1 in GT2, Johannes is P2.

4:33 - Seth radioed in that water pressure is zero - he is near pit lane and pits for the crew to check it out. The crew has not found a problem so it could be a sensor problem - he is heading out again.

4:31 - Green flag. The session is starting a few minutes late - they have extended it to 5:30 from the original 5:25 ending time, but it will still be shortened by a few minutes.

4:26 pm- The Lizards are heading out for the session. This is the final practice prior to qualifying, which begins at 5:40 pm. Temperatures are still very high - in the 90s - but it is slightly cooler than yesterday.

4:23 pm - We are just about ready for the green flag for this afternoon's session.
Joerg will go out first in the No. 45, Seth in the No. 44 and Johannes in the No. 46.

1:25 - Checkered flag on the session. We'll be back for the second pracdtice session of the day at 4:25 pm ET. Qualifying starts just after the second session - at 5:40 pm ET.

1:20 pm - Five minutes left in the session. No. 46 now 2, No. 45 P5, No. 44 P6. The No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche is now P1.

1:12 pm - Joerg spun on course into the grass and continued. He's pitting.

1:02 pm - Wolf pits for a setup change. Joerg is taking over and heading out for his second session.

July 18, 2008 - 1:00 pm ET - Good afternoon from Mid-Ohio. Sorry I'm a bit late getting out the blog for the first practice session today. We have about 30 minutes left in the 1 hour session. It's hot today - even hotter than yesterday, but thankfully there is a breeze today. In the first 30 mins, Patrick Pilet is P1 in the GT2 session with a 1:20.607, just ahead of the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari and the No. 62 Risi Ferrari. Joerg was P5 and Lonnie Pechnik in the No. 44 was P6. Johannes van Overbeek is out now in the No. 46, Wolf Henzler is out now in the No. 45 and Seth Neiman in the No. 44. We had a few mechandical issues in yesterday's test session but everything has been resolved. A new race motor was put in the No. 45 last night, I believe that's the last major change we have on the three cars before tomorrow's race.
So far in the two sessions, the times in GT have been extraordinarily close - just a few hundreths of a second - very close considering the length of the track.

** A reminder that we'll be broadcasting our team radios on race day - both the morning wamup and the afternooon race. For schedule and details, see the "Follow the Race" tab at www.lizardms.com. **

Mid-Ohio - Thursday Test Session July 17

2008-07-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

5:11 pm - Checkered flag on GT session - now prototypes only. We'll be back with you tomorrow for the morning practice session at 12:25 pm ET.

5:10 pm - No. 3 Corvette is off in turn 7 after a spin but is continuing.

5:07 pm - No. 62 spun in Turn 11 and went into the dirt but continued.

5:06 pm - Just over five minutes left in the session.

5:04 pm - The No. 45 pits for a wing adjustment.

5:02 pm - the No. 46 is back in the pits and Patrick Pilet is heading out again.

4:55 - Green flag. All three Lizard Porsches are out agian. Wolf still P4, Johannes still P5. Seth is P9.

4:44 - Seth is back in the No. 44. The No. 007 is in the gravel in turn 8. 25 minutes left in the session.

4:38 - Wolf now P4 in the No. 45. Johannes P4. Lonnie is P9. Johannes and Lonnie both pit for setup changes.

4:36 - No. 45 completed his install lap and is back in the pits for another quick check.

4:30 - Red flag to remove a car from the track. All three cars are back in pit lane.
35 minutes left in the session. the No. 45 had a water leak so they are working on fixing that now. No. 46 is back out with Johannes in P5. No. 44 is out with Lonnie and is P9. Wolf is heading out in the No. 45 now.

4:20 - We are P4 (No. 45) and P5 (No. 46).The No. 44 with Lonnie Pechnik behind the wheel is now P9. Johannes is in the No. 46, Joerg still in the No. 45.The No. 66 car spun in Turn 10 but continued. The top six Gt2 are withing five tenths of a second of one another.

4:13 - The No. 44 is in the pits for a setup change. The No. 46 is pitting for driver change to Johannes.

4:09 pm- The No. 45 has restarted and he is cycling through the gears. Seth radios in that he has almost no grip in the No. 44 - like "skating on ice"

3:59 - No. 46 is now P2. No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari is P1. It is extremely hot...

3:53 - The No. 11 Viper went off in Turn 2 but is continuing. No. 44 sped in pit lane and has a start and go penalty. We are only a few yards from pit out, so that seems a bit weird. Correction, it was speeding on pit exit. Seth is back in the pits for his stop and go.

3:52 - The No. 44 repair is conplete and Seth is heading out again.

3:49 pm - A hose appears to have come loose on the No. 44, which caused the water problem. They are fixing it now and Seth should be on his way shortly. The No. 45 appears to have a broken axle. The crew is working to repair it in the pits but this may take some time. The No. 46 is in P6 right now, out of 12 GT2 cars.

3:44 pm - The NO. 44 is back in the pits - looks like there's a water leak and he's leeaking fluid out the back which was probably the cause of the spin. The No. 45 is in the pits with some type of mechanical problem - we don't know yet what it is. The No. 46 is still out.

3:42 pm - Joerg radios in that he can't shift there's a problem with the gearbox. he says it feels almost like the driveshaft. He just left pit lane, and is still rolling but can't shift. Seth spun in the No. 44 but continued.

July 17, 2008 - 3:35 pm - Hello from Mid-Ohio Sports Course in beautiful Lexington, Ohio. It is hot, hot, hot here today - thankfully not as humid as Lime Rock, but definitely hot. We are getting ready for this afternoon's first session - it's a test session that was scheduled to start at 3:35 - looks like the session is running late - from one of the earlier support series session.
Patrick Pilet will go out first in the No. 46, Seth Neiman in the No. 44 and Joerg Bergmeister in the No. 45.

The crew stayed on the East Coast after Lime Rock last weekend - they worked on repairing the No. 44 from its crash at Lime Rock with the No. 16 Dyson Prototype, and the repairs on the No. 45 from the contact with the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche. We have a bit more track time here at Mid-Ohio than we did at Lime Rock which will definitely help with setup.

The cars are in pit lane, getting ready for the session.

Lime Rock - Race day

2008-07-12T07:05:00.000-07:00

4:50 pm - The No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche clinches it - and wins in GT2. No. 46 was not able to cross the finish line but will receive points because it completed more than 70% of the distance of the overall leader. The No. 44 was retired mid-race due to an incident with the No. 16 Dyson prototype.

The Acura (Tequila Patron) prototype has taken the overall win - congratulations to Acura on their first overall win.

4:45 pm - No. 45 is still P1. No. 71 is P2 and No. 87 P3. Of the three Lizard Porsches, only the No. 45 is still running. The No. 44 has been retired due to an earlier accident with the No. 16 Dyson prototype, and the No. 45 has left the pits from damage suffered earlier with the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche.

4:43 pm - On the No. 46, they have removed the rear decklid and the car is smoking significantly. Johannes is exiting the car and the car is being taken behind the wall. Very unfortunate for the No. 46. We have less than five minutes left in the race.

4:42 pm - Johannes calls in that the throttle has started to stick. They have called him into the pits.

4:40 - under 10 minutes to go...

4:34 pm - No. 45 P1. No. 46 in P4. the No. 45 needs to conserve fuel to make sure he can get to the end of the race without needing fuel. No. 46 is fighting damaged right front radiator and bodywork damage - they added water a few minutes ago, but he needs to make it to the end of the race without pitting. No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari is P2 and No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche is P3. We believe that the Tafel Racing Ferraris do not have brake lights, but so far, no comment from race control on that.

4:31 - 19 Minutes to go.

4:28 - The No. 45 retains the lead, and is 2 laps ahead of the No. 71 Tafel Racing Porsche in P2. The No. 87 Tafel Racing Porsche is now in P3. The No. 46 Flying Lizard Porsche is now in P 4.

4:25 - No. 46 pits for water and to check the car. Leaking right side radiator but they are not going to replace it. They have filled the water system and sent him on his way. He will now be in P3 or 4 once he rejoins.

4:21 pm - Johannes is still out in the No. 46 after the incident with the No. 87.
The crew is watching oil and water temps carefully in case there was damage during the incident. The No. 45 should be able to make the rest of the race without stopping for tires or fuel, if they can conserve fuel. No. 45 is still 2 laps ahead of the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari in P3 and is now 1 lap ahead of the No. 46 Lizard Porsche which is in P2. It appears that the brake lights on both Tafel Racing Ferraris are not working. In the ALMS, cars must have working brake lights. Johannes is stilli in P2, 1 lap ahead of the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari.

The crew made the call to bring the No. 46 Porsche in to add water to the radiators, which we believe were damaged during the earlier incident with the No. 16 Dyson prorotype.

4:17 pm - The No. 87 has received a black flag and a stop and go penalty for the contact with the No. 46. No. 45 is P1; No. 46 is P2.

4:13 - On the restart, Johannes in the No. 46 was forced off track after a tussle with the No. 87 Farnbacher. Unclear what happened, but he went off course and gathered a lot of dirt. He was able to rejoin, but lost the lead. Johannes radios in that the car appears OK. Wolf Henzler in the No. 45 has moved into the lead. No. 44 has been retired, after an earlier incident with the No. 16 Dyson Prototype.

4:12 pm - Green flag.

4:11 - We are about to go green. At the restart, the No. 46 and No. 45 will be at the back of the field, with no cars behind them.

4:08 pm - Double yellow to pick up a piece of debris on the track. The No. 46 remains in the lead, with the No. 45 just behind in P2. The No. 62 Risi Ferrari missed the Chicane and went off into the dirt. The No. 62 is now P4 and the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche in P4. No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari is P3. Wolf radios in that "the track is very greasy and very slippery. If you have to go off line for any reason, there is so much dirt and you get a strong understeer and slide."

** Reminder that we are broadcasting our team radios live - you can listen by clicking on the "Follow the Race" tab on the home page. **

3:57 pm - The No. 46 holds the lead with the No. 45 just behind in P2. Both cars are 2 laps ahead of the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari in P3, which is ahead of the No. 62 Risi Ferrari in P4. There is just under one hour to go in the race. The No. 44, which was significantly damaged in an earlier incident with the No. 16 Dyson prototype, has been retired from the race.

3:53 - Green flag.

3:47 - Still yellow flag. No. 46 with Johannes is P1; No. 45 with Wolf is P2. The No. 44 is unfortunately out of the race.

3:43 - With this yellow flag, if it is lengthy (15 minutes or so) it's possible that the No. 46 and the No. 45 could make it to the end of the race with no additional fuel. We'll see in a few minutes.

3:40 - No. 44 and the No. 16 Dyson prototype got together in a big incident on track. Driver OK, will report more in a minute. Although the car is drivable, the course officials do not want Darren to drive the car back because it will leave fluid on the track from the damaged front radiators. So unfortunately, it looks like the No. 44 is out of the race. Darren appears to be fine. Double yellow.

3:32 pm ET - Johannes van Overbeek now P1 in the No. 46 and Wolf Henzler now P2 in the No. 45. The No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche is P3 and the No. 62 Risi Ferrari is P4. No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari is P 5 and the No. 21 is P6. No 44 is P 7. the Lizard cars were able to increase their lead on the GT2 field and both the No. 46 and the No. 45 are now 2 laps ahead of the third place car, the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche.

3:31 - Green flags. I'll report positions in a minute.

3:29 pm - Both the No. 46 and the No. 45 had small hiccups at the end of their pit stops. But the No. 46 got out of the pits just ahead of the No. 45 to take the lead.

3:27 - Joerg just went to reserve, got the wave by, will go one time by and then pit for tires, fuel, and driver change to Wolf. No. 46 will also pit for remaining fuel, driver change to Johannes and fuel. No. 45 is in first, with the No. 46 just behind.

3:26 pm - Wave by has started.

