Following a wet and challenging weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Flying Lizard Motorsports is ready for another week of action at Lime Rock Park this Memorial Day weekend. The SprintX Championship resumes this weekend, moving back to a two driver and sixty minute format.
The back-to-back race weekend allowed for minimal time for the post-race weekend turnaround, but by Thursday afternoon, the team arrived at Lime Rock Park and began unloading the trucks for the event. The mechanics will have their hands full with the No. 23 Case-It Racing by Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi R8 LMS GT4 when contact from another competitor forced the car off track in the final turn. The Audi sustained heavy damage to the right rear corner, and was towed back to the garage following the checker flag. With continued work from the Flying Lizard crew, the car will be ready to compete in this weekend’s festivities at Lime Rock Park.
The Format
Rounds five and six of the GTS SprintX Championship will consist of the two driver format, and a required pit stop within a ten minute window during the sixty minute race. The required time spent in pit lane will be X seconds, and no competitor will be allowed to do tire changes.
The Drivers
Fresh off clinching his first pole position at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Mike Hedlund will be the sole driver in the NO. 45 Audi R8 LMS GT4. He currently sits fifth in the GTS SprintX Championship after earning podiums at Circuit of the Americas and VIRginia International Raceway.
Adam Merzon will again be joined by pro-ranked Ryan Eversley, splitting the duties for the event. A resident of Greenwich, Connecticut, this will be a home race weekend for Merzon, who will have friends and family on hand to cheer on the No. 23 Case-It Racing by Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi R8 LMS GT4.
The Track
Lime Rock Park is the shortest track on the Pirelli World Challenge calendar; just 1.5 miles of permanent road course in the hills of northwest Connecticut. The seven turn track has only one left hander, but six right handers, and an elevation change
Of all the tracks Flying Lizard Motorsports has competed at over the years, the team has celebrated more successes at Lime Rock Park than any other track. Since first competing at Lime Rock Park in 2004, Flying Lizard Motorsports has earned eight wins and an additional six podiums. The track also holds strong sentimental value to the team following the team’s double win Pirelli World Challenge weekend in 2016, marking the team’s first professional wins since the new ownership trio of Darren Law, Thomas Blam, and Tommy Sadler in late 2014.
The Engineering: From Team Engineer Jim Bell
“Lime Rock Park is basically an oval with one left hander. You need to come down the hill and onto the front straight away as fast as you can. You need to own it and carry the speed and pass into one. While it’s very important to set this car up for perfect right handers, you can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. That left turn is still very important. An engineer has to get all those right turns correct and still be able to nail that left turn.”
Driver Quotes
Mike Hedlund | No. 45 Audi R8 LMS GT4
This is going to be an epic Memorial Day weekend! After qualifying on our class pole position last weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, we struggled a little bit in the two sprint races, so I’m looking forward to returning to the SprintX format this weekend at Lime Rock Park. There’s always a big fan base and tight racing at such a short track, so I’m sure both drivers and fans will enjoy some great racing with 35+ cars in our GTS class! Our #45 Flying Lizard Opti-Coat Audi R8 GT4 should be strong this weekend as we have amazing brakes and solid high speed grip. Weather is looking a bit dicey and so far this year, we’ve excelled in those types of conditions. Hope to see all the Flying Lizard fans out at the track this holiday weekend!
Adam Merzon | No. 23 Audi R8 LMS GT4
Lime rock is my home track so I’m excited that I’ve got my family coming to watch us race this weekend. The layout of this track always produces some hard racing and hopefully we can have a clean event and get that top five result we been looking for.
Ryan Eversley | No. 23 Audi R8 LMS GT4
I always look forward to racing at lime rock since it brings out a ton of fans and the racetrack is very busy and fast. I think our Case-It race car will be strong and suited to the layout and really want to help get Adam and Flying Lizard a strong result this weekend.
Source. Flying Lizard Motorsports
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