Flying Lizard Motorsports Press Release
The Lizards have opened the second half of the season with a string of bad luck, including being on the receiving end of multiple instances of contact in the team's last race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but hope to turn things around at the 4.048-mile Road America race track during this weekend's two hour and forty five minute TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race. Nelson Canache Jr. (Venezuela) and Spencer Pumpelly (USA) will once again team up in the No. 45 Venezuela / eSilicon Audi R8 LMS and sit in 8th place in the GT Daytona class driver points, and look to move up in the standings with a strong showing this weekend. The team will also welcome a rising sportscar star to the No. 35 car, with Andrew Palmer (USA) subbing in for team principal and driver Seth Neiman, who is still on the mend from a hip injury which kept him out of the Indianapolis race. Andrew will join Dion von Moltke (USA) in the No. 35 Spyder / PR Newswire / UBM Tech / eSilicon Audi R8 LMS, and joins the team during a very successful Pirelli World Challenge campaign, in which he is currently tied for 3rd in the GT class standings. Andrew is the 2010 Rotax Jr National Karting Champion, the 2013 Blancpain Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Champion, and is racing an Audi R8 LMS ultra this season, all while studying full time at Pomona College in Claremont, California.
Driver Quote: Andrew Palmer, No. 35:
"I am very excited to be racing with the Flying Lizard Motorsports team this weekend at Road America in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race. I look forward to the transition to the GTD spec car, and coming from the Audi R8 LMS ultra, it will be very interesting to learn how to be quick with less aero and with no ABS or traction control. This is also my first ever endurance race! I grew up watching the Flying Lizard team race in the ALMS and in Grand Am and I can't wait to actually be a part of the effort. Hopefully Dion and I can put together a solid race and end up on the podium for FLM and for Audi Sport Customer Racing. It should be a great weekend!"
Flying Lizard is on track for practice on Friday and Saturday, with qualifying at 4:20pm CT on Saturday, August 9th. The race itself will start at 1:15pm on Sunday, August 10th. 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 tape-delayed starting at 6:30pm ET on Fox Sports 1 and also on the Fox Sports Go mobile app, and available live on IMSA.com. Outside of the United States, the full race broadcast will also be available live 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 atwww.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
