Patrick Long timed today’s rain-drenched qualifying session perfectly to put the No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche on the GT pole. Heading out at session start, Long quickly brought the Michelin rain tires up to speed on the 1.51-mile circuit, setting his fastest lap of 1:03.904 on his fifth lap. At the halfway point of the 20-minute session, Patrick still held the fastest time when a red flag forced the field back to the pits. The green flag fell again with six minutes to go, but with heavy rain falling it was clear that no one would be able to beat Long’s time and he took the pole. In the No. 44, Seth Neiman qualified twelfth in class.
Long commented, “Lime Rock is aa great equalizer: the track is tight and technical, with a lot of elevation changes. For drivers, it’s all about what you do with the throttle and brake versus relying on steering and aero. The Porsche 911 gives us great acceleration and traction potential here.”
It rained throughout both of the day’s practice sessions and qualifying. Long added, “We haven’t had any dry running so if tomorrow is a dry race all of the teams will face the same setup challenge. However, I was very happy with the way that the car handled today and I’m confident we’ll have a solid car for the race. It’s going to be a tough one — the depth of GT competition this year is intense.”
In the No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche, Long and Joerg Bergmeister are now in second place in the GT championship and the team is in third. Driving together, the duo has won twice at Lime Rock and Bergmeister has won here four consecutive years — 2006 through 2009 — three of those with Flying Lizard. Teammates Darren Law and Seth Neiman will drive the No. 44 Flying Lizard Porsche in Saturday’s 2 hour and 45 minute race.
The race will get the green flag on Saturday July 24 at 2:05 pm ET. It will be broadcast live on SpeedTV and tape delayed on MotorsTV, Sunday, August 1, beginning at 1.
– Flying Lizard
