LIZARD’S LAW: A Busy Yet Successful Month of Racing

The month of April was one of the busiest months we have ever had at Flying Lizard Motorsports. It provided many logistical challenges because we raced multiple back-to-back weekends in multiple race series.

During the month of April, we raced the USAC Porsche Sprint Challenge North America, Pirelli GT4 America, GT America powered by AWS, and Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America with IMSA.

We also tested at Sonoma Raceway multiple times, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and at the new Ozarks International Raceway facility.

We had cars that were delivered late, travel challenges, and long hours of preparation. We raced three different brands of cars with Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and three different models of Porsches.

We had a total of six semi-trucks on the road, and to be able to come away with multiple wins, podiums, and pole qualifying positions with minimal damage makes it all worth it! That said, I have no doubt everyone would like a little break!

Our month started off at Laguna Seca with the USAC Porsche Sprint Challenge, it was a busy weekend with a total of five cars racing in three different classes.

This was the second race of the season for the Porsche series, and we had great results with podiums and wins in 992 GT3 Cup, 991 GT3 Cup, and the Cayman GT4 class. Not only did we have success during the races, but we left the event leading the points and with cars in good condition.

After Laguna Seca, I traveled to the Grand Prix of Long Beach where I was a guest of our Lamborghini Super Trofeo partner Lamborghini Newport beach.

It felt so strange to be a spectator at a race event, but it was great to spend time with the owner and guests of the dealership at their suite catch up with some old friends and colleagues in IMSA before immediately heading straight to Laguna Seca (again) for our first test with our new Lamborghini Super Trofeo cars.

The next event, which was the following weekend, was just up the road at Sonoma Raceway, our home track. It makes for a long month having back-to-back programs, but it was also nice having each event so close in location that I could drive to each of them.

Sonoma was a busy weekend because we had the third race of the season with the USAC Porsche Sprint Challenge, and the weekend also included the debut our Aston Martin GT4 cars of Elias Sabo and Andy Lee and a welcome return to Aston Martin.

We again had success in the USAC Porsche Sprint Challenge with four wins and seven podiums, allowing us to maintain our lead in the championship in multiple classes.

One factor that has created a big challenge across our programs, as well as that of our competitors, is the global supply chain issues. This has put a lot of strain on the industry as far as being able to get parts as well as cars delivered on time.

This is not limited to one manufacturer; we have seen challenges with all of the cars we run and this was the case for us before the SRO America Sonoma race weekend. Parts were in short supply, cars were late to arrive, and the team had to put in a lot of long hours in the days leading up to that weekend.

We finished the races on Saturday with a podium for Elias and Andy on the first race event together which was the highlight of the weekend. Unfortunately, we had some on track contact on Sunday that took us out of the final event but luckily, we have some time before the next event.

We closed out the month with two more events, one of which was a trip to the new Ozarks facility with USAC Porsche Sprint Challenge.

This weekend was specifically just for our Cayman GT4 cars. It is amazing to see what one person was able to do with his dream and vision of owning and building a track. The drivers said it was a very challenging and unique circuit. We had a good finish in race one, winning the class for the Western division but we did not get a chance to race the second race due to weather.

The final event of the month and our third Laguna Seca Visit in April (again this is not a bad thing) was with Lamborghini Super Trofeo during the IMSA weekend.

This was a debut weekend for us with brand new cars. Lamborghini Newport Beach brought out over 25 guests to the race weekend, and we were happy to have a great debut for them.

The level of competition in this series and the effort Lamborghini puts on is amazing and we came away with a win in the final event for one of our drivers, Slade Stewart, in the LB Cup class, by our now fan-favorite pink unicorn Lamborghini.

It was more than busy, and the team was pushed to the limit, but it shows the level of commitment and organization we have.

It takes a lot to be able to not only just compete in so many events with several different manufacturers, but to come away with the results we did says a lot about the people that work for us and the drivers we have in our team. None of us got to spend much time with our immediate family at home but with the amount of time we spend together as a team it is like a second family.

We are starting the month of May with the USAC Porsche Sprint Challenge series as a support race for the Miami Formula 1 event with our driver Chris Bellomo in the 992 GT3 Cup class. I have not been to an F1 event in several years and look forward to the debut weekend in Miami, I may even spend a little time being a spectator once again!