3:24 pm - Positions P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 46; P 3 No. 71; P 4 No. 62;Wave P 5 No. 87; P 6 No. 21; P 7 No. 44. The No. 61 Risi Ferrari, which appears to have been involved in the earlier incident with the 008 and the No. 1 Audi, is now P8.

3:20 pm - No. 45 is very low on fuel. If the yellow flag continues much longer, we will need to pit earlier than we had planned for fuel.

3:16 - Still yellow - should be a few more minutes. We were able to retain our lap lead on the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari, but both the No. 45 and No. 46 have to pit. No. 45 will be very low on fuel right now because they did not pit early in the yellow, as the No. 46 did. The No. 44 had pitted prior to the incident so they are fine on fuel.

3:12 pm - Still yellow while they load the 008 on the transport truck.

3:08 - The No. 46 came in briefly during the yellow for a splash of fuel, but no driver change.

3:05 - Major incident between the No. 1 Audi, the No. 008 Aston Martin, and one of the Risi Ferraris. The No. 1 is limping back to the pits. Double yellow. Since we are in iour pits. The No. 008 appears to be unable to continue. This is both good and bad news for us - we were in our fuel window, wo will have the opportunity to pit under yellow. However, it will also allow other GT2 cars to make up their lap and catch up to the No. 45 and No. 46 during the wave by.

3:03 - The No. 2 Audi went off course briefly in Turn 1 on his way out of the pits, but continued.Lizards still P1 and P2.

3:01 pm - No. 46 will pit in 15 minutes. No. 45 is expected in shortly. Wolf will take over for Joerg in the No. 45 and Johannes for Patrick in the No. 46.

2:59 - Darren Law now P7 in the No. 44.

2:56 - Positions: P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 46, P 3 No. 71; P 4 No. 62; P5 No. 87. No. 44 reatined P 8 even with their pit stop. No. 71 is P3 but has just been given a stop and go penalty for avoidable contact, which will the No. 45 and No. 46 some breathing room. No. 62 is 1 lap down on the No. 45 and No. 46. We are getting ready for our pit stops for No. 45 and No. 46

2:55 - No. 44 pits for fuel & driver change. They are making some repairs for damage that happened when Seth went off course early in the race. One of the Risi Ferraris went in the dirt again, but is going again.

2:53 - No. 87 Porsche went for an off road excursion, which allowed the No. 62 Risi Ferrari to pass him into P4.

The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari, which is now P3, must have passed the No. 87 just before the incident.

2:51 - No. 61 Risi Ferrari is in the pits.

2:47 - The No. 61 Risi Ferrari went off again but continued. He is now covered with dirt. Approximately 40 minutes into the 2 hour and 45 minute race, we are getting close the the driver window. Positions: P1 No. 45; P2 No. 46; P No. 87; P 4 No. 71; P 5 No. 62; P 6 No. 61; P 7 No. 21;P 8 No.44

2:44 pm - Flying Lizard now P1 and P2 - Joerg in the No. 45 is P1, and Patrick in No. 46 is P2. Seth in No. 44 is P8.

2:43 - Patrick has passed the No. 87 to move into P2. Joerg radioed in something about an Audi, but we don't have any info yet. The No. 61 Ferrari is in the dirt but is going again.

2:42 - The No. 11 is in the pits with some major damage. We did not see the incident on our cameras, but he was able to drive back to the pits and is now going
behind the wall.

2:40 - Patrick in the No. 46 has repassed the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari and is back in P3. Joerg still P1.

2:35 - Joerg has moved into P1, passing the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche to take the lead. Patrick, in the No. 46, is P3. Seth in the No. 44 is P8.

Patrick also made it past the No. 87 to take second, but then went off course into the dirt. he continued but lost his position, allowing both the No. 87 and the No. 71 to move past him. Patrick is now P4. Joerg still in the lead.

2:28 - Positions in GT2 P1 No. 87; P2 No. 45; P3 No. 46; P4 No. 71. Seth in the No. 44 now P8.

2:26 - Seth went off track after a large group threaded through but continued.

2:23 - The No. 62 has spun and is off track. He is going again. the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche, which is in the lead, has received the unsportsmanship flag for blocking the No. 45.
Positions: P1 No. 87; P2 No. 45; P 3 No. 46; P 4 No. 71. No. 44 is P7.

2:21 -Joerg is pushing against the No. 87 and Patrick is just rehind Joerg. With prototype traffic is snaking between them, it is very, very touchy right now.

2:20 - Joreg is putting a lot of pressure on the P1 No. 87 Porsche and the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari is just behind Joerg. Joerg missed the chicane, which means that he had to drop back so he did not get an advantage from the shortcut.

2:18 - Joerg moves to P2 after Risi's pit stop. No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche holds the lead and No. 46 is P4. No. 71 Rafel Racing Ferrari is P3. Seth in No. 44 is now P7. Risi No. 62 is now P8.

2:17 - No. 62 Risi Ferrari is in the pits for an early stop. Appears to be fuel and tires. They were P2.

2:14 - The No. 73 Ferrari went off course and stopped but was able to continue without incident. The No. 73 was in P9 behind Seth, and has now falled to P11.

2:11 pm - Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 in P5 is putting pressure on the No. 71 Ferrari, which is in P4. In the No. 45 in P3, Joerg is in his own battle with the No. 62 Risi Ferrari, which is in P2.

2:06 pm ET - Clean start at the front of the prototype field. Joerg is now P3, having passed No. 71 at the start. Patrick P5, Seth P8. No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche is P1, No. 62 Risi Ferrari is P2.

2:05 pm ET - Green flag.

2:01 - We are rolling for pace laps. Joerg is in the No. 45; Patrick in the No. 46 and Seth in the No. 44. Starting positions are 4, 5, and 8.

1:27 - Cars are on the grid. We are starting fourth (No. 45), fifth (No. 46) and eighth (No. 44) on the GT2 grid.

1:15 pm ET - We are back. The cars are heading out for their recon lap and to the grid.

** We'll be back with you around 1:45 pm ET for the race which starts at 2:05 pm ET **

10:30 - Checkered flag on the morning warmup session. Joerg commented on the session today "We made some changes last night that definitely improved the car and it's much better today. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the car. We didn't get much track time yesterday, so we're not quite where we'd like to be, but based on this morning we should have a good car for the race this afternoon."

10:25 am - Five minutes left in the warmup. Wolf still P1 in the No. 45, Johannes now P 6 in the No. 46. Seth P 9 in the No. 44.

10:19 am - Wolf is in the No. 45 and is now P1. Johannes in the No. 46 is P3. No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche is second and No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferari is P4.

** The race is being broadcast on SpeedChannel. It is tape delayed, for Sunday July 13 at 9:00 am PT/12:00 pm ET **

10:15 - Joerg now P3. Johannes is in the No. 46 and is P 4. Seth is in P3 in the No. 44.
**Reminder - We are broadcasting our team radio live during the race today and for this morning's warmup - for details see "Follow the Race" tab on www.lizardms.com. **

10:11 am ET - Joerg is P1 right now. Patrick is P3. Seth is P 8. Twelve GT2 cars on track tihs morning.

10:05 am ET - Good morning from Lime Rock. Green flag on the morning warmup session before today's race. Joerg is in the No. 45, Seth in the No. 44 and Patrick in the No. 46. yesterday was a challenge for the teams on the new track. The drivers say that the changes have removed nearly all passing areas, which will make this race extremely difficult given the four classes running on the track at the same time. also, the drivers say that the way that the curbing has been implemented on the new corners makes it difficult for them to navigate - race control has stated that they will disallow laps if a driver appears to shortcut any corners - if they hit the dirt on the entry to the corner, it will be disallowed.

Lime Rock Practice and Qualifying July 11

2008-07-12T07:02:00.000-07:00

4:20 pm - Based on the qualifying times, we will start fourth (No.45), fifth (No. 46) and eighth (No. 44) on the GT2 grid. Joerg actually did a faster time, which would have put him in third, but that lap was not allowed by race control (said he shortcutted one of the turns).

4:18 pm - They have called Joerg in to the pits. So - looks like there will be no pole here for the Lizards.

4:17 pm - The No. 87 has just taken P1, pushing the No. 62 Risi Ferrari to P2. Joerg in the No. 45 is P3. he is trying for one more lap. The 11 car is in the run off at 1, but was able to continue.

4:14 pm - The No. 45 and No. 44 are in. Patrick is P3 in the No. 46 and Darren is P7 in the No. 44. Joerg is P4, but is going for another run at a better time. Starting position is always important but at a track like Lime Rock where there are so few passing opportunities, where you start on the grid could be critical. Race control said that Joerg took a shortcut at Turn 7 so they are not allowing that lap.

4:09 pm - Sorry that is Joerg in the No. 45 not Wolf. Timing and scoring is showing Wolf, but it's actually Joerg.

4:05 pm - Joerg is trading fast laps with the No. 87 Farnbacher Porsche. Patrick Pilet has now moved into P2 and No. 87 is now P1. Joerg is P3. No. 44 is P6.

4:03 pm - Joerg is P1 in the No. 45. Only about half of the GT2 field is on track so we'll have to see what happens over the session.

4:02 pm - We are a few minutes into the GT qualifying session. Joerg is in the No.45; Patrick in the No. 46 and Darren in the No. 44. All three cars went out immediately at the start of the session because there's a possibility of rain and they want to get their laps in before any precipitation. It's spitting a bit out there, but no substantial rain yet and the track remains dry.

Afternoon practice is complete and the cars are back in pit lane. We have a short 10 minute break until qualifying starts.

3:40 - No. 46 Lizard Porsche is in the tire wall but has continued. We'll know more about the damage once he is in the pit lane. He's in the pits now - damage appears superficial - to the right passenger side.

3:38 - The 007 Aston Martin is off in Turn 1 but apprears to be able to continue.

3:33 - The No. 62 Risi Ferrari went off into the dirt again, spraying a lot of dirt on to the track. The driver was able to continue, but pitted immediately to let the crew check the car over.

3:28 pm - No. 45 is P 2, No. 46 is P 3 and No. 44 is P 6. With all of the red flags, the drivers have not had many laps so far. let's hope the rain holds off so that we can at least have a clean qualifying session.

3:22 pm - The No. 62 Risi Ferrari went off course into the dit but continued. Looks like there is some debris on the track so red flag to remove it.

3:18 pm - Green flag, we are running again. The skies are starting to darken and the wind is coming up - may be some rain coming our way. The weather here at the base of the Berkshires is very changeable.

3:13 pm - The 007 Aston Martin slowed then stoped on course. Red flag to remove him.
right now, Wolf is in the No. 45 in P2; Johannes is P 5 in the No. 46 and Seth is P 8 in the No. 44. We have only 30 minutes left in the session. Qualifying follows the session - starting at 3:55 pm.

3:00 pm ET - Afternoon practice had just gotten underway when the No. 73 Tafel Ferrari went into the wall. they are pulling it out now. Don't have any info on the driver yet. So another red flag. Let's hope tihs is not indicative of how the race will go tomorrow. Johannes is in the No. 46, Wolf in the No. 45 and Seth in the No. 44.

11:43- Red flag - session is over. another big crash in the Chicane. Looks like the No. 008 GT1 Aston Martin hit the wall. Bad break for those guys since they have just repaired the car after a big crash at St. Pete kept them out of the next two races. Hopefully they'll be able to get it repaired and back on track for the race.
We are heading back to the garage for more prep before this afternoon's practice and qualifying. Afternoon practice starts at 2:45 pm ET.

11:40 am ET - Green flag but just four minutest left in the session. the No. 45 and is heading out for what should be three laps or so. The No. 46 and No. 44 are still in the pits. Looks like they are heading out now too.

11:34 am ET - Red flag - not sure of the reason - could be what we see on TV is that the concrete curbing has disintegrated on one section of the track in the uphill section near the chicane. We can see what looks like a bolt sticking out of the pavement - it will obviously need to be repaired.

11:32 - Wolf went into the run off at the chicane, but continued without incident.

