Flying Lizard retain the lead in the GTC at VIR

Flying Lizard endured a tough day at the 9th and penultimate round of the 2013 American Le Mans Series season in today's race at Virginia International Raceway. Starting from 3rd on the grid in the Venezuela / eSilicon No 45 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, Nelson Canache Jr. quickly moved up to 2nd place and began his chase of the class leader.

Strategy dictated a pit stop and driver change to Spencer Pumpelly at the one hour mark and the team was the first to pit lane. However, just a few laps into Spencer's stint the accessory belt disintegrated and the team was forced back to pit lane for an immediate repair, but one that unfortunately cost them four laps. Over the remainder of the race the team was able to make up two of the laps but ultimately had to settle for a 7th place finish.

Seth Neiman started the PR Newswire / eSilicon No 44 and ran a long, 1 hour, 25 minute stint. He then turned the car over to co-driver Dion von Moltke who was able to take advantage of two well-timed yellows to move into 6th place, at the tail end of the lead pack. In the 37-minute run to the checker Dion was able to make the only pass in class, moving up to his 5th place finishing position.

With that move the team was able to retain the lead in the GTC team championship by 2 points but Nelson and Spencer now face a 16 point gap to the GTC driver championship leaders going into the final round of the season at Petit Le Mans, for which a class win is worth 24 points.

Spencer Pumpelly, Driver, No 45: "Today was a disappointing result given the strength of the No 45 car. Nelson drove a great stint, hounding the leading TRG car and I felt like the car was one of the best we have had all year. The entire crew did such a great job and it was only bad luck that kept us off the podium. The championship is not impossible now but we are no longer in charge of our destiny. So we'll show up at Petit Le Mans ready to race and go after the win."

Dion von Moltke, Driver, No 44: "It was tough work today behind the wheel of our Flying Lizard Motorsports eSillicon / PR Newswire #44 Porsche. Thanks to some great strategy calls and quick pit work from the team I was able to get back on the lead lap and into 6th position after the final full course caution during my stint. We restarted with all seven GTC Porsches nose to tail and it was a massive battle for the remaining 35 minutes.

VIR has some very technical fast corners which make it difficult to follow a car closely as you lose quite a lot of the front downforce, which makes it extremely hard to overtake. Our car was very consistent and one of the best on tire wear so late in the stint we were able to get past Andy Lally for 5th place but we ran out of time at the end to improve any further."

Flying Lizard is next on track for the tenth and final round of the 2013 American Le Mans Series season, Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda, to be held October 16th to 19th at Road Atlanta in Braselton Georgia.

Flying Lizard