Patrick Long and teammate Jörg Bergmeister finished second at Saturday’s ALMS round at Lime Rock, CT, claiming valuable championship points and vaulting themselves to 3rd place in the GT points chase. Having qualified in 3rd position, Long passed the #55 BMW M3 at the start, then settled in for a solid stint before turning the car over to Bergmeister from 2nd place. Bergmeister was within two seconds of the eventual winner for the bulk of his stint, but a late puncture caused him to drop away from the leader. Typically stellar pit work from the Flying Lizard crew allowed the #45 to minimize the time lost on track. Both factory Corvettes, the #62 Risi Ferrari and the #02 Extreme Speed Ferrari were involved in a massive incident which caused all four cars to pit for lengthy repairs, allowing Long and Bergmeister to maximize the points haul from their 2nd place finish. With Mosport next on the calendar, the duo sit in 3rd place in the 2011 ALMS GT Championship, just three points out of second place.
Patrick said, “I’m very satisfied. Today we have earned plenty of championship points. Because all of our direct competitors had problems, these points are especially valuable. Our car was perfectly set-up over the entire weekend. It’s a shame that we were just a few seconds off clinching victory. This is an important finish for us – the best one of the year. Except for the winning BMW, we made up points on everyone in the standings in front of us. We had a great set-up and a winning strategy, but the puncture left us out of the running for a victory in the end.”
The ALMS Grand Prix of Mosport runs July 21-24. Live streaming of the race will be on ESPN3.com on Sunday, July 24 at 3pm ET.