Road America - Race! - Lizards Fifth and Ninth

Lizards finish fifth and ninth at Road America. It was a very strange race - only three race cautions, but they lasted more than 1/4 of the race. It was definitly a disappointing race for the Lizards. On the podium are: No. 62 Risi Ferrari in P1; No. 18 Rahal Porsche in P2; and No. 31 Ferrari in P 3.

8:10 - with just a minute left in the race, Darren has to stop for a final splash of fuel. Since he was in last position anyway, the crew did not want to risk him running out of gast on the final lap.

8:00 pm - eight minutes left, and the No. 45 is in P5, just behind the No. 61 Ferrari. Darren has moved up to P 9, after the No. 22 had a lengthy pit stop.

7:50 pm - NO. 45 pits for tires and short fuel. they are in P 5 with the No. 61 a minute behind. The No. 61 is also pitting and the No. 45 crew is working to get the No. 45 out of the pits in front of the No. 61. Looks like the No. 61 did not pit and is now in P 5. The No. 45 is out again quickly but now P 6. However, we should not have to pit again and the No. 61 Ferrari should. Positions are: P 1 No. 61; P 2 No. 18; P 3 No. 31; P 4 No. 71; P 5 No. 61; P 6 No. 45; P 7 NO. 54; P 8 No. 73; P 9 No. 22; P 10 No. 44.


7:33 pm - Positions: P 1 No. 62; P 2 No. 18; P 3 No. 31; P 4 No. 71; P 5 No. 45; P 6 No. 61; P 7 No. 73; P 8 No. 22; P 9 No. 54; P 10 No. 44

7:28 - About forty minutes left in the race and it's beginning to get dark. No. 45 is in a solid P 5 and No. 44 in P 10. Both Joerg and Johannes will go to the end of the race and neither should have to stop for fuel.

7:10 - Joerg moves to P 5 after the last round of pit stops. All GT2 cars should now be on slicks. 1 hour left to go in the race.

Positions: P 1 No. 62; P 2 No. 18; P 3 No. 31; P 4 No. 71; P 5 No. 45; P 6 NO. 73; P 7 No. 61; P 8 No. 22; P 9 No. 54; P 10 No. 44.

7:00 - Joerg pitted for tires and fuel. It was a longer than usual pit stop due to a problem with one of the wheel nuts, which cost us several positions. The crew hopes that Joerg can make it for the rest of the session without requiring another fuel stop. Seth is now pitting in the NO. 44. Joerg is out in P 7.

6:53 - Joerg maintained his third position on the restart. Seth is in P 10 in the No. 44 and will pit shortly to switch back to slicks and driver change to Darren Law. Joerg is still out on rain tires.

6:50 pm - The GT2 field is beginning to move to slicks. Petersen, and Tafel have both gone to slicks. We are still on rains.

6:50 pm - Green flag next lap.

6:45 - Double yellow to remove the Mazda. We have an opportunity here to potentially get back on the lead lap with the No. 18 and the No. 62.

6:45 - The Mazda prototype is off in the gravel and is stuck. Unfortunately, this will mean another yellow flag.

6:41 - Joerg now has been able to retake his position and get by Wolf and also moved in front of Petersen Ferrari No. 41, which was in P 3. Joerg is now P 3.

6:40 pm - Wolf Henzler in the No. 71 Tafel Porsche got past Joerg on the restart, putting Joerg in P 5. The cars are still on rain tires and Joerg reports a very strong vibration. The crew will bring him in for slicks as soon as the track is ready.
6:35 pm - Looks like we'll be going green in one lap - after more than an hour (1/4 of the race) under yellow. Joerg is in P 4 - the cars on this lap are bunched up and it will be a challenge at the start - No. 31 is in P 3 and No. 61 is in P 5. No 71 and No. 73 are just behind the No. 61. No. 62 is in the lead and No. 18 in P 2.

6:05 pm - And happily it appears to be clearing although the track is still extremely wet. I expect that it will be another 30 minutes before we are green flag racing. the No. 44 will pit for driver change to Seth but they will leave the rains on. Joerg is in fourth position.

Positions: P 1 No. 18; P 2 No. 62; P 3 No. 31; P 4 No. 45; P 5 No. 61; P 6 No. 71; P 7 No. 73; P 8 No. 54; P 9 No. 22; P 10 No. 44; P 11 No. 21. Joerg and the No 31 are one lap down on the No 62 and the No. 18.


5:46 pm - We hear that the corner workers are taking cover because of the lightning and are no longer at the flags. Hopefully this will be over soon.

5:44 pm - Positions are: P 1 No. 18; P 2 No. 62; P 3 No. 31; P 4 No. 61; P 5 No. 45; P 6 No. 71; P 7 No. 73; P 8 No. 54; P 9 No. 22; P 10 No. 44; P 11 No. 21.

