Flying Lizard Motorsports delivered a flawless, trouble-free drive in this past weekend’s USAF 25 Hours of Thunderhill, in what was the team’s return to the race for the first time in several years and its race debut with Toyo Tires, which had been in development throughout the year.
You can say that the FIA GT3-spec car, an Audi R8 LMS matched up against a cornucopia of variety in Radicals, other prototypes and older GT cars, was clearly the most reliable and most advanced car in the field, if not the outright fastest.
And you can also say that with an all-star, all-pro four-driver lineup of team program manager Darren Law and fellow past Flying Lizard drivers Johannes van Overbeek, Guy Cosmo and Tomonobu Fujii they had arguably one of the best, if not the outright best, lineups in the field.
Still, you have to go out and do the thing over the course of 25 hours, at a track with wide-open space, occasionally arbitrary noise restrictions, intermittent and occasionally heavy rain and consistently crazy wide speed differentials between the six classes.
The Lizards did that and won by a whopping 35 laps over their competitors, in a flawless performance. The car completed just south of 2,000 miles (1,973) in 690 laps.
“What an amazing event. This was the first official race we have entered since we began our relationship with Toyo Tires,” Law said.
“We spent this entire season working with Toyo on the development of their racing slick and the tires were phenomenal all race; we had no issues. Obviously doing a race like this isn’t anything new for Flying Lizard Motorsports, so with a good driver lineup and good race execution, we brought the car home in perfect condition.”
Here’s some win tweets:
And with that, the @ToyoTires Flying LizRd @audi wins the @nasaproracing #25HoursofThunderhill by 36 laps! pic.twitter.com/Mixt5FeFFA
— Flying Lizard Motorsports (@FlyingLizard_MS) December 6, 2015
An endurance win highlighted the #Audi Sport customer racing teams’ weekend https://t.co/eYcwcZX0zQ #AudiSport #GT3 pic.twitter.com/qZ42r7Pjbb
— Audi Sport (@audisport) December 7, 2015
Thank you to our drivers, @DLaw544 @GuyCosmo @tomonobufujii and @JohannesvanOver! What a line up. These guys killed it! Pros all around!
— Flying Lizard Motorsports (@FlyingLizard_MS) December 7, 2015
Round of applause to our engineers & crew, who never complained, sat though the pouring rain, gave us a perfect @Audi and speedy pit stops!
— Flying Lizard Motorsports (@FlyingLizard_MS) December 7, 2015
A BIG thanks to our partner @ToyoTires. Wow. Not one tire issue all race. For a first race after a year of development, that's a success!
— Flying Lizard Motorsports (@FlyingLizard_MS) December 7, 2015
And lastly, thanks to our fans from all over the world! We couldn't believe how many of you followed along. Blown away by the support!
— Flying Lizard Motorsports (@FlyingLizard_MS) December 7, 2015
Meanwhile, here were some of the other Thunderhill tweets of note from the race:
An air hose came loose in our pits,the noise scared the team next to us. One guy fell running and broke his foot from tht team.We are DQ'ed.
— Sean Rayhall (@seanrayhall) December 6, 2015
Do to tht.Bit frustrated because @OneMotorsports worked hard all week and gave us a great car.Fortunate to be a part of such a great effort.
— Sean Rayhall (@seanrayhall) December 6, 2015
Car to beat will likely be the Flying Lizard R8 GT3. It's quick, reliable and filled with pro drivers. #25hrsofthunderhill
— Alex Lloyd (@alex_lloyd) December 5, 2015
So bad day for us so far, but at least we can take comfort in the fact that Kim and Kanye had their baby!!!
— Alex Lloyd (@alex_lloyd) December 5, 2015
Remember I said the Lizard's R8 would be the car to beat? Yea, they're 23 laps up and every other fast car has broken.
— Alex Lloyd (@alex_lloyd) December 6, 2015
Headed to the pits to take over from @AlUnserJr! How crazy is that sentence? Rain is light but steady. Should be fun as the sun rises!
— Ryan Eversley (@RyanEversley) December 6, 2015
Sad to not finish this years #25hrsofthunderhill but MAJOR thank you @JFCRacing and @HondaRacing_HPD for everything! pic.twitter.com/vdm7wHdAAG
— Ryan Eversley (@RyanEversley) December 6, 2015
A few shots from the weekend at the #25hrsofthunderhill! @JFCRacing Photos by @DougBergerPDX pic.twitter.com/sIvDY4Txv3
— Ryan Eversley (@RyanEversley) December 7, 2015
Cool tradition at the #25hrsofthunderhill The teams line the pit wall for the last lap! pic.twitter.com/w4zubJRBJx
— Ryan Eversley (@RyanEversley) December 6, 2015
ECU issues ended our weekend early. Thankful for the opportunity! The @RaceWerkz1 BMW was bad ass fast! pic.twitter.com/PlqqwCw0TS
— Josh Bilicki (@joshbilicki) December 6, 2015
Here are the finish line shots of the #MazdaAtThe25 in the debut race for the @GlobalMX5Cup. #LongLiveTheRoadster pic.twitter.com/7K8YtitgHa
— Mazda Motorsports (@MazdaRacing) December 7, 2015
A few more looks at the #ThunderHill25 with Mazda. It was the @GlobalMX5Cup racing debut. #MazdaAtThe25 pic.twitter.com/LXWj6AYkve
— Mazda Motorsports (@MazdaRacing) December 7, 2015