St. Pete - Raceday!

April 4, 2009

3:15 pm - Checkered flag. Flying Lizard No. 45 Porsche wins St. Pete! Our first win of the season. No. 44 finishes fifth. Congratulations to the team for a seamless race.

3:05 pm - 10 minutes left. Joerg still 2 laps ahead of the second place GT2 car, the No. 92 Rahal Letterman BMW. The No. 66 is stopped on course but is offline and is local yellow only. The course is still green. They will leave the No. 66 where it is until the end of the race.

3:02 pm - Darren has passed the No. 40 for P5.

3:00 pm - Positions: P1 No. 45; P2 No. 92 (which passed the No. 21 a few laps ago); P3 No. 21; P4 No. 28; P5 No. 40; P6 No. 55. Darren now six seconds behind the No. 40 and running five seconds per lap faster.

2:54 - Darren has closed the gap to the No. 40, which is in P5. He is now 30 seconds back. 20 minutes left in the race.

2:52 - A good GT2 battle for second position among the No. 21, the No. 28, and the No. 92 - all fighting for P 2. The No. 21 passed the No. 28 and the No. 92 has also passed. So new positions: P1 No. 45; P2 No. 21; P 3 No. 92; P 4 No. 28; P 5 No. 40; P 6 No. 44.

2:50 pm - 25 minutes left in the race. Joerg Bergmeister in the No. 45 is P1; Darren Law in the No. 44 is P6. GT2 positions: P1 No. 45; P 2 No. 28; P3 No. 21; P 4 No. 92; P4 No. 40; P 6 No. 44. Joerg is still 2 laps up on the second place GT2 car.

2:45 pm - The No. 66 prototype is slow again on course - this is the third or fourth time he's been slow on the track.

2:42 - The No. 20 Mazda went on a lengthy off track excursion but continued. he's back in the pits.

2:41 pm - Darren radioed in that he's very happy with the car. He's running five or six seconds a lap faster than the No. 40, which is in fifth, 1 lap ahead of him.

2:39 - the No. 87 is back on track after its lengthy repair, but is at least 13 laps down on Joerg, who is in the lead in the No. 45. Darren is in sixth.

2:33 - slow car in Turn 5 drivers right. No. 45 and No. 44 are by him, although it was a close call for the No. 44 as Darren went by.

2:32 pm - 43 minutes left in the race. GT2 positions: P1 No. 45; P2 No. 28, P3 No. 21; P 4 No. 92; P 4 No. 40; P 6 No. 44.

2:27 pm - Green flag. In the No. 45, Joerg is 2 laps heads of the No. 40 in P2. The No. 21 is in third, the No. 28 in 4th, and the No. 92 in fifth. The No. 44 is sixth.
Second through fifth place are all on the same lap, 2 laps down from Joerg. Darren in the No. 44 in sixth, is 2 laps down on that GT2 group. Of the starting GT2 cars, timing and scoring shows four have retired - the No. 62 Risi Ferrari, the No. 90 BMW, the No. 22, and the No. 11. The No. 87 is still in the pits - with a very lengthy pit stop.


2:21 pm - No. 45 still in the lead after its scheduled pit stop. Joerg Bergmeister is 1 lap up on the No. 92 in P2. He is right in front of the overall leader on track, so he will get the waveby and be able to gain an additional lap (or a portion) on the GT2 field.

2:18 pm - Joerg is now in the No. 45 and heads out to catch back up to the pack. The course is still yellow. The No. 40, which was in P3, also pitted. I'll report positions as soon as we get another beacon hit. I think the No. 45 will retain the lead.

2:15 pm - In the No. 44, Darren is now P6 He is 1 lap up on the next closest GT2 car. Patrick is in the lead in the No.45 - he will pit under this yellow for driver change to Joerg Bergmeister, tires, and fuel. Both Patrick and Darren report that the track is extremely slick - like driving on a wet track.

2:13 pm - Yellow flag. No. 87 appears to be still in the pits, as is the No. 90 and No. 62 - all with problems.

2:11 pm - GT2 positions: No. 45 P1; No. 40 P2; No. 92 P 3; No. 87 P 4 (still in the pits). The No. 44 is in P 9. The No. 11 Viper is in the wall drivers right through 10 - he is on the course and won't be able to continue Will go yellow.

2:09 pm - Patrick has passed the No. 87 to take the lead. the No. 87 is coming into the pits. It may have a problem -he was slowing over the last few laps. yes, the TV coverage shows them pulling on components in the right rear of the car - so it is a longer than normal pit stop so far.

2:07 pm - The No. 92 BMW went off into the grass, Patrick is now by the Corvette. Patrick is still P2, now 7 seconds behind the No. 87 in the lead. In the No. 44 Darren is in ninth. Both the No. 62 Risi and the No. 90 BMW appear to be stil in the pits with issues.

2:02 pm - Patrick just 1 second back from Wolf in the No. 87. He can now see him in his sights. Correction - Patrick is farther back - timing and scoring is incorrect. Patrick is getting boxed in by slower traffic as he attempts to move through. I'll report the gap between Patrick and No. 87 as soon as I can. Patrick is trapped behind the GT2 Corvette right now. Darren Law in the No. 44 is now in ninth.

