Multiple GT champions Flying Lizards Motorsports announced their return to the American Le Mans Series for 2012 on the team website Friday. The team will campaign two brand-new Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs in the GT class. Porsche factory drivers Joerg Bergmeister, Patrick Long, and Marco Holzer will return as drivers along with Seth Neiman.
Flying Lizard motorsports, the de facto ALMS Porsche factory team, has a long list of triumphs in a relatively short racing history.
Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long finished fourth in the ALMS GT Drivers’ Championship in 2011, a disappointment after winning back-to-back in 2010 and 2009. Bergmeister also won in 2007 and 2008, driving with Johannes van Overbeek (2007) and Wolf Henzler (2008).
The Lizards won the ALMS GT class team title in 2008 and 2009, finishing second in 2004 (their first year,) 2007, and 2010, and third in 2005, and 2011.
The Lizards have also raced in Grand Am’s Rolex 24, finishing second in class and third overall in 2004 and taking the overall pole with a new track record in the team’s first outing in a Daytona Prototype in 2011.
2011 was not a good year for the Lizards but it was a test of mettle which the team passed. Back in 2012 with new cars, the team also has renewed hope.
“I’m very enthusiastic about this year,” Patrick Long said on the team website. “You learn a lot about yourself when the results don’t come and in 2011 we certainly had to pull together as a team to get through a tough season. The changes to the RSR and the momentum coming off of the end of 2011 (with a win at Laguna Seca and second place at Petit Le Mans) are strong starting points for 2012. I’m as excited heading into this racing year as I’ve ever been.”
The 2012-model 911 GT3 RSRs feature wider bodywork, increased front tire diameter and wider front and rear track width. The cars are powered by 4-liter flat six fuel-injected engines. Flying Lizard will test the cars for the first time at the ALMS Sebring Winter Test Feb. 8 and 9.
“Porsche Motorsport North America is very proud of the efforts made by our colleagues in Weissach in creating the 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, and we are pleased that Flying Lizard, which has been a successful Porsche customer team since 2004, has chosen us to partner with us to compete for the championship in the strongest GT class in the world,” said Jens Walther, President, Porsche Motorsports North America, on the Lizards’ website.
Flying Lizard chief strategist Thomas Blam said of 2012, “Porsche has pushed hard to deliver a new RSR for 2012. We’re optimistic about what we’ve seen so far; we’re looking forward to our first experience with the new car at Sebring. All signs point to an intensely competitive year in GT between Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, and Corvette. This is the first time since 2008 that the Lizards are not defending a championship title: our 2012 goal is to re-take both the driver and the team championships.”