5:34 pm - and it is really raining now. course is double yellow - evidently due to rain. and we are now very wet in the pits. They will keep the course yellow until the rain abates - unclear how long although we have heard 30 minutes.

5:31 pm - Both crews are staying fully ready for a possible change back to slicks. Joerg is in p7.

5:29 - Johannes is in pit lane for a short fuel and driver change to Joerg and rain tires. Darren is also pitting and will get rain tires. Most teams have made the call to change to rain.

5:28 pm - Johannes is in P 7. Darren in P 10. No. 44 crew made the call to change to rain tires on the pit stop for fuel.

5:22 pm - Positions after most cars pitted for fuel, driver change and tires: P1 No. 18; P 2 No. 54; P 3 No. 73; P 4 No. 22; P 5 No. 62; P 6 No. 31; p 7 No. 61; P 8 No. 45; P 9 No. 71; P 10 No. 44; P 11, No. 21.

Both the No. 44 and the No. 45 need to come in for fuel in the next few laps. It's a tough call on how to manage the stops because although it's not raining now, rain is imminent, so they will need to stop again for rain tires.

5:17 pm - No. 62 has pitted.

5:15 pm - And to top it all off - lightning is now reported on the back side of the track. Rain is imminent.The cars will stay out as long as the can on slicks, and then come in for rain tires. No. 62 Ferarri has pitted for tires, fuel although it does not look like they changed drivers.

5:05 pm - We are one hour into the four hour race. Positions are:
P 1 NO. 31; P 2 No. 62; P 3 No. 61; P 4 No. 22; P 5 No. 71; P 6 No. 18; P 7 No. 73; P 8 No. 54; P 9 No. 45; P 10 No. 44; P 11 No. 21.
Reminder that we are broadcasting our team radio live - you can listen in at www.lizardms.com/radio.htm


4:54 pm - Heavy rain is forecast within the next 10 minutes. Rain will obviously cause tremendous problems for all teams - if it is a short squall they can continue on slicks but if it is a lengthy rain shower, teams will have to pit for rains.

Race control has assessed a stop and go penalty on the No. 45 for the second contact with the No. 62 Ferrari. The Ferrari did not receive a penalty for the first contact.

4:52 pm - Positions are: P 1 No. 31; P 2 No. 62; P 3 No. 61; P 4 No. 22; P 5 No. 18; P 6 No. 73; P 7 No. 71; P 8 No. 54; P 9 No. 45; P 10 No. 44; P 11 No. 21.

4:45 - Johannes reports contact from the No. 62 Ferrari as it made an attempt to pass him, and was off in the Canada corner. The No. 62 moved past and Johannes move into P 2. Shortly after, it appears that the cars contacted again and Johannes called in that he had a flat and was coming in. He went off track and into the gravel, but was able to drive off. the crew is replacing all four tires and inspecing the car to determine if there is something broken in the front. Looks like all is OK and he is back out quickly. There's a lot of gravel in the car and Johannes shakes it aggressively leaving pit lane to get as much off as he can before entering the track.

4:38 pm - Johannes still in P 1, with the No. 62 and No. 31 Ferraris close behind.

4:34 - rumor on pit lane is that rain will pass through in 25 minutes or so.

4:31 pm - Johannes, who had started fourth on the grid, was in third under the yellow (after the No. 54, which started from third was off track on the first lap) and was able to get past the No. 62 Ferrari and the No. 31 Petersen Ferraris on the green restart. He's now in P1.

4:29 - the No. 44 is out on track after a rapid transmission change in the garage - they had some luck because the entire first 20 minutes of the race were under yellow - this helped minimize the time that they lost on track - they are down only 5 laps.

4:38 - Not the most auspicious start to the race - on the replay it looks like the No. 15 Acura plowed into one of the Porsches (either the No. 73 or the No. 54) and it in turn took out the other Porsche. All three cars are now back on track but the course is still yellow. The No. 18 Rahal Porsche and the Mazda took advantage of the yellow for unscheduled pit stops. We should go green on the next lap.

4:11 pm - Green flag and on the first lap the No. 73 Tafel Porsche and the No. 54 Porsche appear to have made contact and both are in the gravel (unclear what happened but one of them may have been hit by a prototype which was starting from the rear of the grid). The course is double yellow as they pull both cars out. There appears to be a possible problem at the start as well as it looks like one of the prototypes jumped the start.

3:53 pm - We are just a few minutes away from race start for the 4 hour Generac 500 at Road America. The No. 45 Porsche is on the grid and Johannes is getting ready for race start. Unfortunately, on the recon lap which precedes the grid, the No. 44 had some shifting issues and the crew took the car behind the wall. They are working to fix the problem and get the car back in time for race start although it will need to start from pit lane. We have 5 minutes to go - the No. 44 will probably not make the race start, but hopefully closely thereafter. I'll keep you posted.

Just had confirmation from IMSA race control that the No. 44 has one hour from the start of the race to enter the race. After 1 hour, they would not be able to enter the race.