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Utah: Porsche qualifying report
FLYING LIZARD MOTORSPORTS SETS NEW GT2 TRACK RECORD ON WAY TO CAPTURING THEIR FIRST POLE OF THE SEASON AT THE UTAH GRAND PRIX TOOELE, UT. - May 16 - Joerg Bergmeister of Germany, in a display of strength, placed his ...
Published: Jun 19, 2009, 7:55 PM
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FLYING LIZARD MOTORSPORTS SETS NEW GT2 TRACK RECORD ON WAY TO CAPTURING THEIR FIRST POLE OF THE SEASON AT THE UTAH GRAND PRIX
TOOELE, UT. - May 16 - Joerg Bergmeister of Germany, in a display of strength, placed his #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR on the GT2 pole while setting a new track record for GT2 with a time of 1:47.120 for Sunday's Utah Grand Prix. What made his performance all the more impressive was that he turned in his record-setting time on his very first full lap of the 3.048 mile Miller Motorsports Park.
Bergmeister then pulled in to the pits after his second lap and waited as the 10 other GT2 cars tried in vain to best his time. Wolf Henzler, also of Germany, qualified third in the #87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche 911 GT3 RSR third after a qualifying session fraught with a spin and several near spins, as he went all- out in a bravura attempt to wrest the pole away from Bergmeister. Henzler will share his 911 GT3 RSR this weekend with German driver Marc Lieb and not his regular co-driver, Dirk Werner, also of Germany, who is racing a Porsche elsewhere this weekend.
"I was under orders to conserve the tires, but we also wanted the pole, which is not so easy! So I went out on quite high tire pressures which simulated the pressures we would be at if the tires were hot after several laps," said Bergmeister. "I didn't think I could improve much after that so I went into the pits to see what the others could do. It did get close at the end. I was getting nervous!"
Bergmeister, who along with American Patrick Long, will start alongside the Ferrari of Jaime Melo and Pierre Kaffer, with Melo only missing out on the pole by .145 of a second. Fourth qualifying position went BMW of Mueller/Milner. In fifth place was the ever improving T-Mobile® VICI Racing Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Nicky Pastorelli and Johannes Stuck.
"Team has worked hard to get us to this position and move our package forward since Long Beach," said Team President Ron Meixner. "We are looking forward to the race tomorrow and I think we can look forward to a good battle through the field."
The second Flying Lizard Motorsports #44 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Seth Neiman /Johannes van Overbeek qualified 10th.
Starting with the Utah Grand Prix, the American Le Mans Series has inaugurated a new class called ALMS Challenge. This class is open only to Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars that participate in the Patron
GT3 Challenge by Yokohama series. The historic first pole sitter for the new class is Formula Atlantic graduate Carl Skerlong, who prior to this weekend had never driven a closed car in competition.
"This is my first time in a car with a roof," said Skerlong. "I'll have a lot to get used to; the Porsche, the tires, most of all, I've never done a pit stop!'
Skerlong will share his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car with Nick Parker. The other four GT3 Cup cars of Snow/Snow; Faieta/Hoagland; Sweedler/Brown and Baker/Cosmo filled out the remainder of the ALMS Challenge field.
-credit: porsche
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