Flying Lizards announce 2014 Plans

[Jules G]

Dropped into my inbox at lunchtime

"Two Audi R8 LMS for Full Inaugural TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Season

November 11, 2013 – Sonoma, California

Following a decade in the American Le Mans Series and coming off of a team championship clinching GTC class win in the final ALMS race at Road Atlanta, Flying Lizard Motorsports today announced that it would join the new TUDOR United SportsCar Championship with two cars to be run in the GT Daytona class for the 2014 season. The team will continue to campaign the No 45 as it has since the team's inception while adding the No 35 to its stable, replacing No 44. Flying Lizard will announce its 2014 driver lineup at a later date.

For the first time in its history, the team is working with a new manufacturer, and has taken delivery of two Audi R8 LMS race cars for the 2014 racing program. Based on the R8 street car, the R8 LMS has had significant success in GT3 format racing worldwide, including victory in the GT class in the 2013 edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Chief Strategist Thomas Blam talked about the new partnership with Audi Sport customer racing and the opportunity to race the R8 LMS, saying "We are excited to be working with Audi. Their success with prototypes and the potential of the R8 LMS is a great fit for our experience and success in GT. While we have a huge amount to learn about this car and the new GTD class in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, our early assessment is that we are in a great position to work for race wins immediately and should be competing for the championship this year. This is, of course, absolutely our goal. The car has excellent potential and we can't wait to get started."

Team Principal and Driver Seth Neiman on the shift from Porsche: "This is certainly a substantial change for the team as Porsche has been a great partner for many years. Equally, Audi is a great company with a spectacular racing pedigree, a serious commitment to GT racing, and a clear commitment to forging an alliance to continue both of our winning traditions far into the future. They know how to win, we know how to win, and we both are totally focused on doing just that. This is a strong foundation for a long and successful relationship."

Flying Lizard will take to the track with its new cars for the first time on November 16th and 17th at Sebring International Raceway and on November 19th and 20th at Daytona International Speedway for the IMSA sanctioned season opening tests for the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship."

So, what do our friends across the pond think of the move to Audi???

[Grand_Fromage]

A pity they went the GTC / Daytona GT route, they are sorely missed at the 'real' 24 hours. But hey, good luck to Seth and the team for 2014 good to know they are contesting the inaugural USC season.

This leads me to thinking even more strongly that the medium/long term future will see Audi retreating into the GT classes of endurance racing while Porsche have their day in the spotlight.

[Boorish Grobian]

I suppose we could see this switch to Audi coming, after Porsche began to scale down their factory ties to the Lizards.  But as Big cheese says, good luck to them, I'm just happy they've chosen to continue on.
That said, I couldn't be more disinterested in American sportscar racing right now.  The United Sportscar path is exactly as I feared, a cobbled together mish-mash of classes, and regulations.  That combined with the decision to skip Mid-Ohio has left me with a could care less attitude toward USC.
Motor racing in North America is a mess at this point, even the once mighty NASCAR Sprint Cup has seen steadily falling TV ratings and attendance.  Right now the only thing that looks truly healthy is the NHRA, and AMA Supercross.
Fax

[mgmark]

Perhaps not a huge surprise after the withdrawal of Porsche factory blessing, but good luck to them.  It is a shame they won't be at Le Mans with it, as the  familiar red and silver entries followed by the brilliantly liveried lizard 911s is missed always got my support as a team, with good spirit, going racing (a bit like Martin Short did), rather than as a team racing to sell cars...

MG Mark