Flying Lizard Returns to Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – Speedway Digest

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

The history of North American racing cannot be written without Flying Lizard Motorsports. His IMSA legacy dates back 20 years to the era of the American Le Mans Series and his current program spans across the pads of IMSA and SRO America.

However, it has not started an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship of any kind since the 2016 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, a joint effort with Krohn Racing, and the Audi R8 LMS Ultra.

That will change with next week’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, when the Lizards will field the No. 28 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo with drivers Elias Sabo and Andy Lee in GT Daytona (GTD).

It will mark Sabo and Lee’s WeatherTech Championship debuts, but it’s also a welcome return for the Lizards in Long Beach and for its program manager Darren Law.

Sabo, who joined the Flying Lizard team in 2022, has continued his motorsport career first in GT4 machines and then this year to GT3. The Southern California native had this race circled as a career “bucket list” item, and as Law explained, the stars were aligned for what is, for now, a one-time WeatherTech Championship race.

“It’s close to home and something he’s always wanted to do,” Law said. “One of his companies, 5.11, is in Southern California. There are rooms, corporate staff, lots of guests and a new GT3 car, so it all worked out!

“It’s a very big project for one race, but that’s the commitment we’ve shown for this effort. You have to choose IMSA things like electronics, series monitoring and different tires.

“But it’s important to Elias as a home run,” Law continued. “And it is important for us where it is to return home from the American Le Mans Series the day to return to IMSA!”

Law joked that while he couldn’t remember what he did earlier in the week, he could easily recall the runner-up car he drove with Patrick Long at Long Beach in the Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in 2007.

The Lizard’s current activities are more busy. The Long Beach weekend comes at the end of a whirlwind season in which the team prepared its four Lamborghini Super Trofeo North American cars for the season opener at Sebring last month where they took a win, two additional podiums and two pole positions, as well. his five SRO cars for the season opener at Sonoma Raceway earlier this month.

There is another big project that includes the off season. The team is in the process of moving from its Sonoma shop where it operated for 20 years to the Apex Motor Club in Phoenix, where it should be operating in late April. As far as Law is concerned, that’s just as much work — if not more — than traditional preseason.

“You don’t realize how much comes with 20 years of loading and unloading a store until you do it,” he said. “You also have no idea how many boxes you need to get the loot!”

In the efforts of 11 full-season and two IMSA full-season teams, they earned six championships, 69 podiums, and 25 race wins.

Although it moved from a factory-backed effort to a customer initiative in the last decade, its presence at the front of the field is expected whenever it competes.

That’s the legacy that the Lizards established during their time in the WeatherTech Championship, through their previous styles. In Long Beach in particular, the team won twice with Porsches and added other successes in other series in later years since its recent start in 2019.

For Law, Sabo and Lee in Long Beach, the goal is a little different: make laps first, experience later, and have fun which is one of the highlights of the calendar.

“Elias has a simulator, so he’s spent some time running the track and learning,” Law said. “He has Andy as his coach and I’m very happy to help as well; I’ve done Long Beach many times in the past.

“Our goal is that this is his first time entering IMSA, so he is to enjoy the race, experience it and complete it. If we have good results, that’s an added bonus.

“Long Beach as an event is great. I grew up in Southern California and I’ve been going here since I was a kid. And I still make friends on the weekends.

“For a driver, it’s a bucket list and a great event to do. I loved racing there. It’s really neat for us to be able to do that.”

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is a 100-minute race featuring the GTD and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) classes. USA Network and Peacock will broadcast live flag-to-flag from 4:30-6:30 pm ET on Saturday, April 20.

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