Night of Firsts Gives Petersen/ White Lightning a Trio of ALMS GT2 Championships

Night of Firsts Gives Petersen/ White Lightning a Trio of ALMS GT2
Championships

 

MONTEREY, Calif., Oct. 15, 2005 – Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning
Racing won their first-ever American Le Mans Series (ALMS) championship
today in convincing style with a GT2 class race victory in the Monterey
Sports Car Championships here at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The win clinched
a series of firsts for the team and the ALMS. Tonight’s victory earned the
first ALMS Driver Championships for both Jörg Bergmeister (Langenfeld,
Germany) and Patrick Long (Las Vegas, Nev.), it earned the Michael
Petersen-owned team their first-ever ALMS Team Championship and the win, the
fourth consecutive for the team, guaranteed an endurance race (four hours or
longer) sweep for the Dale White-managed team. The No. 31 Westward Ho
Casino/ MMPIE/ PAWS/ Michelin Porsche 911 GT3 RSR won five races this season
including the endurance events of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring (a
team first), the Petit Le Mans (a team first) and tonight’s race at Mazda
Raceway Laguna Seca (a team first). Other wins include the Road America 500
and Grand Prix of Mosport. The team earned nine of ten possible IMSA Cups—
awarded to the highest placing privateer entrant— including tonight’s
leading to their first-ever season long IMSA Cup Championship. They stood on
the podium in nine of ten ALMS races (five wins, three second-places, one
third) with a disappointing eighth closing out the remainder of the
calendar. 

 

The win, from third on the grid, earned the Las Vegas-based team the
first-ever ALMS GT2 Team Championship for a privateer entrant in the
seven-year history of the ALMS. It was also the first time that a
non-factory driver (Bergmeister) has won the GT2 driver title since ‘99.
Long becomes only the second American driver, at age 24, to win a GT/GT2
driver title— the first also coming in the ALMS’s first season, ’99. 

 

Today’s 15-second win marked the sixth career ALMS victory in 46 starts for
Petersen/ White Lightning. The race celebrated the sixth anniversary for
Petersen and White together in the ALMS— their third full-season. The two
made their Series debut here at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with a sixth-place
finish driving together. The ALMS Team and IMSA Cup Championships add to an
impressive trophy case for the two friends who began racing together over 20
years ago. Petersen/ White Lightning has taken four season championships in
off-road truck racing (‘99 SCORE and SNORE Truck championships, ‘98 Protruck
Stadium Series championship, ’97 SODA Unlimited 2wd) and Baja 500 and 1,000
overall titles from 1995-’97 with class titles in each in ’98. In road
racing they have two 24 Hours of Le Mans GT(2) titles (’03 and ’04), class
titles at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Petit Le Mans, the 24 At Daytona and the
Six Hours at The Glen, six ALMS race wins, three SCCA World Challenge wins
and one SCCA Trans-Am win.  




The Driver’s Championship was won in commanding fashion two hours and
48-minutes into the event. Bergmeister and Long would earn a total of 179
points on the year to the 145 by their nearest competitors. Once the driver
title was clinched, the pair set-out to reward the season-long efforts of
the 14-person organization. As motorsports is the ultimate team sport, the
two drivers gave back to Petersen and White as well as crew chief Stefan
Pfeiffer (Croatia) and lead technician Dennis Chizma (Seattle, Wash.) and
team members: Sam Andrus (St. George, Utah), Ethan Bregman (New York), Nico
Castellaccio (Tracy, Calif.), Andrew Cushman (Las Vegas), Troy Hildreth (Las
Vegas), Tom Moore (Franklin, Tenn.), Michelin Tire technician Brian Monprode
(Oxford, Mich.) and Joey Seely (Seattle). 

 

The team would also earn 179 points with their single car entry whereas the
Alex Job Racing (AJR) team that stalked them all season earned 161 across
their two car operation. 

 

The team assisted technical and marketing partners Porsche Cars North
America earn the GT2 Automobile Manufacturer’s title with the Porsche 911
GT3 RSR and helped Michelin clinch the GT2 Tire Manufacturer Championship. 




Quotes…

Michael Petersen, owner: “My hat’s off again to this team. The guys
performed flawlessly. We’ve got the best group of guys, no doubt, in the
American Le Mans Series. I’d put them up against any team. These guys are
phenomenal. Our goal was to win the IMSA Cup championship. As the year went
on, we started to think we could win the team championship. To win it all is
just a compliment to these guys. I can’t thank the guys enough. It has been
a long process in the making. To take this long to win a championship,
considering we haven’t run but two consecutive, full seasons, is a milestone
unto itself. It’s just an unbelievable team. I’m just so proud. It’s a
pretty special moment. We didn’t get here alone, for sure. We need to thank
all of our sponsors, my Mom, Porsche, Michelin, everyone that is a part of
this.”

 

Dale White, team manager: “I am just proud to be a part of it. The whole
team worked so hard. After the low at Portland we stuck together. We
believed we could do it. We knew we could win the last four races. To see
the looks on their faces at the end, it’s worth it for me. That’s the whole
thing. It was here, six years ago, when Mike’s father came to his first race
ever. He really hated racing and this was the race where we realized that
maybe we should buy a Porsche. That was when he came to me and said we’ll do
whatever it takes to win. I just wish it hadn’t taken so long. I knew we
could do it. Mike’s father came to me then and said ‘we’re going to win this
son of a gun, no matter what it takes.’ That has driven me. Even though he
couldn’t be here to share it, he’s still here with us. He drove a lot of
this success we are celebrating tonight.”

 

Jörg Bergmeister, driver: “It couldn’t be any better. Coming to Petersen/
White Lightning and doing it on the first try with this team. The team did
an awesome job all year long. It’s just amazing. We got most race victories.
We always had a really, really good car. I think we deserved it.  The first
win at Sebring, three in a row at Petit, the championships and it always is
perfect to end the season with a win. It makes it extra sweet.”

 

Patrick Long, driver: “I want to thank Mike, Dale, Stefan, Dennis, Nico,
Sam, Drew, Troy, Ethan, Joey, Brian and Tom. Those are the guys! How much
sweeter could it be to win four in a row, five for the year, more than
anyone else and go out winning? We didn’t need to win today but we stuck to
our plan. We always talk about winning every race and that’s what kind of
effort you need to put forward to win championships. We were out to prove
that our outlook on races can win championships. Strategy was the biggest
part of this win today and that is a big thanks to Dale. He had it nailed
from the beginning. Jörg put in an awesome middle stint and the guys had
awesome stops. It was a tough start for me because I wanted to be a part of
the battle that was upfront but I needed to keep a clean nose. That was our
motto; go fast and win but come back with no bruises on the car. We stuck to
that plan. I don’t know how it could be any sweeter than this. It’s a
fairytale ending to an awesome, awesome year. The small fish got the last
word. We were the underdogs. We were the hunters and we hunted and came out
on top. It was a very fulfilling year. I believed in myself and I knew that
if I had the right team and the right teammate, things were going to come to
reality. This team, and my teammate Jörg, helped me remove any doubt.”

 

More on Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing can be found at
<http://www.petersenmotorsports.com/> www.PetersenMotorsports.com. Learn
more about Porsche at  <http://www.porsche.com/> www.Porsche.com.