Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Sebring - Race week Practice Sessions

Thu, March 19

11:15 am - Checkered flag. Joerg in the No. 45 had the fastest time in the session with a 2:02.654. Both Lizard Porsches are heading back to the garage for final prep before this afternoon's qualifying session at 2:45 pm ET. *** See you then ... Jennifer ***

11:00 - Joerg Bergmeister is now in the No. 45 and is back in P1 with a 2:02.654. Seth is still in the No. 44

10:47 - Seth pits for a damper change. He will stay in the car.

10:45 - Patrick pits for fuel. He will stay in the car.
30 minutes left in the session No. 87 Farnbacher Loles is now in P1. The No. 21 is P2 and Patrick is P3.

10:33 - Patrick Long in the No. 45 is now P1 with a 2:03.940. Times are beginning to come down now.

10:28 am - No. 92 BMW is P1; No. 90 BMW is P2; No. 21 Panoz is P3. No. 45 is P4. No. 44 is P 12. Times are slower this morning than yesterday's sessions - the track is cold and tires are still warming up.

10:20 am - Green flag. Cars on course
A reminder that qualifying is this afternoon at 2:45 pm.
You can watch live coverage at SpeedTV.com

http://www.speedtv.com/programs/american-le-mans-series-qualifying-live/
And listen to radio coverage through radiolemans.com:

http://www.radiolemans.com/


10:15 am - Good morning from Sebring. It's a bit cooler today with some low clouds and a light breeze. Both Lizard Porsches are in pit lane preparing for this morning's practice session which starts at 10:20 am ET. The Daily Reptile newsletter is now available - see the Daily Reptile tab at www.lizardms.com. We'll publish this *most* track days at each race.
Darren Law is in the No. 44; Patrick Long in the No. 45.

Wed, March 18

Checkered flag - the top times of the session were: No. 87 P1, 2.02.591. No. 45 P2 2.03.258. No 62 P3 2.03.303. We'll be back with you tomorrow for the morning practice at 10:20 am ET.

3:30 pm - Patrick Long is now out in the No. 45.

3:19 pm - Seth Neiman in the No. 44 pits for a driver change to Johannes van Overbeek.

GT2 qualifying will be held tomorrow, Thursday at 2:45 pm ET.

3:04 pm - Welcome back - it's the second session of the day today and both Lizard Porsches are on track. The No. 45 missed this morning's sessoin as the crew worked to diagnose an electrical problem. All is now resolved and the No. 45 is on track with Joerg Bergmeister at the wheel. Seth Neiman is out in the No. 44.

11:37 - Checkered flag. We are heading back to the garage. We'll be back for this afternoon's session.

11:35 - Seth radios in that the Ferrari is stopped on track. Red flag. The No. 44 pits.

11;26 am ET - 14 minutes left in this morning's practice session. The No. 44 has been cycling through setup changes over the session. Seth Neiman is in the car and Chief Engineer Craig WAtkins calls him into the pits for a rollbar, damper and ride height change. The No. 44 is currently P5 in the session. The No. 95 Ferrari has the fastest time of the session so far, a 2:02.897. The No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche is P2 with a 2.03.046. The No. 92 BMW is P3 with a 2:03.056. No. 62 Risi Ferrari is P4 with a 2:.03.096.

11 am ET - Good morning from Sebring. Today is the first official practice day of Sebring race week. We've been testing since Monday. It's warm and fairly dry so far here at the circuit. we had some rain last night but sessions have all been dry.

Darren Law is out in the No. 44 right now. Darren will be driving with Seth Neiman and Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 44. The No. 45 is in the garage and will not be heading out for this session. The No. 45 driver lineup is Joerg Bergmeister, Patrick Long and Marc Lieb. In the test sessions earlier in the week, the Lizard Porsches have been consistently running in the top lap times, with the No. 62 Risi Ferrari and the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche.

I spoke with Thomas Blam, Lizard Chief strategist this morning. He commented on the field so far, "Based on what we've seen in testing this week, it looks like we'll have some very strong competition in GT2. The European Ferrari entry is proving to be very quick - we now Bruni is fast and he's been showing it. The Rahal Letterman BMW has also been consistent - not the quickest, but in the top 5 or 6."
"The No. 45 Lizard Porsche did well yesterday - we are pleased with our progress so far this week. The No. 45 will be out for this afternoon's session. Our focus from there will be getting ready for qualifying - that's our primary goal for Thursday and also to make sure that everything is set for night practice. The track can be very dark here at night so we have to make sure that the headlights work well, and that the drivers can see effectively at night."

2 comments:

OhioShoreTel said...

Fly Lizards! Fly!!

OhioShoreTel said...

Two in a Row!!!!!
Up next Utah.
I'm waiting!
Get it Lizards!!