Sunday, May 4, 2014

TUSC: Flying Lizard On Pole For Continental Tire Sports Car Festival Race


Flying Lizard Motorsports Press Release


May 3, 2014 – Monterey, California. Flying Lizard Motorsports was able to take the pole and 5th place starting positions for tomorrow's 2-hour TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race despite an interrupted qualifying session caused by a car stuck in the Turn 4 gravel.

After only six minutes the red flag came out and the team returned to pit lane. The session did restart however and was extended by enough time to meet the minimum 10-minute time requirement dictated by the rules. In the short extension period both Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS race cars were able to move up the order, with Spencer Pumpelly on pole in the Venezuela / eSilicon No. 45 car, which he will share with Nelson Canache Jr. and Dion von Moltke in 5th place in the PR Newswire / UBM Tech / eSilicon No. 35, which he will share with Seth Neiman.


Quotes from the qualifying drivers:

Spencer Pumpelly, No. 45:

"I am super proud of the Flying Lizard team. They have put a lot of work into getting the cars up to speed including our recent test here at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and it's their dedication that put us on pole. The car was set up perfectly for qualifying and I was on a knife edge the entire last lap. I really love racing here and getting our first pole for Audi at the team's home race really feels great."

Dion von Moltke, No. 35:
"Our No. 35 PR Newswire / UBM Tech / eSilicon Flying Lizard Motorsport Audi R8 LMS was fantastic during qualifying. We worked really hard during the test we had here two weeks ago and our engineers Steve Conover and Thomas Blam found a sweet spot for this track with the car. I was a little worried after the red flag in qualifying as we might not have had enough laps to develop enough front tire temperature to get optimal grip for a quick lap, but after it went green again it worked out perfectly. Spencer turned a great lap to grab pole on his last lap too. I believe we have a good setup package for the race tomorrow and I know it will be vital for us to look after our rear tires throughout the race."

Live timing and scoring for the race can be found at www.imsa.com and on the IMSA mobile app. In the United States, the race will be televised live 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.


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: 
Nelson Canache
Flying Lizard Motorsports