Patrick Long and his teammate Jörg Bergmeister came away from the ALMS Grand Prix of Mosport with a win and a 22-point lead in the 2010 GT Championship, with one race remaining on the schedule. Long claimed his fourth ALMS win of the season after starting from the front of the GT grid. The dramatic and incident-filled race saw the early retirement of the #90 BMW, which entered the race tied for second in the GT championship with the #62 Ferrari.
Long, who started the race from the front of the GT field, sprinted away from the competition off the bat and led through his entire stint, holding off the #4 Corvette, which had started third and had passed the #92 BMW early in the race. The #62 Ferrari, which had set the fastest time in qualifying but started from the back of the pack due to a driver lineup change, had looked very competitive early, climbing as high as second place in GT. Long and the #62 pitted at the same time under green, but typically stellar pit work from the Flying Lizard team got the #45 Porsche back out ahead of its main competition. Soon after, the #92 BMW pitted but short filled their fuel tank in the first pit stop to make track position; the #45 was later able to overtake them on the track.
Patrick’s teammate Jörg Bergmeister passed the then-leading #92 BMW for the lead 45 minutes into his stint; the #92 had gained the lead by not pitting during the caution period. Bergmeister was able to hold off the #62 Ferrari for the remainder of the race, and was declared the winner in the aftermath of an incident involving the #8 LMP car of Drayson Racing and the #48 GTC-class Porsche of Orbit Racing. While there were no injuries in a huge 155-mph accident between the #8 and the #48, both the #48 car and some 180 feet of Armco barrier were destroyed in the wreck and IMSA Safety Officials decided the safety measures couldn’t be fixed to the right standard in the time allotted for TV coverage of the race. The race was red flagged, then called just more than 30 minutes early, giving Flying Lizard Motorsports its first race win at Mosport in its seven-year history.
Patrick said, “This has been an unbelievable season – every win has felt so much different because each one is so hard to get. In addition, it was a great feeling to show that we had the speed as well as the strategy and execution to win – this really gives us a boost for Petit Le Mans. We are a single point ahead of BMW and only 11 points ahead of Ferrari in the manufacturer’s championship, so there is still lots of work to be done, and there will be some additional Porsches at Atlanta to help us. We don’t just want the drivers title – we want it all.”
Patrick and the Flying Lizard Motorsport team race next in the 2010 ALMS season finale at the Petit Le Mans on Saturday, October 2. TV Coverage will be live on SPEEDTV at 11am ET.
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Patrick on the web: https://www.patricklong.com
Patrick wishes to thank all his 2010 partners and sponsors for their support.
Porsche – https://www.porsche.com
Oakley – https://www.oakley.com
Club Corp – https://www.clubcorp.com
Troy Lee Designs – https://www.troyleedesigns.com
Speedware Motorsports – https://www.speedwaremotorsports.com
FRS Healthy Energy – https://www.frs.com