11:22 - Wolf will be taking over in the No. 45, and Johannes in the No. 46. All three engineers are working quickly to make aggressive setup changes so that they can spend the afternoon session making refinements. Joerg commented on the track, "There's no grip on the track at all this morning. The changes on the track may improve some things but it will definitely make passing harder."

11:20 am - Darren pits in the No. 44 for driver change to Seth Neiman.
Joerg and Patrick are still out in the No. 45 and 46, respectively. 25 minutes remain in the session.

11:15 am - Darren had "a little spin" in the No. 44 but continued with no issues.

11:10 am ET - Green flag again on the session. Darren Law is in the No. 44, Joerg Bergmeister in the No. 45 and Patrick Pilet in the No. 46.

July 11 - 10:45 am ET - Good morning from Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. It's a beautiful day here at the circuit. We are out for our first run at the newly repaved and configured course. Unfortunately, just a few minutes into the session the No. 40 Duran Ford GTR went off track into the barrier and sustained significant damage. Driver appears to be fine, but it's been a substantial delay in the already short 1 hour practice session. Looks like race control will give us an extension, which means we have about 45 minutes left to go.

All three Lizard Porsches have their race engines in already - part of this session will be making sure that they are completely shaken down. Because of the new track, each driver is also having to effectively relearn the course. So far, now major issues for the cars but we've only done a few laps.

Utah - Race! - No. 45 wins, No. 46 P2; No. 44 P 6

2008-05-18T06:51:00.001-07:00

3:53- No. 45 wins Utah Grand Prix!!! No. 46 is P2; No. 44 P 6. Congratulations to the Lizards for a fantastic race.

3:52 pm - 1 lap left. Patrick and Joerg are running together with Patrick physically in front, but Joerg in P1. Patrick will let Joerg pass so they can cross together. No. 44 is in P6.

3:49 - 2 laps left. Patrick moves past the No. 87 Porsche into P2. The 87 managed to make it into the pits before running out of gas.

3:48 pm - A car is sideways in Turn 5. 87 did not pit. We are down to the final laps.

3:46 - pm - 5 minutes left, the No. 5 Vici Porsche has gone off course. Still green. We still think Farnbacher will pit. On track, Patrick is physically ahead of Joerg, although one lap back. Patrick is on the tail of the No. 87, which we believe will still need to pit again. We see dust and some cars have gone off, but we don't have detail yet. still green.

3:41 pm - 10 minutes left. P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 87; P 3 No. 46; P 4 No. 71. No. 44 is P6. In the No. 46, Patrick is right on the tail of the No. 87.

3:38 - Darren in the No. 44 is having problems with the fuel reserve. The crew calls him in. He is having to slow down to make it back in.

3:36 - Confirmed that Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 is now P3, behind the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche in P2, and the No. 45 Lizard Porsche in P1. 15 minutes left to go in the race.

3:32 pm MT - The No. 71 Tafel Ferrari crew may be getting ready for a pit stop, which would mean they have to add fuel to finish the race. They pitted earlier than the No. 45 and No. 46 in the race. Tafel was in P2 when they pitted. The No. 45 and No. 46 do not need to pit again for fuel. With Tafel pitting, the No. 46 should move into P3 - we'll confirm that in a minute. No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche is in P2. We believe the No. 87 will have to pit again for fuel also, which could give the No. 46 the opportunity to move into P2.

3:30 - Course will stay green. 22 minutes left. The No. 37 prototype has spun and gone off course, after making contact with the No. 28 Corvette. Both cars were able to continue.

3:26. Positions: P1 No.45; P2 No. 71; P3 No.87; P 4 No. 46; P5 No. 21; P 6 No.44.
the No. 1 Audi is off couse and stuck in the gravel. Course may go yellow. If it goes yellow, it could definitely work against the No.45, allowing the GT2 field to close the 1 lap gap that the No. 45 has. It could work in favor of the No. 46, which is in P4, and the No. 44, in P6. The No. 40 Ford, which collided with the Audi, has damage and has pitted.

3:23 - the No. 2 Audi spun on course and has pitted.

** 29 minutes left **

3:21 pm - We believe the No. 45 will be able to finish the race without pitting for fuel. The No. 44 will have to pit for fuel unless there is a long yellow.

3:19 pm - No. 46 gave us a thumbs up as he went by on the front straight, so we know he can hear us, although we can't hear him.

3:14 pm - 38 minutes left to go in the race. The No. 45 has led in GT2 the entire race so far. 45 P1; 46 P 4; 44 P 6. We still have no radio communication with Patrick, although we think he can hear us. We know that he has no water in his water bottle, which will make this stint very difficult for him because of the heat.

3:11 pm - With the No. 62 out of the running, the No. 87 and No. 46 both move up. Positions: P1 No. 45; P2 No. 71; P3 No 87; P4 No 46; P 5 No 21; P 6 No 44. The 45 is one lap up on the field. The 71, 87, and 45 are on the same lap. The No. 44 in sixth is 2 laps down from the No. 45, and on the same lap as the No. 21, which is in fifth. if the field continues in this order, it looks like this will come down to the fuel - if any of the lead cars can make it to the end of the race without pitting for fuel or tires.

3:08 pm - Looks like the No. 62 hit the No. 28 GT2 Corvette, went briefly airborne, and then off track. Melo is out of the car, and it looks like they are out of the race. Another tough break for the Risi team. The course is still green, not sure if they will go yellow.

3:06 - One of the Ferraris just went of course, but it's not clear yet which one.

3:02 pm MT - We are having Internet problems - and lost a few blog entries. Positions: P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 71; P 3 No. 62; P 4 No. 87; P 5 No. 46; P 6 No. 21; P 7 No. 44. Both the No. 45 and No. 46 pitted for driver change. Joerg Bergmeister is in the No. 45; Patrick Pilet in the No. 46. Both cars may have to stop again for fuel before the end of the race - we will know more a bit later. We believe the No. 71 and the No. 87 will also have to stop for fuel. We have lost radio communication with the No. 46, although we think he can hear us.

Joerg in the No. 45 is still one lap up on the rest of the GT2 field.

2:44 pm - No. 62 and No. 87 have pitted for driver change, tires and fuel. No. 45 in P1 and No. 46 now in P2. They will pit within the next 5-10 minutes. No. 44 will also have to pit once more for fuel.

2:35 pm - Positions: No. 45 P1; No. 62 P2; No. 46 P3; No. 71 P 4; No. 87 P5. No. 45 is on the lead lap. Wolf still one lap up on the closest GT2 cars.

2:33 pm - The No. 48 Ferrari and the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche both went off course, but continued. In the No. 45, Wolf has led the entire race so far - nearly 1.5 ours. The Lowes No. 15 prototype and one of the Dyson cars have collided on course as the Dyson returned to the track after going off in the gravel - caussing damage to the No. 15.

2:29 pm - No. 45 in P1; No. 62 in P2; No 46 in P 3; No. 21 in P4. No. 48 in P5. No. 45, No. 62. All of the top 5 GT2 cars still have to do a driver change. No. 44 in P 10.

2:26 pm - The crew calls No. 44 into the pits for driver change, tires and fuel. Seth Neiman will hand the wheel over to Darren. It's the No. 11 car that's off course and a local yellow, but not a full course.

2:24 - Car off outside of 13 - not sure who it is yet. Course still green. Positions remain unchanged. No. 45 P1; No. 46 P 5; No. 44 P 8. No. 71 Tafel Ferrari and No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche should have to pit shortly for fuel.
2;28 - Darren Law, heading out in the No.44, reports that the helmet blower, which helps cool the driver in the car, is not functioning. Both the No. 71 and the No. 87 are pitting.

2:16 pm - No. 11 Viper went into the Kitty Litter but continued. Looks like No. 37 was able to get out of the gravel and has continued. No. 44 will pit shortly for its first pit stop. If no yellow happens during the next 20 minutes or so, No. 45 and No. 46 will pit when they have to switch to reserve fuel. 1 hour, 30 minutes left in the race.

2:13 pm MT - Positions: P 1 No. 45; P 2 No. 71; P 3 No. 87; P 4 No. 62; P 5 No. 46. Seth is in P 11 in the No. 44. We are getting close to the driver change window for all cars. No. 37 prototype is off course in the gravel so course may go yellow.

2:08 pm MT - The cars which did not pit under the earlier yellows are starting to pit now for driver change. We are in the window for the No. 44 and expect a pit stop from them in the next 15 minutes. The No. 62 Risi Ferrari, which started from pit lane, has moved to P 4. The No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche is P3. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari is P 2. All are still one lap back on Wolf in the No. 45.

2:03 pm mt - Course is still green, looks like it is the No. 73 Tafel Ferrari which went off track and is currently stopped off course. Unclear if he will be able to continue. Probably no yellow as the car is off course. Positions: P 1 No. 45; P 2 No. 71; P 3 No. 21; P 4 No. 28; P 5 No. 87. No. 44 is in P 14. The No. 73 has continued and is returning to the pits. There's bodywork damage on the front right. 1 hour and 45 minutes left in the race.

1:59 - In the No. 45, Wolf is once again having to thread through the slower GT2 cars, which are a lap down. It's tough going as there are a lot of them and he has to thread one by one through them, in between faster prototypes. A car is off in Turn 5 and the course may go yellow. All drivers are called to get ready - if the cours egoes yellow, the cars will most likely pit for driver change, tires and fuel.

1:57 pm - Johannes in No. 46 now P 7; Wolf in No. 45 still P1, one lap ahead of field.

1:54 pm MT - Positions P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 71; P 3 No. 21; P 4 No. 28; P 5 No. 87; P 6 No. 62; P 7 No. 46; P 8 No. 40; P 9 No. 18; P 10 No. 5. No. 44 is P 15.

1:47 pm MT - Wolf in the No. 45 has caught the GT2 pack which is bunched together (and on a different lap). He's stuck behind them looking for opportunities to pass. Positions: P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 71; P 3 No. 21; P 4 No. 28; P 5 No. 40. Johannes in No. 46 has moved back up to P 10. The entire GT2 field is one lap down on Wolf. The pit stop counter on timing and scoring dow not appear to be working so I can't tell who has pitted. No. 45 and No. 46 have both pitted once.

1:44 pm - Green flag.

1:42 pm - The No. 45 in P 1, has a one lap lead on the GT2 field. Still yellow.

1:41 pm - The No. 46 pits for tires and fuel. Johannes was in P 2 at the time of the pit stop, but the No. 71 Tafel Ferrari and several other GT2 cars did not pit.

1:37 - Still under yellow. The No. 45 pits for tires and fuel and is out quickly - retaining the lead and he may have gained a lap on the second closest GT2 car (the No. 46) - we'll see in a minute. I'll report positions again once we are green and the field sorts itself out.

1:36 - Strategists are working to determine if they will pit or not, depending on whta happesns with the overall leader.

1:33 - On the restart, two prototypes collide on course and significant bodywork damage to the Tequila Patron No. 9 Prototype. Debris on track. Double Yellow

:26 pm - Both Audis (the overall leaders) are pitting under yellow, and a large portion of the field follows. All three Lizard cars stay out.

1:22 pm - yellow flag - pits are closed to clear debris. This is bad luck for us because it will allow the pack to close the gap - Wolf had bult nearly an 11 second lead on the second closest GT2 car - the No. 46. Johannes in the No. 46 was just 2 seeconds ahead of the No. 71 Tafel Ferrari.

1:29 pm - It's an incredible chase for the P1 and P2 field - a large field close together weaving through the slower GT2 traffic. The No. 37 has now fallen back, with the Audis and Penskes moving ahead. The No. 6 Penske Porsche went briefly off track and lost a bit of time. the No. 37 appears to have spun on course and has now fallen back a bit - great start for him though, leading the overall race for the first 15 minutes.

1:16 pm MT - Top 5 GT2 positions: P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 46; P 3 No. 71; P 4 No. 48; P 5 No. 28.

1:11 pm MT - Wolf has the fastest time in GT2 - more than 1.5 seconds ahead of the next closest GT2 car, the No. 46.

