Coming off of a strong double podium finish in the second round of the 2013 American Le Mans Series season at Long Beach, Flying Lizard Motorsports next takes on the 4-hour American Le Mans Monterey race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The team carries over its second place spot in driver (Nelson Canache Jr. and Spencer Pumpelly) and team championship points and is looking for another strong run this coming weekend, which is the first race of the season with a conventional schedule; three practices and qualifying on Thursday and Friday, May 9th and 10th, followed by warmup and race on Saturday, May 11th.
Dion von Moltke (South Africa) returns in the No. 44 Flamingo Resort / PR Newswire / eSilicon Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, joined by Pierre Ehret (Germany), back for his second race with the team following the 12 Hours of Sebring. Dion talked about his teammate and the race, saying “I’m excited to be working with Pierre as he did a great job for the team at Sebring and has a ton of sportscar endurance racing experience. To do well in GTC this year you need to have both a very strong team and teammate and I have a lot of confidence that we have those things covered for this race and can run at the sharp end of the field. This race will have a very different feel coming from a tight, short street circuit as well as racing for twice as long as we did in Long Beach a few weeks ago. The conditions at Laguna are always very challenging as the race goes into the early evening, making the setting sun a big factor. There is also quite a bit of sand which is brought onto the track from cars using all of the road and then some, which makes overtaking more difficult than normal.”
The No. 45 Venezuela / eSilicon Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car is coming off of consecutive 2nd place finishes and will again be driven by Nelson Canache Jr. (Venezuela) and Spencer Pumpelly (USA), as well as team principal Seth Neiman (USA), back in the car for his first race since Petit Le Mans at the end of last season. Seth talked about his return, adding “I am looking forward to being in a race car again! As a team, we are starting to find our way around a very competitive GTC field, and now I have to find my way around a new car and class. Having been out of the car since late October, I am expecting to take a little time to sort it out – but am happy to have the challenge.”
This will be the first run for the team with the 2013 911 GT3 Cup cars on a conventional road course, as the former airfield at Sebring and the street circuit at Long Beach each pose very different setup demands compared to what the team will face at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Chief engineer Steve Conover elaborated, “I think that Laguna is the third track in a row so far this year that is unique as compared to the one or ones before it, as our first test of this year’s car was at our shop at Sonoma Raceway. For Sebring, you must set the car up for tire endurance and to survive a very rough racetrack for twelve hours. Long Beach is not as rough as Sebring but the grip levels are very different, and the type of turn and particularly the exits of the turns require a different kind of setup. Laguna has other issues that require a still different approach, particularly significant elevation changes as the car is either compressed or trying to get airborne in certain places, along with braking zones that require particular attention.”
Source : Flying Lizard Motorsport