Flying Lizard took GT2 honours
Flying Lizard Racing
Farnbacher Loles
Risi Competizione
Tafel Racing
Click a link to go directly to that story!
Flying Lizard Racing
Flying Lizard No. 45 Porsche Wins GT2 at Lime Rock, No. 46 is 7th and No. 44 Retired due to Accident
July 12, 2008--Lakeville, CT-- It was a mix of highs and lows for the Flying Lizard squad at today's Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock. The No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche of Joerg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler won in GT2. It's the team's second consecutive win at Lime Rock and the duo's third win so far this season (out of five races). The No. 45 Porsche was one of the few GT2 cars that emerged unscathed from the narrow, challenging track that claimed nearly one-third of the total starting field. Podium hopes for the No. 46 Flying Lizard Porsche of Johannes van Overbeek and Patrick Pilet were dashed with just 40 minutes left to go in the 2 hour and 45 minute race when an incident with the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche damaged the right front radiator. The No. 46 had been leading at the time, just ahead of the No. 45, and both cars were 2 laps ahead of the next closest GT2 car. After pitting to add water, the No. 46, now in fourth position, struggled to stay in the race, but with the radiator damaged and no time for a radiator replacement, the No. 46 was forced to finish the race in the pits, finishing seventh in the points. Meanwhile, the No. 44 Porsche of Seth Neiman and Darren Law, which had had its share of challenges early in the race, was in a solid seventh position at the half-way point when the car was collected by the No. 16 Dyson prototype, causing significant damage to the car. Law parked it and the No. 44 was retired from the race.
With the win, the No. 45 has increased its lead in the ALMS drivers' championship: Bergmeister and Henzler are now eleven points ahead of Tafel Racing's Dirk Mueller and Dominik Farnbacher, who are in second. The team has also retained the ALMS team championship lead.
Farnbacher Loles
Farnbacher Loles Racing earned its second American Le Mans Series podium on Saturday, despite two major setbacks during the annual series race at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn. Dirk Werner of Kissenbruck, Germany, and Richard Westbrook of London, England, combined for a second-place GT2 class finish, taking the position in the last minute of the two-hour 45-minute race.
Westbrook started the No. 87 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR from the GT2 pole position. He led the class for the first 30 minutes of the race, then dropped to fourth with a flat-spotted left-front tire. The soft tire compound selected by the team helped Werner win the class pole position on Friday, but it was not ideal for the 127-degree track temperature of the Saturday race. Westbrook pitted for fresh tires and a driver change at 47 minutes, sending Werner back on track fifth in class, one lap behind the class leader.
Werner was fourth in class and had just regained the lost lap when he tangled with the class-leading Porsche. Officials judged the contact to be avoidable and assessed Werner a stop/go penalty. After serving the late-race penalty, he worked back up to take second at the checkered flag.
Gregory Loles, team owner: "A podium is always a welcome result. We got a little unlucky with the timing of the first yellow and that put us a lap down. From there on, Dirk and Richard did a tremendous job to deliver our second podium of the season. It was an all-around excellent effort and we are now going to [the next race at] Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with the momentum to challenge for our first win."
Dirk Werner: "I'm really happy for the team that we finally managed to get on the podium again, after a few good runs. The car was really, really fast -- I think the car had a win in it today. In the beginning, we had a little issue with the tires, but it was a great day for the team, for Richard and me. I'm looking forward to the next races and I think if the performance stays like this, the win will come sooner or later."
Richard Westbrook: "After all the problems we had in the race, it's amazing that we came second. I'm a little bit disappointed because without the problems, I think we were good enough to win today. We had a big problem with our front left tire in the first stint. I just had to try to bring it home because after three laps, the tire was absolutely gone. If we'd had a safety car [caution] that first 45 minutes, it would have been fine, but luck didn't play on our side, so we had to pit under green and lose a lap. Then Dirk did a great job and we pulled our way up to second -- with a stop-and-go, so it can't be bad."
Risi Competizione
Today's Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut was a valuable lesson in never giving up, no matter what obstacles are thrown in your path along the way.
