Patrick Long and Flying Lizard Motorsport broke their season-long string of poor luck to take victory at Lime Rock in round four of the 2012 American Le Mans Series yesterday. Long started 3rd on the grid and took the GT-class lead by the end of his stint, handing over to longtime teammate Jörg Bergmeister, who held off the #03 and #04 Corvettes to take his 35th ALMS victory in his 100th start.
Long said, “I feel like a huge weight fell of our backs today. When there are long gaps between victories it makes a win that much sweeter, and today is no exception. From the drop of the green, everyone on the team hit their marks: that’s tough to do at Lime Rock. Our strategist Thomas Blam’s call to pit for fuel only during the early yellow and then run for more than a complete stint on one set of tires proved to be the right call. It was tough to hang on at the end my stint but I was determined to turn it over to Jörg in P1.”
He continued, “We really earned this victory. It’s a great achievement to beat such a strong GT field. Thanks to the new aero kit we have more grip and a better performance compared to last year.”
Patrick and the Flying Lizard team race next at the Grand Prix of Mosport, near Toronto, Ontario on July 22, 2012.