Flying Lizard Motorsports Press Release
The Flying Lizard Motorsports transporters rolled into Detroit today for a full race week
of activities at Belle Isle Park on the Detroit River, starting with an appearance for the cars, drivers, and crew at Audi of Rochester Hills tonight, a transporter parade through downtown tomorrow, and practice and qualifying sessions on Friday of this week, followed by the 1 hour and 40 minute Chevrolet SportsCar Classic starting at 12:10pm ET on Saturday, May 31st. The team enters the race weekend in very competitive shape in the GT Daytona class drivers' championship, with Dion von Moltke (South Africa) and Seth Neiman (United States) sitting in 4th place, just 6 points behind the championship leaders, in the No. 35 PR Newswire / UBM Tech / eSilicon Audi R8 LMS, and with Nelson Canache Jr. (Venezuela) and Spencer Pumpelly (United States) in 2nd place, 4 points back of the leaders, in the No. 45 Venezuela / eSilicon No. 45 Audi R8 LMS.
This race will feature two of the series' four classes – Prototype and GT Daytona, with 32 cars, of which 21 are in GTD with the two Lizard entries. It will be held on a 2.35 mile, 14-turn temporary road course on which only two of the Lizard drivers, Spencer and Dion, have race experience. Live timing and scoring for the race and all practice sessions and qualifying can be found at www.imsa.com and on the IMSA mobile app. In the United States, the race will be televised starting at 1:30pm ET on Saturday, May 31st on Fox Sports 1 and also available on the Fox Sports Go mobile app. Outside of the United States, the full race broadcast will be available at www.imsa.com.
Driver quotes:
Dion von Moltke, No. 35 Audi R8 LMS:
"Detroit could be the most demanding track which we go to in terms of what you need out of the car performance-wise and regarding the precision the drivers to have in order to turn a fast lap and have a clean stint. Unlike more traditional street circuits, Detroit has some very quick corners like the turns 1 and 2 complex and at the end of the back straight. It is an extremely bumpy track too, which is where we might have a bit of an advantage. Our engineers had the cars working well over the bumps at Sebring although some of the corners at Detroit can make Sebring look like a conventional, smooth road course by comparison. But you will see plenty of passing and side-by-side racing, and hopefully we can get both cars to the front by the end of the race!"
Spencer Pumpelly, No. 45 Audi R8 LMS:
"The circuit on Belle Isle is definitely one of my favorites. Like most street courses it presents the challenge of being precise with car placement given the proximity of the concrete walls but unlike many other temporary circuits it does offer some very fast corners. Turns 1 and 2 have a great flow to them and there are long straightaways which lend themselves to passing and side-by-side racing. We have lots of bumps and surface changes to contend with but I think we will have an advantage on terrain like this, and hopefully we can grab our first win of the season after having been so close in two of the three races so far."
About Flying Lizard Motorsports
Flying Lizard is based on Sonoma, California, and has competed in the American Le Mans Series for ten consecutive seasons, from 2004 to 2012 in the GT class and in 2013 in GTC. The Lizards have won two ALMS GT team championships (2008 and 2009), one ALMS GTC team championship (2013), and have secured three ALMS GT Drivers' championships (2008, 2009, and 2010).
Flying Lizard has also competed in the 24 Heures du Mans from 2005 through 2012, finishing third in 2005, fourth in 2006, sixth in 2008, sixth in 2011, and fourth in 2012.
Please visit the team website at www.lizardms.com and the team store at www.flyinglizardstore.com.
About Audi of America and the Audi R8 LMS
Audi began a new chapter in 2009 with the introduction of the Audi Sport customer racing program. For the first time it was possible for motorsport customers to acquire a race car designed for customer racing events. Since its inception, the success of the R8 LMS has been significant throughout the GT3 racing format worldwide, including victory in the GT class in the 2013 edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The Audi R8 LMS shares more than 50% of its parts with the Audi R8 street car including the naturally aspirated V10 5.2 Liter engine, the Audi Space Frame and a variety of other components
Audi of America, Inc. and its U.S. dealers offer a full line of German-engineered luxury vehicles. AUDI AG is among the most successful luxury automotive brands globally. Audi was a top-performing luxury brand in Europe during 2012, and broke all-time company sales records in the U.S. Through 2016, AUDI AG will invest about $17 billion on new products and technologies.
Visit www.audiusa.com or www.audiusanews.com for more information regarding Audi vehicle and business issues.
Photo credit: Flying Lizard Motorsports
