Flying Lizard Motorsports
The Flying Lizard Motorsports group is a motorsport team from Sonoma, California, formed by Seth Neiman in early 2003. The team competed in the full American Le Mans Series season as well as the 24 Hours of Daytona, winning six championships to date. The Lizards have also been Porsche Motorsport North America's development partner from 2007 to 2012. The team helped develop the first- and second-generation 997 GT3 RSR as well as bring it to victory several times in its six-year run in the series. Now a customer racing team, Flying Lizard Motorsports runs and manages various sports car racing programs.
Racing History
Beginnings (2004-06)
The 2004 American Le Mans Series season saw Flying Lizard Motorsports and drivers Darren Law and Johannes van Overbeek finish 2nd in the GT2 team and drivers championship.In 2005, the team finished 3rd in the ALMS GT2 Team Championship with drivers Johannes van Overbeek and Jon Fogarty finishing 5th in the GT2 drivers championship.
In 2006, the team finished 3rd in the GT2 team championship and driver Johannes van Overbeek finished 2nd in the drivers championship while his teammate, Wolf Henzler finished 4th.
ALMS Porsche Factory Support (2007-12)
For the 2007 season, the team took delivery of two brand new 997 Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs. Team also became Porsche Motorsport North America's development partner and received factory support from Porsche. Drivers Johannes van Overbeek and Jörg Bergmeister and the new addition of Marc Lieb shared duties of driving the #45 car, while Darren Law, Seth Neiman, and Lonnie Pechnik shared the #44 car. After the #45 car won three times in 2007, including the prestigious Petit Le Mans, the team would finish second in the team standings to the Risi Competizione team. Drivers Jörg Bermeister and Johannes van Overbeek would also finish second in the series driver standings.For the 2008 season, the Flying Lizard team continued on in its fifth consecutive season in the GT2 class of the American Le Mans series. For this season, the team expanded into a three car operation with three Porsche 2008 911 GT3 RSRs. In the #45 car, previous season driver Jorg Bergmeister was joined by Wolf Henzler for the full season of competition with third driver Marc Lieb. Johannes van Overbeek and the new addition of Patrick Pilet piloted the team's #46 entry full-time with guest driver Richard Lietz. In the #44 entry, Darren Law and Seth Neiman with guest driver Alex Davison piloted the car. The #45 car of Bergmeister and Henzler was in tight contention with the Tafel Racing squad of Dominik Farnbacher and Dirk Müller, and at the end of the season emerged the overall points winners, giving Flying Lizard Motorsports their first ever GT2 class championship.
For 2009, Flying Lizard Motorsports back moved to a two car squad with the returning GT2 class champion #45 car being piloted by Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long for the majority of the races with Marc Lieb as the reserve third driver for longer races. The #44 car will be piloted by Seth Neiman and Darren Law for the majority of the races with Johannes van Overbeek as the reserve driver. After coming in 4th at the season opener at Sebring with a heavily damaged car, the #45 team took the class win in the following 5 races. At the following two races at Road America and Mosport they faced much tougher competition with a greatly improved Rahal Letterman Racing BMW team and a new Corvette Racing team. The #45 managed 3rd at Mosport and 4th at Road America but came back to claim first place in GT2 at the season finale in Monterey, California. Winning 6 out of 10 races, the #45 car won the GT2 team championship giving the team its second consecutive championship win. Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long also won the GT2 drivers championship.
For 2010, Flying Lizard Motorsports continued running two cars. The two-time GT2 championship winning #45 car, driven by Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long with Marc Lieb as the reserve third driver, competed alongside its sister car, the #44, driven by Seth Neiman and Darren Law with Richard Lietz as the reserve third driver. The Lizards faced fierce competition from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Risi Competizione. After finishing 4th at the 12 hours of Sebring, the #45 car went on to take first place in its class at Long Beach, Laguna Seca, Lime Rock Park and Mosport. The Lizards placed second in the Team Championship and first in the Drivers Championship thanks to Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long. This gave Flying Lizard Motorsports and Bergmeister three consecutive Driver Championship titles.
For the 2011 season the team utilized the brand new second-generation 997 GT3 RSR. Both the #44 and #45 car were piloted by the same team as the year before, with the exception of Marco Holzer replacing Richard Lietz as reserve third driver in the #45 car. After finishing second in GT2 Championship the year before, Rahal Letterman Racing came back to fight even harder against the Flying Lizard Motorsports group. The #45 car managed a 2nd in class at Lime Rock, 1st in class at Laguna Seca and a 2nd in class finish at Petit Le Mans. The team managed a 3rd-place finish in the GT Season Championship while Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long finished 4th in the GT Drivers' Championship.
