Petersen/ White Lightning Charges From Back of Pack to Second at Mid-Ohio

LEXINGTON, Oh., May 22, 2005 – Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing
was forced to start from the back of the field— 22nd overall, seventh in
class— at today’s ALMS at Mid-Ohio. However, the Michael Petersen-owned team
launched an immediate assault on the competition from the drop of the green
flag both on track and in pit lane that landed the Porsche second in GT2
class, 11th overall. Patrick Long (Las Vegas) started the No. 31 Westward Ho
Casino/ MMPIE/ PAWS/ Michelin Porsche 911 GT3 RSR handing over the wheel to
teammate Jörg Bergmeister (Langenfeld, Germany) on lap 53. Despite a rain
shower in the last several laps, Bergmeister was able to maintain his
position giving the Dale White-managed team its third-straight IMSA Cup
Award for privateer entrants of the three-race old season. The No. 31 crew
now heads to France to defend their 24 Hours of Le Mans GT2 (formerly GT)
class victory from 2004. They will return to the United States for the next
round of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) at Lime Rock Park on the Fourth
of July with the GT2 class points lead for drivers, teams and in the IMSA
Cup. 

 

Despite trailing all but two-cars in the field at the green flag, Long was
fighting for third place by the end of the first lap. He held the position
outright by the end of the seventh lap and moved to second by lap nine. Once
in the car, Bergmeister continued to take the Las Vegas-based Porsche team
to the competition. Just behind the No. 45 Porsche, the German pressured for
several laps waiting for the pressure to force an error. The error occurred
on lap 89 with 26 minutes to go in the two hour, 45-minute race. Now in
second-place and clear of slower traffic, the 2005 12 Hours of Sebring team
began the attack again, this time for the lead. However, a storm, that had
been threatening all race, struck with 10 minutes remaining. Bergmeister,
though closing the gap to that point, had to settle for second as the
rain-soaked track kept him from a full-out assault.

 

The day got off to a challenging start as two issues forced the car to the
back of the grid after Long qualified the car second-quick. In
post-qualifying technical inspection the car was deemed too low to the
ground and the time was disallowed. The team determined that the cooling of
the tires forced air pressures in the tires to drop enough to lower the
car’s overall height. Secondly, due to a prior commitment, Bergmeister was
not able to complete the required two practice laps in an official on-track
session. Therefore, the car would have to start at the back of the grid. 

 

 

 

 

 

Quotes:

 

Michael Petersen, team owner: “It’s pretty unbelievable. We got moved to the
back but Patrick did a fantastic first stint and moved us back to the front.
We knew it was just a matter of time before we’d be up there. We had
fantastic calls by Dale and good strategies that almost paid off. We’re on
quite a roll right now. Le Mans is the next hurdle. We’re looking forward to
getting to France and then coming back to the American Le Mans Series.”

 

Dale White, team manager: “We had to adjust our strategy a little being
moved to the back. Patrick did a great job getting us back upfront and the
guys had some terrific pit stops. The strategy really worked out well at the
end but the rain caught us out some. It’s pretty obvious that we’re happy
with the results but we’re still going for wins and we’ll keep going for
wins. We’re happy with the momentum going into Le Mans and with the points
lead but we want to be on the top step every weekend. Not just on the podium
collecting points.”

 

Jörg Bergmeister, driver: “The rain at the end on the slicks was really
slippery. So I just wanted to bring it home. At the beginning I lost too
much time behind the 45-car. That gave Dumas (No. 23) a chance to get away
and I didn’t have any chance to attack. So, I just tried to bring it home.
Patrick did an awesome job doing the setup on the car. So, I am pretty happy
with the results.”

 

Patrick Long, driver: “The race was a culmination of how well the whole
weekend went. Personally, it was a great race for me this weekend. And the
guys did a flawless job, as always, and made everyone else look bad on the
pit stops. So, congratulations to them. Overall it was a great race for us
and one of the sweetest second-places we’ve ever had.”