Wednesday, June 25, 2014

TUSC: Flying Lizard Ready For Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen


Flying Lizard Motorsports Press Release

The Flying Lizard Motorsports team has switched back to endurance mode for this week's 6-hour TUDOR United SportsCar Series race at Watkins Glen International Raceway, following two sprint races at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and at the street circuit on Belle Isle in Detroit. Sunday's race will be the 5th of the season in the 11-race TUSC Championship season and the 3rd race in the North American Endurance Championship, with only Petit Le Mans to follow in October, which will culminate both championships. Team drivers Dion von Moltke (South Africa) and Seth Neiman (USA) sit 4th in the TUSC Driver Championship and 12th in the NAEC standings, with teammates Nelson Canache Jr. (Venezuela) and Spencer Pumpelly (USA) in 5th in TUSC and 6th in NAEC points.

For this race Spencer will join Dion and Seth in the No. 35 PR Newswire / UBM Tech / eSilicon Audi R8 LMS while still being entered in the No. 45 with Nelson and Brett Sandberg (USA). Brett has driven with the team previously and even competed against the team in a Porsche at the last race at Detroit. He comes to the team with help from Yoddle, a proximity based social media app that allows users to interact with one another, and one that he himself has been building for the past few years.


Brett Sandberg talked about his return to the Lizard team, saying "I am so excited and thankful for this opportunity to drive alongside Spencer and Nelson in this historic 6-hour race. Watkins Glen has always been one of my favorite tracks, almost a home track for me, and now to be able to compete in this event with such a tremendous organization as Flying Lizard in the No. 45 Yoddle / Venezuela / eSilicon Audi R8 LMS is like a dream come true!".

The Watkins Glen International circuit has hosted road racing in North America since 1948, including Formula 1 and NASCAR Sprint Cup series races over the course of its 65-year history. The 55-car TUSC field will use the 3.4 mile Long Course for its 6-hour race. Chief Engineer Steve Conover described the setup needs for the race, adding "The Watkins Glen track in many ways exemplifies what a good road course should be, with a number of fast, sweeping turns and very few compromises for track features. This allows a more ideal car setup than courses at which a bumpy section or tight corner might bias the setup. At this track, setup is more impacted by the race length than the track surface. Tire life, fuel stints, durability, and drivability are more important in the setup equation than at a shorter race event."

Flying Lizard first takes to the track on Friday, June 27th, with qualifying at 3:55pm ET on Saturday and the race start at 11:15am ET on Sunday. 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. Qualifying will be broadcast live on IMSA.com and in the United States, the race will be televised starting at 11:00am ET 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: Flying Lizard Motorsports / Bob Chapman