The American Le Mans Series resumed yesterday at Lime Rock as the drivers took to the track for practice and qualifying. Porsche works driver Patrick Long secured third place in his Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR that he shares with colleague Joerg Bergmeister for the Northeast Grand Prix.
“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 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.”
The session started on a slightly damp track following an earlier rain shower but quickly dried up. Marco Holzer secured sixth place despite having limited running on the dry track. “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.”
The Falken Tire squad with Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler claimed the ninth quickest time.
The race starts on Saturday at 14.05 hours local time and runs over 2:45 hours.
