Flying Lizard Motorsports will enter its No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in the GT class of the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona, January 28-29, the team announced Monday.
Usual Lizards pilots Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long will be joined by team principal Seth Nieman and Audi endurance ace Mike Rockenfeller.
“It’s great to be back at Daytona” said Bergmeister on the team’s website. “I’ve had a lot of success here: three wins, including one overall. And of course, last year, being on the pole in the No. 45 DP was definitely a rush.
“We’ve also had some tough breaks at this track. In 2011, we were the fastest car on track but weren’t able to translate that into results and in 2010 we had a strong lead until a problem at the end knocked us back to second.”
Bergmeister’s resumé is epic: he has won the ALMS GT championship five times, the Rolex Daytona Prototype title once, the GT class at Le Mans in 2004 and the Rolex 24 in 2002 And 2009 with an overall win (in a GT car) in 2003, in 2010 he won the 24 Hours of Spa.
Porsche factory driver Patrick Long has three ALMS GT crowns to his credit, two class wins at Le Mans, two wins at Petit Le Mans, and one at Sebring; he also won GT in the 2009 Rolex 24.
Mike Rockenfeller has a pair of Le Mans wins to his name: one in a GT Porsche in 2005, and an overall win with Audi in 2010. He also won the Rolex 24 that year. Rockenfeller won the 24 Hours of Spa and the FIA GT2 title in 2005, and the Nürburgring 24 in 2006.
Rockenfeller drove for Flying Lizard in the 2004 Rolex, but has never raced as a Lizard with the team’s current drivers. Still he is well-known to Long and Bergmeister, having co-driven with them on other teams.
“Rocky is a great guy and a very good friend,” Bergmeister commented. “He, Patrick and I last drove together in 2007 but we know each other really well and should be able to hit the ground running at the test in January.”
Team principal Seth Nieman doesn’t have quite the record of his co-drivers but he has plenty of experience: he has seven Le Mans 24 starts and one at Daytona, plus he has competed in the ALMS GT class since 2005.
