After the disappointment of losing out on the GT2 win twelve months ago, Flying Lizards rebounded to not only secure victory in the Sebring Twelve Hours, but also pick up a one-two finish.
In the first race with the new 2008-specification Porsche 911 GT3 RSRS, Jorg Bergmeister, Wolf Henzler and Marc Lieb took victory in the #45 car, while the #44 car shared by Darren Law, Seth Neiman and Alex Davison finished second. The #46 Porsche of Johannes van Overbeek, Patrick Pilet and Richard Lietz rebounded from a hard hit from one of the Audi's to finish eighth in class, having lost an hour in the pits undergoing repairs.
Things looked good for the Porsche team at the start, as Henzler in the #45 and van Overbeek in the #46 settled into race pace and Law in the #44 began to move up through the back of the field. At the 30-minute mark, Henzler was in P3, van Overbeek in P4 and Law was in P7.
Trouble started 30 minutes in, when van Overbeek was hit hard by an Audi prototype, sending him spinning off into the tyre wall. He was able to work his way slowly back to the pits, where the crew set to work replacing left rear suspension and axle. After a one hour repair, the #46 was back on track, but having fallen all the way to the rear of the pack, any hopes of a top finish were gone.
Meanwhile, things were going better for the #44 and the #45. After 50 minutes, Law handed the wheel over to Davison, who worked his way to P4 over the next hour. Team-mate Neiman maintained P4 for his hour-long stint and Law was back in the car at the 3 hour mark.
In the #45, after a double stint at the start, Henzler was in P3 when he switched to Bergmeister. After a brief time in P2, he held on to P3 for his stint, trading off again to Marc Lieb, who was P3 behind the #62 Risi Ferrari and the #87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche. Over the first six hours, the #45 and #44 Porsches cycled through their drivers - encountering few major problems - and holding P3 and P4.
In the #46, after the repair was completed, Richard Lietz took the Porsche back out on track 1.5 hours into the race but now in P15. Over the next ten and a half hours, drivers focused on getting the most out of the Porsche and stayed out of trouble. With the significant attrition in the race, the #46 Porsche was able to regain seven positions - with Pilet crossing the finish line eighth in class.
"It was disappointing to see things go south so early in the race but I knew that the crew would be able to get us back on track," van Overbeek said. "Aside from that incident, we had a great race and turned some very fast times. It is a long season, and we have many races yet to go."
Things changed for the #45 and #44 Lizards midway through the twelve-hour race, when the #62 Risi Ferrari hit the #87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche, sending both cars into retirement.