1:08 pm MT - Clean start. Wolf in the No. 45 in P1; Johannes in the No. 46 in P2; Seth in the No. 44 in P 14. In an unexpected turn of events, the No. 37 Intersport prototype (which started 8th) has moved into the overall lead ahead of the Audis.

1:06 pm MT - Green Flag

1:02 pm MT - The grid is clear and we are just about ready to start the pace lap.
Green flag at 1:05 pm. The No. 62 Risi Ferrari had problems just prior to the recon laps and did not make it onto the grid. They will start from pit lane. This puts Patrick Pilet in No. 46 into P2 starting, and the No. 44 will start 13th. The No. 45 is on the pole. There are 16 GT2 entries.

12:15 pm MT - We are just about to start the recon laps which precede the grid.
Seth will start in the No. 44, Wolf in the No. 45 and Johannes in the No. 46.
Race starts at 1:05 pm MT.

**Reminder- we will broadcast our radio live during the race - to listen, click on the follow the race tab on the home page. TV broadcast is live on SpeedTV. ***

9:25 am MT - Checkered flag. The cars head back to the pits - crew will get a good read of the tire pressures and wear, each car will practice driver changes, and then head back to the garages for final prep before the race. Recon laps will start at 12:30 pm MT.

9:17 am MT - No. 45 pits for driver change to Joerg. Johannes will stay out for the entire session in the No. 46 and Darren in the No. 44. 8 minutes left in the session.

9:06 am MT - Wolf pits in the No. 45 for a fast fuel stop. 18 minutes left in the session. Darren is starting to get the feel of the No. 44 setup and comments that it feels too loose and bouncy on turn in. Sebastien Constans, engineer in the No. 44, calls Darren into the pits.

9:05 am MT - It's fairly cool this morning - about 65 degrees and slightly windy. The sun is just now coming out in full force. The No. 45 and No. 46 both went out with very light fuel so the drivers could test the reserve fuel systems. Both cars will pit immediately for fuel, but tires will still not be up to temp so no changes yet. The No. 46 is in, but No. 45 will do one more lap, then pit.

9:00 am MT - Green flag and the cars head out. Darren is in the No.44, Wolf in the No. 45 and Johannes in the No. 46.

7:50 am MT - We are just 10 minutes away from morning warmup. All three Lizard Porsches are in the pits, getting ready for the short 25 minute session. Darren Law arrived late last night from Laguna Seca, and will use the morning session to learn the new track configuration and adjust back to the RSR after spending the last few days in the Brumos prototype in Grand Am.

Utah- May 17 - Lizards on the Pole

2008-05-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

3:25 pm - The No. 87 Farnbacher Porsche and the No. 62 Risi Ferrari both make a last try to beat the No. 45 and the NO. 46. The No. 62 has an identical time to the No. 45 Porsche (1:47:135), but because he did the lap later than the No. 45, the No. 45 retains the pole. Wolf's second pole this season! The No. 62 Risi Ferrari will start second, and Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 third. The No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche is in fourth. The No. 44 will be starting from the back, as Darren Law will not arrive until Sunday morning.

3:23 - Patrick has a fast lap and moves from P4 back to P2,just one tenth of a second behind Wolf, who is still holding pole position.

3:20 pm - Patrick went off track again, but requests to have one more attempt at a fast lap. he will do one slow lap, then one more try to best the No. 45. He is currently in P4, with the No .87 and the No. 62 posting faster times.

3:17 pm MT - Wolf is still in P1, one second ahead of the field with a 1:47.370. The crew tells him to do a cool down lap. Patrick is now in P2 in the No. 46 with a 1:47.707.

3:15 pm MT - Wolf moves into P1 in the No. 45 in a 1:48.472. Times seem oddly slow so far - we'll see what happens over the next few minutes. Patrick, recovering from the off road excursion, is in P 12. Seth is in P11.

** Qualifying ** 3:10 pm MT - The cars are heading out for qualifying. Wolf is in the No.45; Patrick in the No. 46 and Seth in the No. 44. On his outlap, Wolf reports slight vibrations on one of the front tires. And on his outlap, Patrick reports he went into the gravel but the car is OK.

2:55 pm MT- The final practice session before the race is complete. The No. 45 was P2, and the No. 45 P 4. The No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche is P1 and the No. 62 Risi Ferrari is P 3. The cars will wait in pit lane until qualifying, which begins in 10 minutes, at 3:05 pm MT.

2:53 pm MT - With just one minute left in the session, the No. 45 makes one final setup change, sending Wolf out for a final lap before qualifying starts.

2:43 pm MT - 10 minutes left in the session. Wolf in the No. 45, Patrick in the No. 46; and Seth in the No.44. Seth reported he spun on track but continued.

2;25 pm - Patrick is back in the No.46 for his second stint of the session.

2:22 pm - 30 minutes left in the session. Wolf Henzler is in the No. 45, and is currently in P3. Johannes is now in the No. 46 and is in P4. Seth is in P 12 in the No.44.

2:15 pm MT - Qualifying will begin just after the end of this practice. Wolf will qualify the No. 45, Patrick the No. 46, and Seth the No. 44.

2:05 pm MT - We are 10 minutes into afternoon practice. All three cars are on track. The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari suffered some left front damage after colliding on course with the No. 4 Corvette after the Corvette spun on track. The Ferrari is losing fluid and has some bodywork damage. The No. 45 is in P1, the No. 87 P 2 and the No. 71 P3. The No. 46 is P 4. The No. 44 is P 10.

** Afternoon practice starts at 1:55 pm MT. Qualifying will start at 3:05 pm. **

11:20 am MT - checkered flag on the morning session. No. 46 was P 1 in the session, with a time of 1:47.990. The No. 45 was fourth, with a time of 1:48.237. No. 71 Tafel Ferrari was second and the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche was third. The No. 44's transponder wasn't functioning during the session, so I don't have times for that car.

11:11 am MT - Joerg has moved into P3 in the practice session, 3 tenths of a second behind the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari. The spread among the four top cars (3 Porsches and 1 Ferrari) is just over five tenths of a second.

May 17 - 11 am - good morning from Salt Lake City, Utah. It's a gorgeous day today - sunny, warm, but with a pleasant breeze and a few high clouds. Temperatures are expected to rise into the 90's tomorrow, but today is perfect.

Morning practice is going well for the Lizards. Johannes van Overbeek is out now in the No. 46 Porsche, following Patrick Pilet's earlier stint. They are currently P1 in the session, with a time of 1:47.990. The Tafel Racing Ferrari is in P2, less than 1/10th of a second behind the No.46, and the Farnbacher Porsche is in P3, with Joerg Bergmeister in P 4 in the No. 45. Seth Neiman, is going solo on setup this weekend until Darren Law arrives for the race tomorrow. The transponder on Seth's Porsche does not appear to be working, so I don't have any timing and scoring for him for this session yet.

Utah Test Day - May 16

2008-05-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

3:35 - The checkered is out on the session and the Lizards head back to the garage. We'll be back on track for two practice sessions tomorrow. For full schedule, click the schedule tab on the race section of the home page.

3:20 - Green flag. Just a few minutes left in the session.

3:12 - Red flag to remove the No. 37 prototype, which is disabled in Turn 1.

3:05 pm MT - Wolf Henzler has taken the wheel of the No. 45 Porsche and is currently P2. Seth Neiman is heading out in the No. 44.

2:53 pm MT - Patrick Pilet is in the No. 46 Porsche for his first spin on the course. He has never driven at this track and will use today's session to learn the course.

2:45 pm MT - Good afternoon from Salt Lake City. It's a beautiful spring day here at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. About 80 degrees,a light breeze and cloudless skies. All three Lizard Porsches are on track for the first session of the week at today's test day. Joerg is currently in P1 in the No. 45, Johannes in P8 in the No. 46. The Lizard engineers are anticipating a significantly different setup here at Miller than at St. Pete and Long Beach and the team will need to move quickly to make the changes in the 90 minute test session today and the two practice sessions on Saturday before qualifying.

We have a large GT2 field for this weekend's race - a total of 16 GT2 cars. A second Tafel Ferrari has joined the field, and a second Vici Porsche.

Long Beach - Race - Lizards 2nd, 3rd and 7th

2008-04-19T07:08:00.000-07:00

Checkered flag - Wolf did everything he could without risking the car to pass the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari, but couldn't make it past, although it looked like an extremely close finish at the end. We'll wait for final results, but it looks like the No. 71 takes the win, the No. 45 settles for second, with the No. 46 in third. It was an exciting finish to the race, with the leading GT2 cars neck and neck for the last 10 minutes. With just a few minutes to go, the No. 87 Farnbacher Porsche, in fourth place, bumped the No. 46 in the hairpin turn, causing a chain reaction and pushing Patrick into Wolf in the No.45. Luckily neither of the Lizard cars were damaged, although the No. 87 may have damaged a radiator.

Happily, Long Beach did not see the rate of attrition that we saw at St. Pete a few weeks ago, and 12 of the 14 GT2 entries finished the race.

Congratulations to the entire Lizard team for their third podium in a row. We will see you all in a few weeks in Salt Lake City! ** Jennifer **

** Six minutes remain ** Wolf in P2, Patrick in P3.

5:50 - Wolf is putting tremendous pressure on the No. 71 Ferrai, looking for an opp to pass. Patrick is right behind Wolf.

5:45 - The No. 62 was assessed a stop and go penalty. They are now in P 9, following the penalty. Nine minutes left.

** 12 mintues lef tin the race **
5:38 pm - The No. 21 Panoz is stopped on the front straight - course is now yellow. No. 37 is still sideways in exit of Turn 11. This yellow could work to our advantage, allowing No. 45 to close the 5 second gap between him and the leader, the No. 71 Tafel RAcing Ferrari. However it will also allow the other GT2 cars on the lead lap (the No. 46, and No. 48) to close their gap.

Positions: P 1 No. 71; P2 No. 45; P 3 No. 46; P 4. No 48; P 5 No. 61.

5:37 pm - The No. 37 Intersport prototype sideways on course in exit of Turn 11.

** 25 minutes left in the race **

5:29 - The No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari did not change tires during its pit stop, taking that gamble to be able to get out of the pits ahead of the No. 45 and No. 46, who did take new tires. The No. 62 continued to have some issues in the pits and had a lengthy pit stop. So new positions: P1 No. 71; P 2. No 45; P 3. No 46; P 4 No. 48; P 5 No. 62; P 6 No. 61; P 7 No. 5; P 8 No. 62. Lonnie is in p 11.

5:27 - No. 46 is out with Patrick Pilet in the car. No. 45 is out with Wolf Henzler in the car. Both cars changed all four tires and fuel. Both cars exited the pits under green. The No. 62 is in the pits and is apparently having trouble starting.

5:24 - No. 46 and No. 45 are both called into the pits. 31 minutes left in the race

5:20 - The No. 46 and No. 45 crew are working to determine the optimal time to pit during the yellow. The field has now bunched up under yellow and positions are: P1 No. 45; P2 No. 46; P 3 No. 62; P 4. No 71; P 5 No. 48 Corsa Ferrari. The No. 87 Tafel Porsche had a long pit stop, and has falled down to 12th. No. 44 is in P 13.

5:17 - Yellow flag and pits are closed. Cause of yellow is to remove debris from Turn 11. Race control notifies that it should be a short yellow. Both the No. 46 and the No. 45 crew call their drivers in for driver change, tires and fuel.

5:15 - Debris reported in Turn 11. The crew gets ready for a possible yellow. Air temperatures are starting to drop off significantly now and we should see the track start to cool down quickly.

5:10 - The No. 87 was slow on course but I'm not sure of the reason. He continued and is now back on pace.

5:02- Joerg passes the No. 45 to take the lead. Johannes is in P2 in the No.46. Lonnie Pechnik in the No. 44 is in P 13, 1 lap down on the next closest car, the Aston Martin.