In 2012 the team took deliver of two brand new second-gereration GT3 RSRs. This years car has a front and rear track that has been widened by 1.9 inches allowing for much wider tires giving more grip. The Flying Lizard Motorsports team struggled to find speed and consistency with the new car. The #45 car managed a win at Lime Rock Park after a fierce battle with Corvette Racing and Extreme Speed Motorsports. The team also managed a win at Mosport but was disqualified after failing a stall test at the end of the race. The team finished 4th in the GT championship with Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long finishing 5th in the Drivers Championship points.
2013 (ALMS Porsche GTC)
With the development of the 997 GT3 RSR ending, the team's relationship with Porsche Motorsport North America was discontinued. On November 15, 2012, Flying Lizard Motorsports announced that they would transition to competing in the GT Challenge category. The team fielded a two car team for what would be the final season of the American Le Mans Series before it merged with the Rolex Sports Car Series to form the Tudor United SportsCar Championship in 2014. With the team winning four races of the ten round season, including a victory at the season finale, Petit Le Mans, drivers of the #45 car, Spencer Pumpelly and Nelson Canache Jr, would finish second in the GTC drivers' championship behind the Alex Job Racing's Jeroen Bleekemolen and Cooper MacNeil and the team would claim its third ALMS Teams' Championship and their first in the GTC class.IMSA Customer Program (2014-Present)
After competing with Porsches since its inception, the Flying Lizard team announced on November 11, 2013 that it would partner with Audi Sport Customer Racing to campaign a two car Audi R8 LMS effort in the newly formed Tudor United SportsCar Championship GT Daytona Class. Seth Neiman and Dion von Moltke would team in the #35 car Nelson Canache Jr. and Spencer Pumpelly sharing the #45 car. The season began with a last lap battle at the 24 Hours of Daytona, resulting in the first-place finishing car to receive a penalty for intent for avoidable contact, awarding Flying Lizard as the winners. Five hours later, the penalty was revoked, moving the Lizard squad to second place. The team finished out the season with four top-five finishes.For 2015, the team announced they would run a partial season in United SportsCar, in addition to running a full season in Pirelli World Challenge and Porsche Cup of America. The team ran five races with the Audi R8 LMS throughout the season: the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Monterey Grand Prix, Lone Star Le Mans and Petit Le Mans. The 2015 drivers included: Tomonobu Fujii, Satoshi Hoshino, Robert Thorne, German Markus Winkelhock, Colin Thompson, Marco Holzer, Guy Cosmo, Patrick Byrne, Mike Vess and Jason Hart. The team's highlight of the season included a top-5 finish at Petit Le Mans, which was canceled with only 7 hours and 51 minutes of the 10-hour race completed.
Pirelli World Challenge (2015-Present)
GT: K-PAX Racing (2015-Present)
Flying Lizard partnered with championship winning team K-PAX Racing in 2015 to enter two McLaren 650S GT3s for a full season in the Pirelli World Challenge GT championship. With McLaren GT factory driver Kevin Estre and K-PAX veteran Robert Thorne, the unified effort had a successful first season, earning four wins and 8 podiums. Estre proved to be a front runner, winning Round 2 at Circuit of the Americas by over 30 seconds in torrential downpour, establishing himself early as a championship contender.Flying Lizard returned to manage the K-PAX program, solely under the K-PAX Racing banner, in 2016 with Alvaro Parente, Austin Cindric, and Colin Thompson, racing three McLarens. Parente clinched the driver championship, while young Austin Cindric earned three podiums and three pole positions. In all, the full-season program clinched the team, driver, and manufacturer championships, with 16 top five finishes, 12 podiums, seven pole positions, and six wins. The team closed out the season with a return to endurance racing, a first for K-PAX Racing, running the 12 Hours of Sepang with Shane van Gisbergen, Côme Ledogar, and Álvaro Parente. The #9 650S GT3 finished tenth overall, seventh in class.
The championship winning duo returned again in 2017 under the K-PAX Racing banner, with returning champion Alvaro Parente being joined by full season entry Bryan Sellers and partial season entrant Mike Hedlund. The GT championship also introduced a new SprintX format, where two drivers would share a car for an allotment of races. Ben Barnicoat joined Parente in the No. 9 McLaren, and Jonny Kane raced with Sellers for the first few races. Michael Lewis joined Mike Hedlund, but then switched to the car of Sellers after Hedlund pulled out of the championship. The team finished runner up in the Sprint championship, earning a total of five wins and ten podiums.
