Flying Lizard Motorsports built momentum for its upcoming appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans by finishing first and second in class at the Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park.
Wolf Henzler and Jorg Bergmeister got a break early in the race when they received the 'wave-by' from the pace car - a courtesy extended by the sanctioning body when the pace car is looking to pick up the leader when re-forming the field - and maintained their lead throughout the event, using a large advantage to plan fuel stops and driver changes.
“We knew after warm-up that the car was very fast and would be good over the long run," Henzler revealed, "The wave-by turned out to be the key to winning the race.
"Over my stint, I was able to stay out of the rest of the GT2 traffic and was very careful to stay out of trouble. When I caught the GT2 pack – there were four or five of them who were a lap down – they were all fighting for position and I had to work my way carefully through them, one by one.
"Thanks to the crew for a fantastic race. We are now back in the lead in the championship and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season in such a strong Porsche.”
Patrick Pilet and Johannes van Overbeek brought the sister Porsche up to second from fourth after the Farnbacher Loles Porsche had to come in for fuel on the last lap and the Tafel
Ferrari also needed a late race pit-stop.
The #46 Flying Lizard entry had started second on the GT grid, pitted during an early caution, and then came back through the field to claim a third podium of the season. The Farnbacher Loles car was later excluded from the points for having a fuel cell over the 90-litre capacity dictated by the rules.
"This was a great performance from the team," van Overbeek commented, "Patrick did a fantastic job, our pit-stops were excellent and we had a solid car for the race. It's too bad that we got gapped in the beginning of the race but, overall, we are very pleased with the result."