**Just under one hour left in the race. **

4:51 - Lonnie Pechnik is out in the No. 44. The No. 44 was the first of the GT2 cars to pit. Positions are: P1 No. 46; P 2 No. 45; P3 No. 62; P 4 No. 71; P 5 No. 87; P 6 No. 61. No. 44 is out in P 13 after a fast pit stop for fuel and tires, with no need for repairs. We should start to see the rest of the GT2 field begin to pit.

4:49 pm - The No. 44 gets ready to pit and driver change to Lonnie Pechnik. The car chief notifies the crew to inspect the car after fueling to determine if there is any damage. The cars are starting to enter the driver/fuel window.

4:43 - Seth in the No. 44 impacted the tire wall, but has continued. He asked the crew to have a look at the rear of the car as he goes by on the front straight to visually inspect it.

4:39 - The strategist of the No.46 Porsche has asked Johannes to let Joerg pass if possible but it's a tough situation because all of the cars are so close together. Prorotype traffic is also starting to thread through the GT2 field. The prototype traffic has widened the gap between the GT2 cars - giving Joerg some breathing room in front of the No. 62 and also putting some distance between the No. 62 Ferrari and the No. 71 Tafel Ferrari in P4. Positions: P1 No. 46; P2 No. 45; P 3 No. 62; P 4 No. 71.

4:33 - The top seven GT2 cars are nose to tail. The No. 62 Ferrari is looking for opportunities to pass Joerg. Joerg in turn, is putting pressure on Johannes, but doesn't want to get too close and risk a problem that could take them both out. The top five cars are within three tenths of a second of one another on their lap times.

4:30 pm - Green flag. Looks like the No. 37 prototype went off line to avoid traffic in front of him. He was able to continue without incident. The GT2 field maintained positiosn on the restart. Johannes in the No. 46 in P1; Joerg in the No. 45 in P2; Seth in the No. 44 in P11.

4;22 pm - The course is yellow and the pits are closed. The No. 11 will need to be removed from the course.

4:21 pm - The race today is just 1 hour and 40 minutes - our shortest race of the season. The No. 11 Viperis slow on the front straight and appears to have pulled off course and stopped.

4:18 pm PT - Green Flag - a clean start for the field. Johannes retained top position at the start, and Joerg is P2. Jaime Melo in No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari is in P 3, with Dominik Farnbacher in the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari in P4. The No. 87 Farnbacher Porsche is P5.

4:11 pm PT - Engine start for the 2 pace laps.

4:00 pm PT - The cars are on the grid. Lizards are starting first (No.46), second (No.45) and eighth (No.44) on the 14-car GT2 grid.

3:51 pm PT - The cars are out on their recon lap. Reminder that we are broadcasting our radio live during the race. See the follow the race tab on the home page for details. The race is tape delayed and will be broadcast on Sunday April 20 on ABC. Check your local listings for broadcast times as it may vary in your market.

3:43 pm PT - We are getting ready for the recon lap (the laps(s) which precede the lining up of the cars on the grid.) Starting drivers will be: Seth Neiman in the No.44 Porsche, Joerg Bergmeister in the No.45 and Johannes van Overbeek in the No.46. We have a short hold to clean some oil off the track.

Morning Warmup
7:30 - Checker is out and the warmup session is over. Joerg was P1 in the No.45, Johannes was P2 in the No.46, and Seth was P 7 in the No. 44. Once the cars are in the pits, the crew will practice driver changes, then head back to the paddock to finish prep for the race.

Race begins at 4:10 pm PT today. ABC will broadcast the race tape delayed starting on Sunday. So - live during the race, please join us on the radio - see the "Follow the Race" tab on the home page for details.

7:27 - 3 minutes left to go. Joerg is P1 in the No. 45. Johannes reports flowers, dirt and bushes on the track - someone evidently went through the planted beds on the side of the course.

7:19 am - Red flag just two minutes into the session after an Acura prototype collided with the Mazda prototype on course, sending the Mazda into the tire wall. Looks like some damage to both cars, although both were able to continue back to the pits.

7:10 am PT - Good morning from Long Beach. It's cool and cloudy this morning, with a chance of rain. We have a 15 minute warmup this morning, our last chance to do any setup changes prior to the race. Unfortunately, with the cool temperatures, it will take most of the session to get the tires up to temp, so we could definitely use a longer session. The cars are lining up at pit out, with Joerg in the No. 45, Seth in the No.44, and Johannes in the No. 45.

Reminder that we are broadasting our radio live during morning warmup and the race tonight- for details, see the follow the race tab on the home page, or directly here
http://powerlink.powerstream.net/002/00324/live2.asx.

The race starts at 4:10 pm PT today, and will be broadcast tape-delayed on Sunday, April 10 starting at 9:30 am PT.

Long Beach Qual - Pilet takes the Pole!

2008-04-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

Patrick Pilet takes the pole! Patrick's first pole in the ALMS and the Lizard's second pole in a row, following Wolf's pole at St. Petersburg. Joerg is second in the No. 45 and Lonnie is eighth in the No. 44. 14 cars qualified today in GT2.

4:05 pm - Patrick Pilet in the No. 46 just took P1 with a 1:19.953, then bested that in the next lap with a 1.19.705. Joerg is in P 2 in the No. 45 and Lonnie in P 6 with the No. 44. No. 71 is P3. Other GT2 cars are just getting up to speed so we'll see what happens.

4:03 - No. 44 spun in turn 5 and made impact with the tire wall. Appears to be little or no damage.

4:00 pm PT - Qualifying has started and all three cars are out. All three cars are running together at the moment, hopefully they will be able to space out a bit.

3:45 pm PT, Friday April 18 - Greetings from Long Beach, California. The weather is spectacular this weekend - sunny skies, light breeze -perfect Southern California weather. So far, things have gone smoothly for the Lizards this week - all three cars had a successful test day on Thursday, and so far, everything today has gone well.

We are in the pits, waiting for the start of qualifying and for the cars to arrive from our paddock ,which is about 1 mile from the pits.

Qualifying drivers are:
Lonne Pechnik: No. 44
Joerg Bergmeister: No. 45
Patrick Pilet: No. 46

Qualifying session will start at 3:55 PT, although we've been notified by race control that there may be a delay to clean up some debris from the previous session.

St. Pete Race - No. 46 2nd, No. 44 7th

2008-04-05T09:44:00.054-07:00

Final race finish: No. 46 P2, No. 44 P 7, No. 45 P 9. The No. 71 Tafel Ferrari won in GT2. Congrats to Johannes, Patrick, and the No. 46 team for their first podium this year!!!

5:21 pm - Checkered flag. No. 46 finishes second and No. 44 seventh. We'll know in a few minutes how the No. 45 will end up - the car did not cross the finish line.

5:14 pm - Joerg reports the car is starting to smoke and strategist Thomas Blam calls him into the pits. They are going to do a fast review of the car to determine if they can send him back out or if they need to do a radiator replacement. No - it's clear - the No.45 is done and will not be able to continue. It is in the pits, and Joerg is out of the car. The No. 46 has moved to P2 and the No. 44 in P 8.

5:08 pm - Positions: P1 No. 71; P 2 No 45; P 3 No. 46. No. 44 is P 8. Course is still yellow.

5:05 - The No. 20 Dyson prototype impacted the tire wall and the No. 45 hit him as he was going by (No. 20 was going counter race). Joerg reports that the left front radiator is is damaged and he is losing fluid. Double yellow. Crew tells Joerg to stay out until they are ready for the radiator replacement. AT the time, Joerg was in P2.

5:00 - P1. No 71; P 2 No. 45; P 3 No 46. No. 44 is now P 9.

4:57 - One of the Audis and one of the Acuras collided on course. Both cars have sustained damage.

4:55 - the No. 71 Tafel Ferrari has passed Joerg in the No. 45 to take the lead. Joerg is now P2. It appears that Johannes will retain P3. He is one lap back from the No. 45.

4:52 - No. 46 Porsche has collided on course with another car - the GT2 28 Corvette. Johannes is having trouble restarting he is sideways in 5. He has restarted and rejoined. At the time of the incident, he was in P3. Will report positions in a minute.

2:52 - Green flag. No. 62 is in the pits.

2:48 - Something may be going on with the No. 62 Ferrari (which was in the lead) - it's unclear, but from timing and scoring, it appears to be slow on course. Could be just a timing and scoring issue - we'll now more in a minute. Still yellow. TV shows him on course in front of the No. 45 but he is going slow, and appears to have a problem.

2:47 - the rain that had been predicted has not materialized - thankfully. Still clear skies. 33 minutes left.

2:40 - Still yellow. Positions: P1 No 62; P 2 No. 45; P 3 No. 71; P 4 No. 46. No. 44 is P 11. The 62, 45, 71, and 46 are on the same lap. The other GT2 cars are one or more lap back.

2:30 - the No. 11 Viper and the No. 008 Aston Martin collided on course - major damage and debris on track. Double yellow. We do not have any info on the drivers' status.

2:26 pm - Unfortunately, under the yellow, the No. 62 in a short pit stop, was able to get in and out of the pits ahead of the No. 45 to regain the lead. The yellow worked to their advantage, allowing them to pit again for fuel and regain the lead. Positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 45; P 3 No. 71; P 4 No. 46; P 5 No. 61. No. 44 is P 11. The Lizard Porsches should be good on fuel through the end of the race, assuming that there are no lengthy yellows.

2:23 pm - No. 45 is out with Joerg Bergmeister; No. 44 has Darren Law and No. 46 has Johannes van Overbeek. Green flag. I will report positions in a minute when things sort out.

2:22 pm - No. 45 and No. 46 are called in and head into the pits. course still yellow. No. 71, 62, 61, 28 all pit.

2:21 - Just under one hour left to go. No. 44 is called into the pits for driver change, tires and fuel.

2:14 - Course still yellow to remove debris. Lizard cars will all pit at some point during this yellow. Because they have not yet pitted, they are hoping for the yellow to last as long as possible. At the one-hour mark, a one-stop race could still a possibility for the Lizard Porsches. If the cars have to pit before the 1-hour mark, it may not be possible. as the cars will need to refuel and have new tires. 1 hour and 6 minutes left.

2:08 - It appears that the early Risi pit stop was to get Salo out of the car - it appears to be a heat-related issue.

2:05 pm - No. 6 Penske spun on course and the No. 37 impacted the tire wall - they appear to be unrelated but happened at the same time on course so there may hav ea been a problem. Both cars are continuing, the No. 37 has damage. Course is double yellow. Drivers are readying for an earlier than planned change.

2:04 - GT2 positions: P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 71; P 3 No 46; P 4 No 48; P 5 No. 21. After the early pit stop, No. 62 is now in P7. No. 44 in P 11.

2:02 - No. 62 pitted early, ceding the lead back to Wolf, and moving Patrick to P3 in the No. 46. It was a short stop - fuel and tires and driver change to Melo.

1:58 - The race so far has been happily fairly uneventful for the field. No. 45 is P2; No. 46 P 4, and No. 44 P 11. We are entering our windows for driver changes and fuel/tires. With no incidents, the cars will most likely stop around 2:30 to 2:45. If there are no additional yellows, this could still be a one stop race for the Lizard Porsches,even with the yellow on the restart.

1:53 - Race control radios to display the sporstmanship flag (to the No. 62 for his earlier pass/contact with Wolf.

1:51 GT2 Positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 45; P 3. No 71; P 4. No 46; P 5 No. 48; P 6 No. 21; P 7 No. 87; P 8 No. 61; P 9 No. 28; P 10 No. 40; P 11 No. 44.

1:49 - The No. 62 passed Wolf on the outside, it appears that they made contact and Wolf was forced to left and brake to avoid colliding with the inside wall.

1:44 - Wolf is still P1, with the No. 62 just behind him. Both GT2 cars have had to navigate signicant traffic as the faster cars move past them. In the No. 46, Patrick is just behind the No. 71 Tafel Ferrari but has been unable to pass.
Wolf has been able to hold off the Ferrari so far, but they are nose to tail now.

