Lime Rock - Practice Sessions

Friday July 17, 2009 - Practice Sessions

4:00 - No. 45 is P2 and No. 44 P10 in GT2 Qualifying. No. 62 is on the pole.

3:51 - In the No. 62, Jaime Melo did a 54.665 - putting him in P1. There are four minutes left, but we will not go out again. The No. 87 is still out and there are four minutes left so someone could still beat Jamie's time.

3:49 - Patrick takes the lead! Just .025 seconds ahead of the No. 62. And Risi is out of the pits to try for a faster lap. We'll see if Risi can pull out a faster lap. Seth is P10 in the No. 44. Patrick will pit this lap.

3:47 - With a clear lap, patrick has moved up to P2. Risi No. 62 Ferrari, which is P1, is in th epits - waiting it out. Patrick has traffic this lap, so he has to wait until the next lap. he has one more lap to try for a flier.

3:45 - Ptarick is out again - he should have a good gap and be able to get a clear lap.

3:41 - In the No. 45, patrick switched positions again with the No. 62 and is now ahead of Jamie Melo on track. Jamie is P1 with a 54.744. Wolf is P2 witha 55. 026. Patrick on his fast lap hit traffic with the No. 18 Vici Porsche - that will definitely affect his time. The No. 92 went off again. He is P7. The No. 90 BMW is P3. The GT2 cars are now all bunched up on track which will be a problem for everyone. They are calling Patrick in to add fuel and try and get him a clean lap. 12 minutes left. Patrick is currently P8. No. 44 is P10.


3:38 - Patrick's first timed lap - he's P2, 2 second behind the No. 62 Risi Ferrari which is in the lead. On track, the Risi Ferrari is physically just behind Patrick. And again on the next lap, Jaime Melo in the No. 62 is even faster with a 54.777. The No. 87 was P2, but went off track just after his fast lap. he was able to continue. Patrick went briefly into the grass so let the No. 62 go by on track.


3:36 - The qualifying session is underway. Joerg Bergmeister is qualifying the No. 45. Seth Neiman is qualifying the No. 44. The session is 20 minutes. Unfortunately it looks like it is just about to rain. Hopefully we'll have a dry session - at least to start - we are going to go out immediately at the start of the session to make sure we get the most out of the time.

3:25 - Five minutes left in the session. Patrick is P2. He will pit this lap. The No. 92 went off again for the second time in the session - looks like he made impact with the tire wall but continued. Wolf Henzler in the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche is now P1. Seth will finish out the session in the No. 44.

3:21 - Patrick pits for one final change before qualifying. 9 minutes left in the sesion.

3:11 - Seth is pitting for a review with the engineers. Patrick is in the pits for a setup change. 17 minutes left.

3:05 pm - The No. 92 BMW is now P1 with a 55.024. Patrick P2 with a 55.256.

3:03 pm - No. 45 pits for a setup change. Patrick is still P1.

2:58 - Patrick Long is P1 in the session right now with a 55.256.

2:55 - Green flag. 35 minutes left in the session.

2:50 - Red flag to remove debris.

2:43 pm - Patrick Long is in the No. 45. Seth Neiman is now in the No. 44.

2:41` pm - Joerg is P2 in GT2 right now, Johannes is P4. Patrick Long is getting ready to get into the No. 45 and Seth Neiman into the No. 44.

2:30 pm ET - Green flag on the afternoon practice session. The No. 44 and No. 45 are in the pits and ready to go. Joerg Bergmeister is in the No. 45 and Johannes van Overbeek is in the No. 44. Qualifying begins immediately after the session. Patrick will qualify in the No. 45.

12:15 - Checkered flag on the first practice session of the day. We'll be back with you at 2:30 ET today for the second practice session and then qualifying immediately following. In the session, the No. 45 was P5 in the session, the No. 44 P9.

12:10 - Joerg is now P4 in the No. 45. He will pit next for a tire pressure change. In the No. 44, Johannes van Overbeek is getting in the car for his first stint. Five minutes left.

12:00 - Patrick's take on the session: "It's like a billiard table out there: smooth and no grip! Practice is tricky with the new addition of the GT3 cars. I like the challenge but it makes finding a clear lap very key at a track like this. it reminds me of being here last year in a prototype where just one out of six laps is relatively clear. The purpose for this session is setup not lap times, but the one time when we do push for laps times in practice is to make a performance enahancement - sometimes what feels marginally better is marginally worse on the stop watch, so it becomes a push in that scenario."

11:52 - The No. 45 is in the pits for driver change to Joerg Bergmeister and a setup change

11:49 - The No. 44 is back in the pits for tires. In the No. 45, Joerg is getting ready to get in the car in a few minutes. Patrick Long is still in the No. 45 and is P2.

11:39 - the no. 44 is back on course and the No. 45, after pitting, is also back on track.

11:36 - Well, the No. 45 accidentally went on track before it went green so Patrick received a black flag. He'll be back in the pits in a minute. the No. 44 is back in the pits - apparently the car ran out of gas on course. They will refuel and he will return to the track.

11:30 - the No. 44 has pulled off course with a problem. A prototype spun on course, red flag. the No. 44 is safely off course but will need to be towed back. Patrick is in the pits giving feedback to the engineers.

11:25 - Patrick is P3; Seth is P 9. Traffic is the big issue for drivers to deal with at Lime Rock - it's a very short and narrow circuit with very little passing room.

11:22 - Patrick Long is in the pits for fuel. He'll do five laps and then come in to give the engineers more information for setup. We have two practice sessions today before qualifying which starts at 3:35 pm ET. This is our first day on track so we have to hustle to get our setup together. The No. 44 crew is working to shakedown the No. 44 which was retubbed after the accident at Le Mans in June (the No. 80).

11:15 am - Green flag. Patrick Long is in the No. 45 and Seth Neiman is in the No. 44.

10:30 am ET - Good morning from beautiful Lime Rock, CT. The cars are warming up in the garage in prep for the first sesion of the weekend which starts at 11:15 am ET.

Some broadcast info:
* We will broadcast our team radio tomorrow - click on the "Follow the race tab" on www.lizardms.com
* SpeedTV.com will broadcast this afternoon's qualifying session live - www.speedtv.com
* We've started a twitter feed - follow @FlyingLizard_MS and will feed some blog content to it. We'll be testing it this weekend.
* TV broadcast is on Speed, live, starting at 2;00 pm ET on Saturday.