Both Risi Ferrari 430 GT cars finished in points scoring positions despite incidents during the race, with current GT2 Drivers Champions Jaime Melo and Mika Salo taking the #62 to third in the GT2 class, their first podium finish of the American Le Mans Series season. Patrick Friesacher and Harrison Brix overcame a number of hurdles to bring the #61 home in sixth place. The #45 Flying Lizard Porsche of Wolf Henzler and Jorg Bergmeister finished first, followed by the #87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche of Richard Westbrook and Dirk Werner.
There were incidents and accidents aplenty during the two hour 45 minute race, right up to the very last lap. Mika Salo made the start in the #62 car from the front row of the GT2 grid and had completed only ten laps when a prototype made contact with his car causing a right rear puncture. The stop for new Michelin tires caused him to lose a lap to the class leaders but the Finn was fired up and set about closing the gap.
He made it up to fourth place just before the one hour mark and was lucky to avoid being collected by a spinning LMP1 Audi and GT1 Aston Martin who had made contact with each other. In fact, his car was touched by the Audi but wasn't damaged.
Jaime Melo took the wheel one hour and twenty minutes into the race and pushed hard to try and made up lost time and track positions, securing the fastest GT2 lap of the race. Good strategy determined that no last minute fuel stops were required, unlike some of Risi's competitors', and Melo drove the car through to the checkered flag and third place.
Salo said afterwards: "It's great to get the podium today; we were the quickest car a lot of the time, and got the fastest lap to prove it. It's a shame about the puncture in the beginning because we lost everything there. We might have finished second otherwise. I had a spin after that incident because I was pushing so hard, trying to make up the time."
Melo was equally pleased to achieve the result, despite the difficult track conditions today on the hot, slick track. "The second half of the race was better for us as the car seemed to be more balanced and we could lap quicker than before. We thought we might be finished in fourth place but I tried really hard to push for the podium and fortunately we got it."
The #61 car was the victim of several clashes with competitors, in both Patrick Friesacher's and Harrison Brix's stints at the wheel. Fortunately none of the damage was too great and the duo was able to keep going through to the finish. Sixth place was a good reward for their fight against adversity.
Patrick Friesacher said: "The car was very good and consistent and we did some quick times. In the beginning we lost a lot of time when we were pushed onto the grass and then again when another car clashed with Harrison so we lost three or four laps there. We could have been in the top four which is frustrating but that's racing and we look forward to the next one now."
The 90oF temperatures caused Harrison Brix some discomfort during his stint -- the mixture of hot cockpit temperatures and cold water in his drinks bottle causing him to feel nauseous. Once refreshed after the race, he was able to reflect on what had taken place during his first event at Lime Rock Park. "It's difficult to come to a track where you have never raced before and especially when it's new to a lot of people. Sometimes you get caught out at just the wrong moment and sometimes not. At one stage in the race it looked as though we might finish in front of Mika and Jaime, and then it all happened to us. It's just one of those things."
Tafel RacingTafel/Bell Micro Racing 4th After Late Race Fueling; No. 73 Takes 9th After Early Repairs
LAKEVILLE Conn., July 12, 2008 - It was billed as a road racer's bullring and today's American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix lived up to the billing. The newly reconfigured and repaved Lime Rock (Conn.) Park resembled a cage-match as the GT2 class competitors fought tooth and nail for a victory in the fifth round of the 11-race championship. At the checkered flag the No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Racing Ferrari F430 GTC was fourth after nearly taking a second-place until a late-race fuel stop dropped the car of Dirk Muller (a native of Germany living in Monaco) and Dominik Farnbacher (Ansbach, Germany) from the podium. The No. 73 Tafel Racing Ferrari F430 GTC co-driven by Alex Figge (Denver, Col.) and Jim Tafel (Alpharetta, Ga.) suffered early race run-ins that put them deep in the pack ultimately crossing the finish line ninth in class.
