American Le Mans Series, round 3 in Lime Rock, USA Third grid spot for Porsche works driver

American Le Mans Series, round 3 in Lime Rock, USA

Third grid spot for Porsche works driver

Stuttgart. With the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR fielded by Flying Lizard Motorsports, Porsche works driver Patrick Long (USA) posted the third quickest time in the GT qualifying for the Northeast Grand Prix in Lime Rock. He contests round three of the American Le Mans Series on Saturday with his works driver colleague Joerg Bergmeister (Germany), who with five wins in the last five years is the most successful driver at the race in the US state of Connecticut .

“I was lying in fifth when my pit crew requested me to come in. But my gut feeling told me that I could do better. So I stayed out for another lap and that lap was then perfect,” said Patrick Long. “It felt just a good as my fastest lap last year where I secured pole position. It’s just that the gap to the cars at the front is simply too big. We just can’t match their pace due to the balance of performance regulations.”

At his first start on the short and very narrow 2.487 kilometre circuit, which had only just dried up after a rain shower, Marco Holzer (Germany) clinched sixth place. The Porsche factory pilot shares driving duties in the second Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with American Seth Neiman. “My quickest lap was just my seventh on the dry track in Lime Rock,” he said. “We’re very pleased with this and think we’ve found a very good set-up for the race, regardless of whether it rains or not.”

In the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR fielded by the Falken Tire squad, Bryan Sellers (USA), the teammate of Porsche works driver Wolf Henzler (Germany), claimed the ninth quickest time.

The race starts on Saturday at 14.05 hours local time (20.05 hours CEST) and runs over 2:45 hours.


Qualifying result
GT class
1. Joey Hand (USA), BMW M3 GT, 50.925 seconds
2. Dirk Werner (D), BMW M3 GT, + 0.245
3. Patrick Long (USA), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, + 0.947
4. Oliver Gavin (GB), Chevrolet Corvette, + 0.972
5. Tommy Milner (USA), Chevrolet Corvette, + 1.029
6. Marco Holzer (D), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, + 1.080
9. Bryan Sellers (USA), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, + 1.463
12. Bryce Miller (USA), Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, + 2,286

GTC class
1. Jaap van Lagen (NL), Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 54.982 seconds



Facts and figures

This is the American Le Mans Series
The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was created in 1999 for sports prototypes and GT vehicles. The regulations correspond to those of the Le Mans 24 hour race. All classes start together but are classified separately:

GT class: This most popular class amongst car manufacturers is traditionally extremely well supported: Slightly modified standard sports cars with 440 to 500 hp and a minimum weight of 1,125 – 1,325 kilograms (e.g. Porsche 911 GT3 RSR).
GTC class: This class is reserved for vehicles from one-make race series (e.g. Porsche 911 GT3 Cup).
LMP1 class: Sports prototypes with up to 750 hp and a minimum weight of 900 kilograms.
LMP2 class: Sports prototypes with ca. 440 hp and an 825 kg minimum weight.
LMPC class: Prototype brand trophy series for the ORECA FLM 09.

All race cars start together but are classified separately. This ensures exciting and diverse racing with many overtaking manoeuvres. Points are only awarded for placings in each class.


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Oliver Hilger