For 2018, the operation switched manufacturers, dropping McLaren for Bentley. The Pirelli World Challenge championship was comprised 10 events, five of which two-driver SprintX races. Parente returned for a third year, joined by Flying Lizard alumni Rodrigo Baptista. The pair were joined by Bentley works team drivers Andy Soucek and Maxime Soulet for the SprintX Races. The team celebrated ten victories, rebounding from heavy crashes at St. Petersburg and VIRginia International Raceway early in the season.
The team returned again in 2019, with drivers Parente and Baptista as the full season entries, with Andy Soucek and Maxime Soulet again acting as SprintX drivers.
GTS/GT4: Flying Lizard Motorsports (2016-Present)
In 2016, the Lizard group began its own customer racing program in World Challenge, fielding entries at Road America, Sonoma Raceway, and Laguna Seca with Andy Wilzoch and Mike Hedlund. Helund earned two third-place finishes in both of his Sonoma Raceay races, and Wilzoch also earned a double podium at Road America. Program Manager Darren Law joined Wilzoch at Laguna Seca for the first SprintX double header, and the pair finished ninth and fourth.The following season, the program expanded, fielding a pair of Flying Lizard Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR for Brazilian Rodrigo Baptista and Nate Stacy. Baptista proved to be one of the breakout rookies of the season, earning four wins, including a sweep at Lime Rock Park, a track the Lizard program always showed success at. Together, the pair earned ten podiums and 17 top five finishes.
World Challenge introduced the SprintX Championship to the GTS class in 2018, allowing AM drivers to have a co-driver for each double header race weekend. Mike Hedlund returned to Flying Lizard to race his Audi R8 LMS GT4 solo, while Adam Merzon and Ryan Eversley shared the driving duties for the No. 23 Audi R8 LMS. Hedlund earned six podiums during the season, and one win at the Watkins Glen season finale. Merzon and Eversley clinched their first pole position as a pair at Lime Rock Park.
New racer Michael Dinan joined Flying Lizard Motorsports for the 2019 season in the series, rebranded as GT4 America under the SRO Motorsports banner. Racing the new Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport, Dinan signed up for both the Sprint and SprintX championships for a total of 31 races, bringing IMSA racer Robby Foley as his co-driver for the SX events.
Development Programs
Toyo Tires (2015-Present)
Flying Lizard Motorsports and Toyo Tires began their partnership in 2015 as a tire development program, with the tire manufacturer utilizing the sports car champions for private testing. In 2015, the duo put their development to the test, entering the Auri R8 LMS that had previously raced in the IMSA series. The #45 Audi R8 LMS won in the ES class and overall, with the all-professional driver lineup of Program Manager Darren Law, Tomonobu Fuji, Guy Cosmo and Johannes van Overbeek.The #45 Audi returned to defend its win the following year, with drivers Darren Law, Mike Hedlund, Johannes van Overbeek and Dion von Moltke. The Audi again finished first in the ES class and first overall. A second entry, a #74 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR joined the effort, finishing second in the ES class and third overall with drivers Charlie Hayes, Andy Wilzoch, Will Owen, and Tommy Sadler.
In 2017, Flying Lizard and Toyo Tires achieved a three-peat, with the No. 45 Audi R8 LMS again taking the ES class and overall win from pole position. Darren Law, Tom Haacker, Nate Stacym and Charlie Hayes drove the car to victory, completing over 2,100 miles. The #74 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport of Johannes van Overbeek, Craig Watkins, Mike Hedlund, and Ross Thompson also clinched its own class win. The team also beat the all-time record of 761 laps completed during the race by completing 780 laps.
The team returned with a two car effort in 2018, winning overall for the fourth consecutive year, with the #74 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Johannes van Overbeek, Justin Marks, Andy Wilzoch, Charlie Hayes, and Wolf Henzler. van Overbeek started from fifth and brought the car up to second in the opening lap, but within minutes, the Porsche was back in the garage for 14 laps, needing repairs on a broken axle. By Henzler's stint, the car had made it back into the top three, but again suffered a broken axle. In lap 596, van Overbeek brought the car back to the lead, and after 25 hours again finished first overall, officially becoming the team to hold the most wins at the endurance event. The second of two all-female entries on the grid, the #45 Jester & Babbitt Racing by Flying Lizard Motorsports Toyo Tires Audi R8 LMS GT4 was raced by the first-ever female drivers of the team: Christina Nielsen, Aurora Straus, Ashton Harrison, Laura Ely, and Erin Vogel. The all-female car cliched its Toyo Tires GT4 Challenge class win, finishing fourth overall after running a near flawless race and suffering no mechanical issues.