Dominik Farnbacher took the green flag from third on the GT2 class grid. The young German phenom slipped to fourth at the start but kept his composure working the No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Racing Ferrari F430 GTC back into third-place by lap 15. Composure was hard to find outside of the cockpit of the Tafel Racing machine at the 1.51-mile track. The narrow, twisting course took made duels into brawls throughout the race and Farnbacher found himself entangled with a lapped car during the first half of the event. While attempting a pass around the outside of a fellow GT2 car, Farnbacher treaded onto the dirty portion of the track. While correcting the car from spinning he made contact with the backmarker. The incident would come back to haunt the team three times; first as a drive through penalty for preventable contact and secondly when the driver side door refused to open due to damage resulting from the contact. During the Tony Dowe (Cumming, Ga.) directed team's first pit stop, the door - crushed near the latching mechanism - failed to open for Dirk Muller who was taking over the car for the second half of the race on lap 76, one hour and 23 minutes into the race. The team quickly adapted doing the driver change through the passenger-side door. However, the delay dropped the Bell Micro Ferrari to fifth, one lap down. Muller began his attack and through strategy and driving the worked the two-time 2008 winner through the field and as high as second as others pitted for fuel. The third-time the door resurfaced came in the closing stages. Knowing that race officials would force the team to repair the door if the team stopped, Dowe and engineers Scott Besst and Mike Menapace worked to stretch the fuel. However, on the race's final lap, Muller called in that the car was out of fuel. Muller made it back to pit lane and received a splash of fuel and re-entered the track to take the checkered flag in fourth.
The No. 73 Tafel Ferrari F430 GTC made its third start of the 2008 season as a provisional starter, 12th, after failing to take a qualifying time on Friday. The No. 73 had been involved in a significant incident that damaged the nose, driver side headlight assembly and passenger door in the weekend's second practice. Prior to the No. 73's first of three pit stops, Jim Tafel had gone off course while attempting to make way for the overtaking leaders. The car sustained cosmetic damage to the driver's side including the side-view mirror in the excursion. The mirror would need to be replaced before co-driver Alex Figge could take to the course. The team fell from ninth to tenth in the stop. David Fullerton would call for two stops for fuel in an effort to work the No. 73 towards the front of the field. Figge, who was sore from the accident the day before, drove a strong race to place the No. 73 ninth in the final standings; its second-best showing of the year.
Jim Tafel, Driver, No. 73: "It was a brutal race. I was trying to let the leaders come around me and I went off track just before the end of my stint. I handed the car over to Alex and he did a great job. My thanks to the whole team for their effort. I feel sick about the No. 71, having to stop for fuel on the last lap. It isn't the result that we hoped for but we'll take it and move on to Mid-Ohio."
Dominik Farnbacher, Driver, No. 71: "Five or six times I got in a very bad situation with prototypes so I would gain a position and then I would loss one. I got hit so many times; I said before this race was all about surviving. I had the [No. 61] Risi car in front of me; I was lapping him for maybe the third time. He was going very slowly into turn two and I thought he was having a problem so I was going to overtake him on the outside. I went on the outside but there was a lot of sand. As soon as I went into the turn the car slipped away from me and we hit each other. Maybe from the outside it looked like I was angry at him but I was just correcting the car. I was very surprised when they called me in for a penalty. All-in-all I was very happy with the car. Thank you to the team for the great car and maybe this time we didn't have luck but we didn't lose the contact with the front car in the championship. We are still second and the gap is only 11 points. Let them have one mistake and we are right back there."
Dirk Muller, Driver, No. 71: "I came here for the first time in my life and, to be fair, I liked it. I never had any on-track situations. Everyone behaved very professionally around me. I thought it was great racing. The car was like a rocket. From the middle of my stint on I was trying to save fuel; looking towards the end of the race. We worked our way up to third and then got lucky and moved into second. Then we got very unlucky and ran out of fuel at the end. We finished fourth and that is better than a DNF. We lost big momentum in the points but we are still second in the championship. It shows that everything needs to go right. We win together, we lose together. We need to look forward and just take it as it is. We nearly finished second and now we are fourth. That's OK."
Alex Figge, Driver, No. 73: "When we were in a rhythm we were in the same pace as Dirk and Dom. To me that is really encouraging because I am still getting the pace a little bit. I still need to work on the prototype situation. What is working in my mind is causing some hairy moments out on track. We'll practice that some more on a bigger track at Mid-O. All- in-all, I am excited. I really want to thank Jim and the team. It is really a first-class effort, great stops."