1:35 pm - GT2 positions: P 1 No. 45; P 2. No 62; P 3 No. 71; P 4 No. 46; P 5 No. 21; P 6 No. 48; P 7 No. 61; P 8 No. 28. P 9. No 40. P 10 No. 87. P 11 No. 44.

1:33 - No. 26 Acura has continued.

1:30 - All cars have made it successfully through the restart, although there was some tussling among the prototypes in the first few turns. No. 46 is now in P4 and No. 44 in P8. Wolf held the lead on the start, although Salo in the No. 62 is just a 3 tenths behind him. The No. 26 Acura spun on course, but appears to be continuing. He is stuck again, on track on the outside of turn 8. They have not yet called a yellow.

1:29 - Green flag.

1:27 - It's a bit confusing right now - the race was actually started at the planned time, although it started under yellow. So the start will be a single car start not a double car start - a standard race restart.

1:24 pm - The 007 Aston Martin (a GT2 entry) is stopped on course so the course is double yellow - there will be at least one more pace lap while they sort it out. If they cannot continue, it will be a 12-car GT2 field.

1:20 - We are just getting started on the two pace laps. This is a rolling start, 2 cars side by side. Race will start at 1:25. Lizard Porsches are first (No. 45), fifth (No. 46) and sixth (No. 44) on the grid. There are 13 GT2 cars in the field. The No. 5 Porsche was damaged in yesterday's practice session and has withdrawn.

12:53 - Recon laps have started. Cars are heading out for one lap.

12:50 pm ET - Good afternoon from St. Pete. Recon laps are just about to start - teams will do one lap, then return to pit lane. The grid at St. Pete will be on pit lane (normally ALMS races grid on the front straight).

Starting drivers are: Seth Neiman in No. 44; Wolf Henzler in No. 45; and Patrick Pilet in No. 46. Race will begin at 1:25 pm ET.

Lizards are broadcasting team radio. You can access it through the home page or here

http://powerlink.powerstream.net/002/00324/live2.asx

St. Pete - Raceday! Morning Warmup

2008-04-05T06:10:00.008-07:00

9:50 am - We have the checker on the session and are heading back to the paddock for our final race prep. We'll be back on the blog and the radio before race start - around 1:00 pm ET.

9:43 am - Johannes reports a flat spot and may need to pit. Seth pits in No. 44 for driver change to Darren.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms are forecast for midday today - which would put the heaviest of the rain right during the race. We are planning for a wet race, but hope that things will hold off until post race.

9:37 - Wolf pits in the No. 45 for driver change to Joerg Bergmeister.

9:35 - Patrick pits in the No. 46 for driver change to Johannes van Overbeek.

9:31 - Wolf Henzler in the No. 45 has the fastest time of the session so far in the first few minutes, Patrick Pilet in No. 46 is second. 20 minutes to go in the session.

9:25 am - Green flag on the morning warmup. Seth is in the No. 44, Wolf Henzler is in the No. 45; and Patrick is in the No. 46. All three Lizard cars are heading out.

9:14 am ET - Good morning from St. Pete. It's a beautiful day here in St. Petersburg, Florida. Although there is a chance of rain later today, it is clear this morning, warm and humid. We have a short warmup this morning (9:25-9:50) before the race which starts at 1:25 this afternoon (Eastern Time).

We are broadcasting our team radio this morning and during the race - you can listen in here
http://powerlink.powerstream.net/002/00324/live2.asx

St. Pete Qualifying: No. 45 on the Pole!!

2008-04-04T11:23:00.005-07:00

2:35 pm - No. 45 Wolf Henzler on the pole!!! Lizards qualify 1st, 5th, and sixth in GT2. Wolf had the fastest session time of 1:11:745. Johannes in the No. 46 is fifth, and Darren in the No. 44 is sixth.

2:27 - Wolf is still in P1, and is heading out again for a cool down lap. Melo in No. 62 is just 1/10th of a second behind Wolf now in P2.

2:24 pm - 10 minutes into qualifying, Wolf Henzler in the No. 45 is in P1, with a 1:11.745. Melo is in P2 in No. 62 Risi Ferrari. No. 46 with Johannes van Overbeek behind the wheel is in P 6. Darren Law in the No. 44 is P 6.

St. Pete - Friday April 5 Afternoon Practice

2008-04-04T09:51:00.018-07:00

2:00 pm - Race control has notified us that the session will not restart and so we are done until qualifying. The cars remain in pit lane, and the drivers are getting out in search of some shade to stay cool before qualifying.

** Reminder - radio broadcast on Race Day. Lizards will be broadcasting our team radio live on raceday during on track sessions. For details, click on the "Follow the Race" tab on the home page.

1:52 pm - Red flag. Looks like the Penske No. 7 and a GT2 Porsche (not a Lizard Porsche) collided on course with significant damage to both cars. Unclear exactly what happened, but appears that the Porsche impacted the tire wall, and the Penske was unable to avoid him on course. Both cars will need to be removed from the course so this will most likely be the end of the practice session.

Up next is qualifying - which, assuming that it is not delayed due to this incident, will be at 2:15 pm

1:48 - Based on weather reports it looks like rain may be possible for tomorrow's race. In the rain, teams will switch from slick tires to grooved rain tires as soon as the track becomes too wet to hold traction on slicks.

1:42 - 20 minutes left - Lizards are 1, 2, and 9 in the session out of 14 GT2 cars.

1:39 - No. 46 pits for driver change from Patrick to Johannes.

1:38 - Darren Law takes over for Seth in the No. 44 and Wolf for Joerg in the No. 45

1:28 - No. 45 is currently P1, No. 46 P 2; and No. 44 13th in the session.

1:15 - Green flag - Stefan Pfeiffer, No. 45 Engineer, has identified the shifting issue (broken shift sensor) - they will run out the practice with it, and repair it prior to qualifying.

1:11 - Red flag. A Dyson prototype has spun on course, managing to avoid impacting the tire barrier wall. Patrick reports a traction issue. All three cars are in the pits.

1:04 - Joerg reports a shifting problem

1:05 pm - Green flag on the session and Seth Neiman (no. 44), Joerg Bergmeister (No. 45) ,and Patrick Pilet (No. 46) are heading out for the session. It's hot and humid here at St. Pete and cloudy skies are threatening rain.

1:00 pm ET - Good afternoon from St. Petersburg, Florida. We are installed in our pits here at the temporary race circuit, readying for our second (and final) practice session of the race weekend. It's a compressed schedule here, and unlike most of our standard races, we have only 2 hours of practice time and a short race day warmup before Saturday's race.

The drivers have been focused this morning on refreshing on the track circuit, and for Seth and Patrick, learning it for the first time. All three cars were out for this morning's session.

This afternoon's practice begins at 1:05 pm and lasts one hour. GT qualifying begins at 2:15 and lasts 30 minutes.

Qualifying is important at every race, and even more so here because the race is very short (1 hour, 55 minutes) compared to our other events. Starting position is key because there are so few passing opportunities on this track.

Lizards Win Sebring in GT2! No. 45 is P1; No. 44 P2

2008-03-15T15:01:00.054-07:00

*** Lizards win in GT2: the No. 45 takes the checkered and the No. 44 follows for second. It's the first Sebring win and the first ever 1/2 finish in the team's history. The No. 46 came through a challenging race to finish eighth. All three cars finished in a race of attrition in which 50% of the GT2 field did not complete the race.

Congratulations to the entire team and all nine drivers- Darren, Seth, Alex, Joerg, Wolf, Marc, Johannes, Patrick, and Richard. Well done!!! ****

See you all in St. Petersburg!

9:52 - No. 45 pits for fuel. Marc stays in the car and is out quickly, still in P1.

9:50 - ** 15 minutes to go **.

9:44 - Darren calls in that he's losing control - he thought he might have a flat fire. The crew replies that there appears to be water on the track.

9:24 - 40 minutes left in the race. Positions: P1 No. 45; P 2 No 44; P 3 No 61; P 4 No 73; P 5 No. 5. No. 46 is P 8.

9:22 - The No. 44 is in the pits for fuel only. Darren stayed in the car.

9:16 - The No. 44 and the No. 46 are both getting ready to pit. No. 44 will have just fuel, no tires or driver change. The No. 46 will have full fuel, tires, and driver change to Patrick Pilet. No. 46 is in and Patrick is out of the pits after some trouble restarting. The No. 46 is in P 8, with the No. 71 Ferrari back in P 7.

9:08 pm - Richard in the No. 46 just did the second fastest GT2 lap of the race - 2:02:721. Positions: P 2. No 45; P 2 No. 44; P 3 No. 61. P 4 No. 73. P5 No. 5.

No. 5 is still out for repairs. No. 11 in P 6 has pitted. No. 45 is in P 7. The No. 71 Tafel Ferrari is still right on Richard's tail.

9:05 pm - *** 1 hour remains ***

8:56 pm - No. 45 Porsche is in the pits for a lengthy pit stop. The No. 45 Porsche, in the lead, pits for driver change to Marc Lieb, tires, and fuel. The No. 45 is out still in the lead. No. 44 is in P 2. No. 46, with Richard Lietz at the wheel, has moved to P 7, but the No. 71 Ferrari, which was in front of him, is behind after a pit stop but very close on his tail.

8:41 - Positions: P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 44; P3 No. 61; P4 No. 5; P5 No. 73. No. 46 is P 8. No. 45 is 3 laps ahead of the No. 44. No. 45 is 2 laps ahead of the No. 44. The No. 44 is 2 laps ahead of the P3 No. 61 Ferrari.

** 90 minutes remain **

8:29 - No. 44 is in the pits now. Darren takes over for Alex and he is out back on track. He will retain his P2 position.

8:27 - Positions: P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 44; P3 No. 61; P4 No. 5; P5 No. 73. No. 46 is P 8.

8:25 pm - No. 46 pits for tires and fuel - Richard Lietz will stay in the car. Once this stop is complete, the No. 46 plans for one more fuel stop through the end of the race. No 44 will also pit shortly for tires, fuel and driver change to Darren Law.

** 2 hours to go **

8:02 pm - Even with the pit stop, No. 45 remains in P1, 2 laps ahead of the No. 44, which is 1 lap ahead of the No. 61 Ferrari.

8:00 - Positions are: P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 44; P 3 No. 61; P 4 No. 5; P 5 No. 73. No. 46 is P8, now 26 seconds behind the No. 71 Ferrari - he was able to narrow the gap after the No. 71's long stop. No. 61 is in the pits. No. 45 pits for fuel and tires, driver change from Wolf to Joerg.

7:57 - The No. 71 had a lengthy pit stop - looks like a wheel gun problem.

7:46 - Alex in the No. 44 reports a vibration like something is flapping. The crew thinks it is just pickup from the track. The No. 61 Krohn Ferrari spun and is off track but is able to continue.

7:43 pm - The No. 71 Tafel Ferrari hit the tire wall, but he is continuing. He was in P 7, 1 lap ahead of the No. 46. If he pits, it would give the No. 46 a chance to retake that position and move to P 7.

7:40 pm - Positions: P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 44; P 3 No. 61; P 4 No. 5; P 5 No. 73. The No. 46 is P8. The No. 61 is 1 lap back from the No. 44, which is 3 laps back from the No. 45. The No. 5 is 1 lap back from the No. 61.

7:36 pm - The No. 44 pits for tires, fuel, and driver change from Darren to Alex. They will bleed the clutch. The No. 46 will be right behind him for tires and fuel, driver change to Richard Lietz. The No. 2 Audi spun on track and impacted the tire wall, but was able to continue into the pits.

The No. 45 pits for tires and fuel. Wolf will stay in the car.

** 2 hours and 45 minutes to go - the length of a standard ALMS race **

7:15 pm - The No. 5 Porsche has a flat, but he was able to get into the pits quickly before too much damage. Positions remain unchanged. P1 No. 45; P2 No. 44; P3 No. 61; P 4 No. 5; P 5 No. 73

7:06 pm - the No. 61 had a speeding violation in pit lane, and will have to serve a stop and go penalty. Both the No. 61 and the No. 5 (which were P3 and P4) pitted for driver change. With the No. 61's penalty, the No. 5 will most likely regain P3.

