Porsche 100th victory at the American Le Mans Series

Porsche claimed its 100th victory in the American Le Mans Series at the event’s 2009 season finale in Laguna Seca, California. Porshe works’ German driver Joerg Bergmeister and north-American driver Patrick Long ran a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to first place at the championship, while also accomplishing a GT2 class win as well. Supported by Flying Lizard Motorsports, Bergmeister and Long built up a very secure advantage over their strongest competitors, Ferrari and BMW, by winning five consecutive races. Flying Lizard Motorsports accepted the championship honours all the while Porsche collected the manufacturers’ title as well.

After this victory, Joerg Bergmeister became the second most successful American Le Mans driver, for his collected his fourth championship title. Previous victories for Bergmeister took place in the 2005, 2006 and 2008 seasons. For Patrick Long this was his second winning title at this championship, after having won at the 2005 season, which he justifies by stating that their team was “the most consistent [one]” and also the one that “made the least mistakes”. Long adds: “We experienced a couple of difficult races but remained cool. That was the key to our success.”