2:00 - Seth is pitting this lap for driver change to Darren Law, tires and fuel.

1:56 - Appears to be big problems for the No. 62 Risi - they are in the pits and appears to be a major problem. They were running in P2 at the time. This puts Patrick into P2, with No. 87 in the lead. Patrick is caught in traffic as he works to try and close the gap between him and the No. 87. He is now 4 seconds behind Wolf.

The No. 90 BMW is also in the pits with an apparent problem - it looks like the car will not start.


1:54 pm - GT2 positions remain unchanged. So far, no major incidents in the race. St. Pete is a high consequence track - there is no runoff so a mistake here can easliy take you into the wall.

1:46 - Patrick is about 7 seconds behind the No. 62, which is in second. Now that he is past the BMWs, he is on the pace of the two GT2 leaders, the No. 87 and the No. 62 - all running 1:15s and change.

1:43 pm - GT2 Positions are: P1 No. 87; P2 No. 62; P3 No. 45; P 4 No. 92; P5 No. 90. No 44 is P11. Just over one hour and a half to go in the race.

1:34 - Patrick made a clean pass of the No. 90 and is now in third. There's now a gap between him and the two GT2 leaders - the No. 87 Farnbacher in the lead and the No. 62 Risi in second. He will need to make up the lost time and get back into the hunt for the lead.

1:33 - Patrick is in a BMW sandwich - a tough position because he has to defend agaisnt the No. 92 behind him (which is in fifth) while still trying to pass the No. 90 ahead of him.

1:32 - Wolf Henzler in the No. 87 did a clean pass of the No. 62 to take the lead.

1:30 - The GT2 leaders are No. 62 Risi and No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche which are running nose to tail. There's a gap now to the No. 90 and the No. 45, in fourth.

1:28 - Patrick is putting a lot of pressure on the No. 90 BMW which is in third now and just ahead of him. Patrick radioed in that he was almost put into the wall in Turn 2 by the No. 90.

1:24 - GT2 positions: P1 No. 62; P 2 No. 90; P 3 No. 87; P 4 No. 45; P 5 No. 92. No. 44 is P11.

1:23 - No. 11 Viper spun, the No. 44 was behind but was able to avoid him. The viper has continued. No contact with any other cars.

1:22 pm - In the No. 45, Patrick has passed the No. 92 BMW moving into fourth.

1:21 pm - Risi is P1, The No. 90 BMW is P2, No. 87 is P3 and No. 92 is P4 and No. 45 is P5.

1:20 pm ET - Green flag on the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg.

1:15 pm - Engine start, five minutes to race start, parade lap about to begin.

12:55 - 25 minutes to race start. The cars are ligning up on the grid. A thank you to Flying Lizard sponsors ShoreTel, eSilicon and RedlineCoffee.com, who is new to the program this year. I had some Redline Coffee this morning in fact - a great start to raceday. You can find out details on getting your own Redline at www.redlinecoffee.com

*** The race will be broadcast live on ABC, starting at 1:30 pm ET(the race starts at 1:20). We are also broacasting our team radio, to listen go click on the "Follow the Race" tab at www.lizardms.com ***

*** We are running a special at the online store for the race. Check it out ***


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12:45 pm ET - Countdown to the race begins. The pit exit is open and cars are out on their recon laps. Because we had so little time this morning to do a shakedown after the repairs on the No. 45, we are using the recon laps to ensure everything is OK. Patrick Long will start fifth on the grid in the No. 45 and Seth Neiman will start eleventh in the No. 44.

9:42 - Checkered flag. 1 lap - I think that sets the record as our shortest warmup ever.

9:41 am - Green flag.

9:39 am - Good news, we may have a short few minutes on track. Green flag expected in a minute.

9:33 - Not the best start to the morning - it looks like we will not have any warmup at all. They are wroking to remove the Mazda from the track but the session is scheduled to end at 9:40. This will make it difficult for the No. 45 - the car will not have any time to finish its setup after the repair from the crash yesterday in qualifying. We still have the recon laps prior to the race, but that's it.

Race will begin at 1:20 pm ET today - it will be broadcast live on ABC, with a "catch up start" with broadcast starting at 1;30 pm ET.

9:30 - Green flag, but then red flag - One of the Mazdas (the 16) is in the wall in Turn 4. Damage looks quite significant to the car. Driver is exiting the car and appears OK.

** Reminder that we are broadcasting our team radio during this morning warmup and the race. To listen, click on the "Follow the Race" tab on the home page at www.lizardms.com **


9:26 am - We are still on hold. Session should start in a minute. Because the session will end at 9:40, Joerg is now in the car and will be the only driver in the No. 45 for the session.

9:20 am ET - Morning Warmup - Good morning from St. Petersburg, Florida. We are in pit lane ready to head out for the final session before the race this afternoon. We are on a short hold but should start shortly. Seth Neiman is in the No. 44 and Patrick Long in the No. 45.