In 2018, the duo of Toyo Tires and Flying Lizard Motorsports took on a new challenge: the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The team enlisted Clint Vahsholtz, driver with the most class victories in the history of the race, to run the No. 45 Flying Lizard / Toyo Tires McLaren 12C GT3. Of 77 entries, the team finished eighth overall and second in class on their debut of the 12.42-mile, 156 turn course, with over 9,000 feet in elevation changes from start to finish.
Lamborghini Super Trofeo (2019-Present)
In spring of 2019, Flying Lizard Motorsports and Lamborghini Squadra Corse announced a new partnership, in which the Lizards took ownership of a Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo, opening a new test program at their home track of Sonoma Raceay. Based off the customer interest in the new car, the program was built around research and development of the car, and allowing prospective racers in the IMSA Super Trofeo series to get seat time in the machinery.Results
American Le Mans Series
| Year | Car | Primary Drivers | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Driver Rank | Driver Points | Team Rank | Team Points |
| 2009 | #44 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR | Seth Neiman Darren Law | GT2 | SEB 5 | STP 5 | LBH 5 | UTA 6 | LRP 7 | MOH 9 | ELK 8 | MOS 7 | PET 7 | LAG 5 | SN: 12th DL: 15th | SN: 76 DL: 57 | 1st | 181 |
| 2009 | #45 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR | Jorg Bergmeister Pat Long | GT2 | SEB 4 | STP 1 | LBH 1 | UTA 1 | LRP 1 | MOH 4 | ELK 5 | MOS 5 | PET 5 | LAG 1 | 1st | 181 | 1st | 181 |
| 2010 | #44 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR | Seth Neiman Darren Law | GT | SEB 5 | LBH 12 | LAG 11 | UTA 11 | LRP 7 | MOH 7 | ELK 9 | MOS 9 | PET 9 | SN: 15th DL: 18th | SN: 43 DL: 39 | 2nd | 157 | |
| 2010 | #45 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR | Jorg Bergmeister Pat Long | GT | SEB 4 | LBH 1 | LAG 1 | UTA 5 | LRP 1 | MOH 4 | ELK 2 | MOS 1 | PET 4 | 1st | 157 | 2nd | 157 | |
| 2011 | #44 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR | Seth Neiman Marco Holzer Darren Law | GT | SEB 7 | LBH 8 | LRP 7 | MOS 8 | MOH 10 | ELK 9 | BAL 8 | LAG 9 | PET 8 | SN: 8th MH: 10th DL: 14th | SN: 60 MH: 53 DL: 39 | 3rd | 115 | |
| 2011 | #45 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR | Jorg Bergmeister Pat Long | GT | SEB 6 | LBH 13 | LRP 2 | MOS 12 | MOH 9 | ELK 4 | BAL 11 | LAG 1 | PET 2 | 4th | 106 | 3rd | 115 | |
| 2012 | #44 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR | Seth Neiman Marco Holzer | GT | SEB 6 | LBH 9 | LAG 9 | LRP 9 | MOS 9 | MOH 7 | ELK 8 | BAL 7 | VIR 7 | PET 4 | SN: 10th MH: 11th | SN: 53 MH:46 | 4th | 122 |
| 2012 | #45 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR | Jorg Bergmeister Pat Long | GT | SEB 10 | LBH 7 | LAG 6 | LRP 1 | MOS 11 | MOH 2 | ELK 2 | BAL 5 | VIR 2 | PET 5 | 5th | 111 | 4th | 122 |
| 2013 | #44 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | Seth Neiman Dion von Moltke | GTC | SEB 9 | LBH 3 | LAG 9 | LRP 6 | MOS 7 | ELK 5 | BAL 1 | AUS 7 | VIR 5 | PET 5 | DvM: 9th SN: 12th | DvM: 81 SN 34 | 1st | 157 |
| 2013 | #45 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | Spencer Pumpelly Nelson Canache | GTC | SEB 2 | LBH 2 | LAG 8 | LRP 1 | MOS 2 | ELK 1 | BAL 7 | AUS 5 | VIR 7 | PET 1 | 2nd | 139 | 1st | 157 |