Long Beach - Practice & Qualifying

April 17, 2009 -

4:30 pm - Unfortunately, on Patrick's last lap, he had to negotiate traffic from a slower GT2 car, and will settle for third. The No. 62 Risi is on the pole and No. 87 is second. Seth Neiman in the No. 44 will start 11th in GT2.

4:20 - Patrick will go out for one last try at bettering his time. 4 minutes left. The No. 62 is P1; No. 87 is P2, No. 45 is P3.

4:17 pm - Patrick is in the pits. I think he's done for the session but there's a chance they may send him out again. He is currently P2, with Jaime Melo in the No. 62 in P1. Seth Neiman in the No. 44 is P12.

4:14 pm - The No. 62 went into the run off but did not impact the wall and continued.

4:13 pm - Patrick is P1, + three-tenths from the nearest GT2, the No. 87. 11 minutes left.

4:09 pm - Green flag.

4:07 pm - Red flag to remove debris from the track. This should be a short red but since the session is only 25 minutes,every minute counts.

4:05 pm - the No. 21 Panoz brushed the tire wall and is stopped but is clear of traffic. both Lizard cars held back at the start, which turned out to be a good decision as teh No. 28 Corvette and the No. 21 Panoz collided exiting pit lane, and the No. 21 lost his rear bumper.

4:00 pm PT - Green flag on qualifying.

3:48 pm - Good afternoon - we are just a few minutes away from this afternoon's qualifying session for Saturday's race. Seth Neiman will qualify the No. 44 and Patrick Long will qualify the No. 45.

9:40 - Checkered flag on this morning's practice session. We'll be back with you for GT2 qualifying at 4:00 pm PT. The No. 45 had the second fastest GT2 time in the session, the No. 44 had the ninth fastest time in the session.

9:37 - The No. 92 BMW is in the run off at Turn 9. He is continuing.

9:32 - Patrick Long will pit in the No. 45 for fresh tires then will finish out the session. Seth is still out in the No. 44.

9:29 - The No. 28 GT2 Corvette (with Boris Said driving for Long Beach) spun in Turn 10 but continued.

9:26 - No. 44 went into the run off at Turn 1, he'll pit for the crew to check out the tires. No impact with the tire wall. The No. 87 is back on track today after sustaining significant damage at the end of yesterday's afternoon practice. 12 minutes left in the session.

9:16 am - No. 44 is P3, No. 44 is P6. Seth Neiman is out in the No.44 and Patrick Long in the No. 45.

9:12 - the No. 4 Corvette is in the ptis with some damage to the right front. No. 44 is called into the pits for driver change to Seth.

9:10 am - Darren now P2. No. 45 engineer Stefan Pfeiffer calls Joerg into the pits for driver change to Patrick Long.

9:07 am - No. 62 Risi Ferarri is in the run off at Turn 8 but avoided impact with the tire wall. He has continued. Dirk Mueller in the No. 92 is now P1.

9:06 am - Joerg radios in that the tires are starting to come in after a few laps on course. He is currently P1 in the session. Darren Law is P4.

9:00 am - Green flag. Cars on course.

8:45 am PT - Good morning from Long Beach, California. The ALMS teams are in the pits waiting for our cars to arrive from the paddock for this morning's practice, scheduled to start at 9 am.

At Long Beach, we have limited on track time prior to the race. Yesterday there were two practice sessions, and today one 40 minute session prior to qualifying. In yesterday's sessions, all went well for the Lizards and we made a lot of progress on our setup - focused on gearing changes to suit the Long Beach course (see Craig Watkin's article on setup in the Daily Reptile - click on the Daily Reptile tab on the home page.)

Joerg Bergmeister will go out first in the No. 45. Darren Law is out first in the No.44.

Qualifying begins at 4:00 pm today, Friday.