Flying Lizard Heads to Laguna Seca for ALMS Championship Showdown
Sonoma, Calif.--The Flying Lizard Motorsports squad arrives in Monterey today for the final race of the season: the 2006 Monterey Sports Car Championships at Laguna Seca. After nine races over eight months, the Flying Lizard team is in contention for both the GT2 drivers' and team championships. In the No. 45 Porsche, Johannes van Overbeek leads in the drivers' championship, followed closely by Jörg Bergmeister of Petersen White Lightning. For the team championship, the Lizards will battle it out with Risi Team Competizione, which is now six points ahead of Flying Lizard, and Petersen, which is four points behind in third place.
"After nine races it all comes down to one 4-hour race," said Johannes van Overbeek. "With just a four-point lead, and a maximum of 23 points for first place, to win the drivers' championship Wolf (Henzler) and I will need to either win the race or finish no more than one position behind Jörg and Patrick (Long). And if Jörg wins the race, I'll be second even though we are tied in points, because he has won more individual races. There is a lot of pressure going into Laguna Seca, but we started the season with the goal of winning both championships and we are going to do everything we can to make that a reality."
Although the Lizards are now second in the team points chase after a disappointing 5th/7th place finish at Petit Le Mans, it is still possible for them to win the team title. "We are six points behind Risi and four ahead of Petersen. There are only a few scenarios in which we could win the championship: the most clear cut would be to win the race with both Ferraris finishing no better than third," added Flying Lizard chief strategist Thomas Blam. "Laguna Seca is four hours long; more than a third longer than our standard races. The length means a minimum of two stops for everyone, so there are more opportunities for strategic decisions which could affect the outcome."
The driver line up for the race will be van Overbeek and Henzler in the Flying Lizard No. 45 Porsche and Seth Neiman and Darren Law in the No. 44 Porsche.
Images and news used with permission of Flying Lizard Motorsports. No reuse without their permission.
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