American Le Mans Series

Lizards take 1-2 at Detroit

© American Le Mans Series

Starting from the pole in GT2, Wolf Henzler and Joerg Bergmeister brought the No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche in for their fourth GT2 win so far this season in today’s Detroit Sports Car Challenge. Teammates Johannes van Overbeek and Patrick Pilet fought back from a late-race spin and unplanned pit stop to finish second in GT2. This is the fifth double podium of the year for the Lizard squad. The No. 44 Porsche of Lonnie Pechnik and Martin Ragginger, finished fourth, its second highest finish of the year.

Wolf Henzler started from the pole in the No. 45, Patrick Pilet started from fourth in the No. 46, and Lonnie Pechnik started from seventh in the No. 44. The three Porsches had a near seamless race, with no mechanical issues and rock solid pit work. With 30 minutes left to go in the 2 hour and 45 minute race, the Lizard squad was first, second and third in GT2. With the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari far down in the field after a lengthy pit stop, the Lizards could see a way to their first possible triple podium for the squad. The No. 45 was in the lead (with Wolf Henzler again in the car, having taken over for Joerg Bergmeister with one hour left), the No. 44 with Martin Ragginger at the wheel was in in second, and Johannes van Overbeek in the No. 46 was in third. (The No. 46 had made a quick recovery from unplanned pit stop to replace a tire punctured when the Porsche collided with another car with just 45 minutes left to go in the race, pushing the No. 46 from the lead to fourth place.)

With less than 15 minutes to go in the race, after the restart from the final caution, the No. 46 passed the No. 44 to take second. Unfortunately, the No. 62 Risi Ferrari, now in fourth, was able to get by the No. 44 to take third place, and the No. 44 had to settle for a fourth place finish.

With this result, Joerg Bergmeister and Wolf Henzler have extended their lead in the ALMS GT2 drivers’ championship, now twenty-eight points ahead of Dominik Farnbacher and Dirk Mueller of the No. 71 Tafel Racing Ferrari, and forty-four points ahead of teammates Johannes van Overbeek and Patrick Pilet of the No. 46 Porsche, who are in third. There is a total of 55 additional points possible in the two upcoming races: a first place finish is worth 30 points at Petit Le Mans, and 25 at Laguna Seca. The Flying Lizard team is also leading in the ALMS GT2 team championships, now thirty-five points ahead of Tafel Racing in second.