St. Pete: Flying Lizard qualifying report

Flying Lizard Qualifies Fifth and Eleventh in GT2 for Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg

April 3, 2009 -- The Flying Lizard No. 45 and No. 44 Porsches qualified fifth and eleventh, respectively, in GT2 today for the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg. Following close on the heels of the season-opener, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the St. Petersburg event is a short, 1 hour and 55 minute race held on a 1.8 mile, 14-turn temporary street course established in downtown.

In the No. 45, Patrick Long had the fifth fastest time of the session, which ended early for the No. 45 when Long slid into the tire wall in Turn 10. Long commented, "We were out there to squeeze every inch out of the car. I did two 1:13.4s in a row, but to move up a position, I knew I'd really have to push it. On my last attempt, I ended up in the tire wall. Luckily, there doesn't appear to be too much damage to the car, but obviously, it was not the result we wanted out of the session. We still have some balance to find in the car but in qualifying it was the best it's been all day."

In the No. 44, Seth Neiman used the session to finalize race setup, and qualified eleventh. Joining Long and Neiman for the race will be Joerg Bergmeister in the No. 45 and Darren Law in the No. 44.

On the pole is the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari, with a time of 1:12.892 (Jaime Melo).

Follow the Race The Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Pete will get the green flag on April 4 at 1:20 pm ET. The race will be broadcast live on ABC, starting at 1:30 pm ET and tape-delayed on MotorsTV in Europe on Sunday, April 5, starting at 4:00 pm CET (Central European Time).

Flying Lizard will broadcast the team radio live during the race and update the team blog throughout race week. For details and schedule, see www.lizardms.com.

-credit: flm