Positions: P1 No. 45; P2 No. 44; P3 No. 61; P4 No 5; P5 No. 73.

7:03 pm - The No. 45 pits for fuel. Wolf stays in the car. They are checking the car out carefully to make sure that there is no problem.

6:54 - The No. 45 crew decides to bring the car in under yellow for fuel and to check the undertray to make sure nothing is loose (Wolf reported some "banging" sounds earlier).

6:46 pm - The No. 40 Ford is in the tire wall in Turn 13. Double yellow. Safety crew is assisting the driver. A caution at this point will most likely not help the Lizards - it could allow some of the field to gain a lap back on the No. 45 and/or 44 during the wave by. The No. 45 is 2 laps ahead of the No. 44. The No. 44 is 2 laps ahead of the No. 5, with the No. 61 close behind him. The No. 46 is P 8.

6:33 - The No. 46 is out quickly with a clean pit stop. Both Lizard Porsches will retain their lead positions, even after the pit stops. Positions: P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 44; P 3 No. 5; P 4. No 61; P 5 No. 73. No. 46 is P8. In the No. 45 in P1, Wolf is 4 laps ahead of the No. 5 Porsche in P3. He is 2 laps ahead of the No. 44 Lizard Porsche.

6:33 - No. 46 pits just behind the No. 44 for driver change to Johannes, tires and fuel.

6:30 - No. 44 pits for driver change to Darren, tires and fuel.

6:25 - Wolf radios in again that there is definitely something banging under the car. The crew thinks it may be a portion of the undertray that may have come loose and tell him to stay out.

6:23 - Wolf reports that he drove over something and asks the crew to visually check it out as he goes by on the front straight.

6:16 pm - The No. 45 crew decides to wait on bleeding the clutch and sends Wolf out with tires and fuel.

6:13 pm - The No. 45 pits for driver change to Wolf, tires and fuel. The clutch is getting very soft. The crew is working to make the call if they will bleed the clutch on this stop or wait until a caution. The No. 46 has moved into P 8, surpassing the laps completed so far by the 77, which has not yet returned to the track.

6:01 pm - We are heading in to hour nine of the race. Four hours left to go! No. 45 is in P1 with Marc Lieb well through his second stint of the race. No. 44 is in P2 with Alex Davison in the car - this is his 3rd stint. The No. 46, which has been dogged by problems throughout the race, has managed to hold on to P 9, after being out of the race for more than an hour early on after an accident significantly damaged the suspension. Patrick Pilet is currently in the No. 46.

The No. 45 crew is getting ready for a driver change to Wolf, tires and fuel.

Positions are: P1 No. 45; P2 No. 44; P 3 No. 5; P 4 No. 61; P5 No. 73; P 6 No. 11; P 7 No. 77; P 8 No 71; No. 9 No. 46. The No. 77, in P 7, is having a lengthy pit stop/repair, which may allow the No. 46 to overtake it in a few laps and move up one position to P 8.

Sebring Hours 6-8

2008-03-15T13:07:00.039-07:00

5:57 - The No. 5 Porshe is in the pits to serve a 25 second stop and go penalty for speeding in pit lane. The No. 5 is in P3, behind the No. 44 in P2 and the No. 45 in P1. This gives the No. 44 back a bit of breathing room. These penalties have to be served on a separate, dedicated trip to the pits - so they are as significant penalty for a team.

5:45 - No. 46 repair is complete and Patrick is out again. Although it has been more than 20 minutes since the problem occurred on track, he has only lost two positions. He is now in P10, 2 laps down from the No. 71 Tafel Ferrari. He is 40 seconds behind the No. 40 Ford which is in P 9, but he is running at a much faster pace.

5:39 pm - No. 46 still under repair in the pits. Mo. 44 has pitted and Alex Davison has taken over for Darren.

5:34 - No. 44 crew is readying for a pit stop. Because they still don't have any radio communication with Darren (at least not from driver to crew) they have to rely on the manual stop board

5:31 - No. 77 was black flagged - I assume because they are not able to keep the pace of the field. They are currently in P7.

5:24 - 46 is slow in 10. WE are not sure of the reason. Patrick is working to get the car back to the pits. The car has been on track most of the race without a rear bumper so there is little protection in the rear of the car. It may be an axle. Confirmed - a rear axle is broken. The crew will replace the axle in the pits - it will be a 5-10 minute repair. The 46 is 4 laps ahead of the No. 40 Ford. No. 45 is still P1 and No. 44 is P2.

5:22 pm - Joerg is in the pits, driver change to Marc Lieb.

5:16 PM - No. 46 is called into the pits for tires and fuel. 2 more laps before the No. 45 pits. Joerg radios in that his toe is hurting and asks for a driver change, which was already planned.

** Five hours to go **

4:57 - We have lost radio contact with Darren in the No. 44. The crew is using the sign board - a manual sign that they hold over pit wall - to tell the driver whether to stay out or come into the pits. the crew needs to be ready for the car to come into the pits unexpectedly.

4:50 - Seth spun on course in the No. 44, but luckily was able to avoid impacting the wall and quickly continued. He has flat spotted the tires and is pitting for tires, fuel and driver change to Darren. Darren is now in the car, and they are out again. With the stop, No. 73 Ferrari has closed the gap between him and the No. 44 to 1 lap. No. 45 continues in P1; No. 46 in P 8.

4:38 pm - The No. 46 moves to P8 as it surpasses the number of laps completed by the No. 62 and No. 87 before they were retired. Lizards now P1 (45), P2(44) and P8 (46)

** 5.5 hours left to go - twice the length of the standard ALMS races **

4:30 - The No. 40 Ford has lost a wheel and is attempting to return to the pits. The No. 46 is on the same lap as the No. 40 so this will put the No. 46 into P 10. Richard Lietz is currently in the No. 46.

4:26 - No. 45 pits for driver change, fuel and tires. Joerg takes over and heads out. All three cars retain their positions after the pit stops. P1 No. 45; P2 No. 44; P11 No. 46.

4:23 - No. 44 is back out. No. 46 is now in the pits - Johannes reports that he is very close on fuel. No. 45 is pitting next.

4:19 - No. 44 and No. 45 will pit shortly, then the No. 46. All three cars will do driver changes. Getting in the cars will be: Seth Neiman (44), Joerg Bergmeister (5), Richard Lietz (46).

4:10 pm - Top 5 GT2 positions are: P1 No. 45; P2 No. 44; P 3 No. 61; P 4 No. 73; P5 No. 5. No. 46 is P 11. Wolf, Alex, and Johannes are in the Lizard Porsches right now. 4 of the starting 15 GT2 cars have been retired.

4:06 pm - Car 5 is assessed a penalty for exceeding the pit lane speed. They are in P 3 right now.

4:01 pm - Alex in the No. 44 reports that the Ferrari in front of him is leaking oil.
Wolf in the No. 45 lets the No. 46 (which is many laps down on the top of the field) pass as Johannes continues to work to regain some time. Strategist Thomas Blam has asked Wolf to back off on times a bit to help conserve tires. Wolf has a 1 lap lead on the No. 44. The No. 44 has about a one lap lead on the No. 5 in P3. The No. 61 Ferrari is in P 4.

Sebring Race Hours 2 through 6

2008-03-15T08:59:00.060-07:00

3:36 - The two GT2 leaders - the No. 62 Ferrari and the No. 87 Farnbacher Porsche - impacted on course - taking both off track. Both cars have significant damage and it looks like both are out of the race. This will put the No. 45 in P1 and the No. 44 in P2.

3:35 - Positions on restart will be: P1 No. 62; P2 No. 87; P3 No. 45; P4 No. 44. No. 46 now P 11.

3:32 - No. 77 has a flat, cars have been notified that they may pass him, even though it's still yellow.

3:29 - No 45 pits for a very short fuel.

3:27 pm - No. 44 pits for fuel, still under yellow.

3:14 pm - Course still yellow as the officials finish their review of what happened during the wavebys to make sure that starting order is correct.

3:06 pm - Strategist Eric Ingraham makes the call on the No. 46 Porsche to bring the car in under yellow and fix the driver-side mirror and a splash of fuel.

2:57 - Johannes reports a water temp alarm. course still yellow. The officials have had to run multiple wave bys because they had the wrong overall leader. They now have the correct lineup and the course will go green shortly.

2:44 pm - The No. 77 Porsche has a flat and is slow on course - holding up all of the cars. Race control gave the OK for cars to pass, which is normally not allowed under yellow.

2:38 - The Lista Prototype spun and impacted the wall at turn 11. He continued. With the latest pit stops, the No. 61 is P1, the No. 45 is P2, the No. 87 is P3, the No. 44 is P4. The No. 62 just pitted for tires and fuel.

2:32 - Marc Lieb radioed in that he was out of fuel. The car was slowing and he thought he would not make it back to the pits. By changing maps and switching to reserve, he was able to continue and make it to the pits. There may be another issue which caused the loss of power. No. 45, 46, and 44 are all in pits. New drivers will be: Johannes in the No. 46, Wolf in the 45, and Alex in the No. 44

2:31 pm - with the No. 87 pitting for driver change, the No. 44 moves to P2. No. 62 remains in the lead, with No. 45 in P2. Marc Lieb and Darren Law are still in the cars but are pitting shortly for driver change.

2:25 pm - P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 45; P 3 No. 87; P 4 No. 44. No 46 is P 12. Next round of pit stops should be in about 5 minutes.

2:00 - P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 45; P 3 No. 87; P 4 NO. 44.

1:42 pm - Green flag. P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 87; P 3 No. 45; P 4 No. 5; P 5 No. 44. No 46 in P 14.

1:37 pm - GT2 leader No. 62 Ferrari is in the pits. course is still yellow. Lizard chief strategist Thomas Blam believes they may be replacing brake pads. Looks like the 62 was able to get out in front of the overall leader, which means that he will retain his one lap advantage over the No. 87 Farnbacher Porsche in P2 and the No. 45 in P3.

1:33 - Course still under yellow. Positions on restart will be: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 87; P 3 No. 45; P 4 No. 5; P 5 No. 44.

1:30 - All three Lizard cars pit for tires and fuel. In the No. 45, Marc will stay in the car. In the No. 44 Darren also stays in the car. The No. 46 pitted again so that the crew could check out a possible problem reported by Patrick. All seems OK.

1:25 pm - The No. 46 pits for tires and fuel. In the No. 46, Patrick will double stint and continue driving.

1:23 - Positions: P 1 No. 62; P 2 No. 87; P 3 No. 45; P 4 No. 44. The No. 44 is minus one lap to the 45. The 45 is minus one lap to the GT2 leader, No. 62. The No. 46 and No. 45 are both called into the pits for tires and fuel.

1:15 - The No. 32 prototype is in the wall and the course is double yellow. It was a hard hit - the driver is awake and talking to safety officials who are assisting him.

1:10 - P1. No 62; P 2 No 87; P 3 No. 45; P 4 No. 5; P 5 No. 44.

1:09 - The No. 21 Panoz just went by being pushed down pit lane - heading behind the wall I assume. The No. 44 pits for stop and go penalty. It looks like the No. 44 will only lose one position. Green flag.

1:03 - The No. 62 (GT2 leader) pitted for driver change

1:00 - Marc Lieb in the No. 45 is in P 3, behind the No. 87 Farnbacher Porsche and the No. 62 Ferrari in P1. Course is still yellow.

12:55 - No. 44 back in the pits for driver change to Darren Law. It looks like the 44 was assessed a penalty for speeding coming into pit lane, so Darren will have to serve a stop and go. Darren radios in that his cool suit is not working - the crew makes the call to bring him back in under yellow to fix it with the hope that they will not lose any positions.

