Flying Lizard Motorsport Press Release
The Flying Lizard Motorsports team heads to Canada for its only international race of the season, racing this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, about one hour north of Toronto. The 2.46-mile track, formerly known as Mosport, will host three of the four TUDOR United SportsCar Series classes, with Prototype and GT Le Mans cars sharing the track with the GT Daytona class Audi R8 LMS race cars of Flying Lizard during the two hour and forty five minute race this Sunday, July 13th.
The team has yet to run the Nos. 35 and 45 R8s on the Mosport circuit, so it has entered drivers Spencer Pumpelly (USA) and Dion von Moltke (South Africa) in both cars in order to maximize the setup work which can be completed during the three 1-hour practice sessions available to the team over the course of the weekend. However, the drivers are only permitted to earn points in one car, so Dion will be nominated in the No. 35 PR Newswire / UBM Tech / eSilicon car with regular co-driver Seth Neiman (USA). Spencer Pumpelly will be nominated in the No. 45 Venezuela / eSilicon car, partnered with Nelson Canache Jr. (Venezuela). Entering this 6th round of the 2014 season, which also marks the halfway point to the final race, Petit Le Mans, Seth and Dion sit 4th in driver points while Nelson and Spencer sit in 9th position, although just 26 points back from the lead, with each race win worth 36 points towards the championship.
Quotes from the Team:
Steve Conover, Chief Engineer:
"Mosport definitely has similar setup requirements as Watkins Glen, with many elevation changes and sweeping turns, although at Mosport you don't get the helpful banking that you see at the Glen, and some sections at Mosport do crest in the deceleration zones. The slowest turn at Mosport is similar to Turn 11 at Laguna, although rougher with some broken pavement. The driving line otherwise is a mixture of asphalt paving with concrete patches, which is similar to many of the tracks we've driven at already this year, but the transitions are longitudinal rather than transverse, and the concrete often isn't level with the asphalt next to it. Overall the track presents some very interesting challenges from a setup standpoint."
Dion von Moltke, Driver:
"Mosport is one of the most popular tracks we go to from a driving standpoint. It has blind corners mixed in with high speeds which makes for a very intense track. To get around it fast you have to have a lot of confidence in your car on corner entry and also a good platform to support the car when it loses elevation as Steve described. Our Audi R8 LMS is very strong on braking and turn in, so I believe we will be very good in the first and last sections of the track. We do struggle on top end speed though and the long back straight will be tough compared to our competitors. If we can maximize the setup otherwise we should be very competitive and can hopefully battle for our first class win of the season to keep up the championship fight."
Flying Lizard is on track for three days during the race week, with qualifying at 5:20pm ET on Saturday and race start at 2:05pm ET on Sunday. Live timing and scoring for the race and all practice sessions and qualifying can be found at www.imsa.com and on the IMSA mobile app. Qualifying will be broadcast live on IMSA.com and in the United States, the race will be televised starting at 2:00pm ET on Fox Sports 1 and also available on the Fox Sports Go mobile app. Outside of the United States, the full race broadcast will be available at www.imsa.com.
About Flying Lizard Motorsports
Flying Lizard is based on Sonoma, California, and has competed in the American Le Mans Series for ten consecutive seasons, from 2004 to 2012 in the GT class and in 2013 in GTC. The Lizards have won two ALMS GT team championships (2008 and 2009), one ALMS GTC team championship (2013), and have secured three ALMS GT Drivers' championships (2008, 2009, and 2010).
Flying Lizard has also competed in the 24 Heures du Mans from 2005 through 2012, finishing third in 2005, fourth in 2006, sixth in 2008, sixth in 2011, and fourth in 2012.
Please visit the team website at www.lizardms.com and the team store at www.flyinglizardstore.com.
About Audi of America and the Audi R8 LMS
Audi began a new chapter in 2009 with the introduction of the Audi Sport customer racing program. For the first time it was possible for motorsport customers to acquire a race car designed for customer racing events. Since its inception, the success of the R8 LMS has been significant throughout the GT3 racing format worldwide, including victory in the GT class in the 2013 edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The Audi R8 LMS shares more than 50% of its parts with the Audi R8 street car including the naturally aspirated V10 5.2 Liter engine, the Audi Space Frame and a variety of other components.
Audi of America, Inc. and its U.S. dealers offer a full line of German-engineered luxury vehicles. AUDI AG is among the most successful luxury automotive brands globally. Audi was a top-performing luxury brand in Europe during 2012, and broke all-time company sales records in the U.S. Through 2016, AUDI AG will invest about $17 billion on new products and technologies.
Visit www.audiusa.com or www.audiusanews.com for more information regarding Audi vehicle and business issues.
Photo credit: Flying Lizard Motorsports / Bob Chapman