12:50 - The crew calls the No. 44 in under yellow for a splash of fuel. They had some bad luck on this yellow - running too low on fuel to continue until their planned stop. The car will pit again shortly for driver change to Darren. They were able to still remain in P4, ahead of the No. 21 which is in P5. The course is still yellow. Positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 87; P 3 No. 45; P 4 No. 44. No. 46 is P 14 with Patrick Pilet at the wheel.

12:45 - 007 Aston Martin is in the tire wall - it looks like it was a very hard hit. The course is double yellow. The car is continuing and returning to the pits. Positions are P 1 No. 87 (which has not yet done its 3rd pit stop); P 2 No 62; P3 No. 45; and P 4 No. 44. Course is still yellow. For some reason, the Aston Martin did not pit.

12:42 - No. 45 pits for tires, fuel and driver change to Marc Lieb, tires and fuel. This will be Marc's first stint. The No. 45 is currently P1 after leader No. 62 pitted for their driver change. Seth Neiman in the No. 44 is P4. No. 46 is P 14.

** Reminder ** Radio broadcasting live at
http://powerlink.powerstream.net/002/00324/live2.asx

12:31 - Eric Ingraham, strategist for the No. 46 Porsche, calls Richard Lietz in for driver change to Patrick Pilet. The No. 62 Ferrari in P1 had a slow lap and appears to have gone off track, allowing Joerg to catch 10 plus seconds on him. Joerg in the No. 45 is now just 18 seconds behind the No. 62 Ferrari.

12:24 - The No. 71 Tafel Ferrari returned to the track for a short few laps, and is now back in the pits again.

12:00 - Joerg has been able to get around the No. 87 Porsche and is now P 2 in the No. 45. Seth is P 4 in the No. 44. Positions: P 1 No. 62; P 2 No. 45; P 3 No 87; P 4 No. 44. No. 46 still in last place after its hour long pit stop to repair significant suspension damage after being hit on track by the No. 1 Audi early in the race. No. 71 Tafel Ferrari is still being repaired - they have alsy been out about an hour. the No. 40 Ford is out for repairs, but all of the other GT2 cars are still running.

Sebring Race Hours 1 & 2

2008-03-15T07:04:00.053-07:00

11:52 am - Positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 87; P 3 No. 45; P 4 No. 44; P 5 No. 5. Joerg in the No. 45 is right behind the No. 87 and putting pressure on him.

11:44 - Wolf pits in the No. 45 for driver change to Joerg. Joerg reports that he still has clutch so the crew makes the call not to do any work on it. No. 44 pits for driver change to Neiman, tires and fuel. After the pit stops, positions are P 1. No 87; P1 No. 62; P 3 No. 45; P 4 No. 44. No. 46 is in 15th position.

11:41 - No. 45 in P 2 after the No. 62 pitted. No.44 in P 3. No. 45 will pit shortly. No. 46 is pitting also - probably for some adjustments after the significant amount of work done on the car.

11:35 - Richard is out on track in the No. 46.

11:32 am - The No. 45 will pit in about 4 laps. Richard Lietz is in the No. 46 which is ready to leave the pits. The car is now 27 laps down on the leader after its hour-long repair to repair the major suspension damage suffered when the No. 1 Audi impacted the Porsche on track during Johannes' first stint.

11:22 am - The No. 45 Porsche appears to have clutch issues. The crew is discussing what repairs they can make during the scheduled pit stop. No. 46 is still in the pits. They are now 26 laps down on the overall leader. The No. 45 crew is dicussing strategies for bleeding the clutch during the next pit stop.

11:17 am - The No. 71 Tafel Ferrari has been out for a lengthy stop. They have fallen to P 14. Positions: No. 61 P 1; No. 87 P 2; No. 45 P3; No. 44 P 4. Only the No. 62, No. 87, No. 45 and No.44 are on the lead lap.

11:14 - Alex in the No. 44 now in P4. Lizards now P3/P4. No. 46 still in the pits.

11:09 am - Wolf in the No.45 has passed the No. 5 Porsche and is now P 3.

11:07 am - One hour into the race, positions: P 1 No. 62; P 2 No. 87; P 3 No. 45; P 4No. 5; P 5 No. 44; P 6 No. 73; P 7 No. 21. Looks like one of the Penskes is going behind the wall for repairs.

11:00 - Wolf now P 4 after passing the No. 71 Ferrari on track. The No. 71 Tafel Ferrari pits after receiving a mechanical black flag for oil. The No. 46 is still in the pits as the crew works to repair it after the early incident with the No. 1 Audi. The No. 46 is currently 13 laps on the GT2 leader.

10:56 - Wolf reports that the No. 71 Tafel Car is spraying oil.

10:52 - Positions: P 1 No. 62; P 2 No. 5; P 3 No. 87; P 4 No. 71; P 5 No. 45; P 6 No. 21; P 7 No. 44.

10:46 - Green flag. At restart, positions are: P 1 No. 62; P 2 No. 5; P 3 No. 87; P 4 No. 71; P 5 No. 45; P 6 No. 21; P 7 No. 44., P 8 No. 61; P 9 No. 73; P 10 No. 11.

Stop and go penalty assesed on the No. 1 Audi for contact with the No. 46 earlier in the race.

10:44 - No. 44 and No. 45 both pit simultaneously for tires and fuel. Driver change from Darren Law to Alex Davison. The 46 crew is still working on their car in the pits.

10:43 - Wolf radios in that the cooling hose that cools his helmet has fallen behind the seat - so he will be without cooling for the remainder of his stint.

10:37 am - In the pits, the crew reports the rear axle and control arm are broken.

10:30 am - Johannes in the No. 46 was hit hard by the Audi which sent him spinning into the tire wall. It was a significant hit with major suspension damage. Lizards report pass (45) under yellow by an Audi. Johannes is working his way extremely slowly around the course - the crew is directing him into the pits. The crew will look at the car, then direct it into the paddock for repairs. Full course yellow. Positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 71; P 3 No 45; P 4 No. 87; P 5 No. 73; P 6 No. 44; P 7 No. 28; P 9 No. 61; P 10 No. 21. The No. 62 is one lap up on the rest of the field.

10:26 am - Darren made contact with a car on course and reports a strong vibration in the left front. The crew made the call for him to stay out. He is still P 7.

10:18 am - No. 37 Lola spins on track, luckily the multiple prototypes surrounding him avoided him and he was able to continue. Johannes (45) back in P4. Wolf (46) in P 3; Darren (44) P7.

10:15 - Johannes reports briefly stuck in 3rd gear - but all seems OK now. He is now P5. Wolf continues to look for a passing opportunity and has been side by side with the Tafel 71 Ferrari several times but has not been able to pass. Top 10: P 1 No. 62; P 2 No. 71; P 3 No. 45; P 4 No 87; P 5 No. 46; P 6 No. 73; P 7 No. 44; P 8 No. 28; P 9 No. 5; P 10 No. 21.

10:11 am - Darren as passed the No. 28 and is now P 7. Johannes P4; Wolf P 3.

10:09 am - Darren (44) has moved through the field to P8. Johannes (46) is in P4. Wolf (45) is in P3 and is close on the tail of No. 71 Tafel Ferrari in P2 and looking for a clean pass.

10:05 am ET - Green flag, it looks like a clean start although one of the prototypes went off on turn 1 but was able to rejoin.

Reminder that we are broadcasting our radio during the race. Direct link is here:
http://powerlink.powerstream.net/002/00324/live2.asx
or you can join in from the Follow the Race tab on our home page.

Sebring Race - Pre-race

2008-03-15T06:02:00.005-07:00

10:04 am - We are just minutes from race start and the cars are on their pace lap (single lap for this race.) Darren is in the No. 44, Wolf in the No. 45 and Johannes in the No. 46. The cars are lining up two by two for green flag.

9:00 am - The cars are getting ready on the grid for the recon laps. We are just one hour to race start. All went well this morning in warmup. During the very short break between warmup and recon, the No. 44 crew had a last minute scramble replacing the water pump in the No. 44 after some issues surfaced during warmup. They were able to get the car out in time to make the recon laps and Darren is now leaving pit lane. They will be able to use the recon lap to make sure that all is OK prior to race start. Starting drivers will be Darren Law (No. 44), and Wolf Henzler (No. 45), Johannes van Overbeek (No.46).

Starting positions will be: No. 45 P3; No. 46 P 5; and No. 44 P 10. There are 15 cars starting in GT2. The Corsa Ferrari pulled out earlier this week, leaving four Ferraris, six Porsches, 1 Panoz, 1 Corvette, 1 Dodge Viper, 1 Aston-Martin and 1 Ford GT.

Sebring Raceday - Morning Warmup March 15

2008-03-15T04:28:00.015-07:00

*** Please join us for the race at 10:00. Radio broadcast will begin around 9:45. ***

Joerg was P2 in the session in the No. 45, 3/10 of a second behind the No. 62 Risi Ferrari. The No. 46 was sixth, and the No. 44 13th.

7:54 - Checkered flag. All drivers were able to get out except for Marc Lieb. The team will do a short set of driver change and tire change practices, then return to the garage for final work before the race.

7:50 - No. 45 Joerg is out again after serving his penalty. Marc still has to take his turn in the car.

7:49 - No. 46 pits for driver change from Richard to Patrick.

7:49 - No. 45 pits for penalty stop and go for speed violation in pit lane. Many of the drivers are having trouble finding the cones at pit out which note when they can come off the pit speed limiter.

7:45 - No. 45 pits for driver change from Wolf to Joerg.

7:43 - No. 44 pits for driver change from Darren to Seth.

7:39 - No. 46 pits for driver change from Johannes to Richard.

7:35 - Green flag for morning warmup. All three Lizard Porsches are on their way out.

Mar 15, 7:30 am ET - Good morning. All three Lizard Porsches just arrived in the pits ready to head out for this morning's warmup session. All nine drivers will cycle through their cars this morning for a final check prior to the race. Darren is first in the No. 44, Wolf in the No. 45, and Johannes in the No. 46. There's a short hold as the track officials clean up glass on the track.

We are broadcasting the radio this morning. The direct link is
http://powerlink.powerstream.net/002/00324/live2.asx
You can also access it through the "Follow the race" tab on the home page.

All three car radios will be broadcast - team and drivers.

It's forecast to be very hot and humid today - the sun is just coming up and it's still reasonably cool although definitely humid.

Sebring - Morning Practice March 14

2008-03-14T06:59:00.005-07:00

Good morning from Sebring. This morning's hour long practice session has just gotten underway. Only the No. 44 is out right now.

Yesterday in qualifying, Lizards qualified 2nd (No. 46 - Richard Lietz), 4th (No. 45 Joerg Bergmeister) and seventh (No. 44 - Darren Law). The GT qualifying session finished without incident. However, in the P1/P2 qualifying session, the Mazda impacted the tire wall about halfway through the session. With the lengthy cleanup, the qualifying session did not meet the minimum required time. So IMSA officials made the decision that both qualifying sessions would be made invalid - and starting positions would be based on fastest lap times from the combined practice sessions in the days preceding qualifying.

So... even though we qualified 2nd, 4th, and seventh we will start third (No. 45) fifth (No. 46) and tenth (No. 44) on the grid.

In last night's practice session, all drivers were required to run a minimum three laps in order to be able to drive at night during the race. The No. 44 Porsche was delayed getting out to the session, and as a result two of the drivers (Neiman and Law) were not able to run their three laps. However, the stewards will allow Neiman and Law to drive at night because they are known drivers and have driven at Sebring before, but the car must start from the back of the grid.

The No. 44 will be the only Lizard Porsche out in this morning's practice session. The engineers of the No. 45 and No. 46 made the call to use this time to complete race prep rather than track time.

Reminder that we will be broadcasting team radio Saturday - during morning warmup and the race.

About This Blog

2008-03-10T11:55:00.001-07:00

This is the ongoing blog for Flying Lizard Motorsports.

2008 will be 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.

Copyright © 2008 Flying Lizard Motorsports, LLC. The Flying Lizard text and Flying Lizard logotype are trademarks of Flying Lizard Motorsports, LLC. All Rights Reserved.