Flying Lizard Porsche won its fourth straight race at Lime Rock. Photo credit: Rick Dole for Michelin North America

Porsche swept the GT classes at Saturday’s Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. Flying Lizard Motorsports added to a pair of streaks they had going into the race, as the team won its fourth straight in the GT class at the circuit and one of the winning No. 45’s co-drivers, Joerg Bergmeister, took his fifth straight here. The next one here will run onto his second hand.

Patrick Long did most of the work on the day after both starting and finishing the race while Bergmeister handled the middle stint. They led early but were among the first to pit on lap 15 under one of the yellow flags. After running behind the two Rahal Letterman BMWs which had vaulted to first and second in class, Long retook the lead on the final round of stops and emerged ahead.

“I felt like I was swimming with sharks and I had a bloody foot. That’s Lime Rock,” Long said. “Our strategy went from eighth to third in a matter of minutes. There aren’t a lot of straights to keep in front of the BMWs. The Michelin tires for this race were incredible. They put together such a great technical tire.”

Like in LMP, Long survived his competitors’ constant pressure without losing the lead. The BMWs stayed close and while they were never able to make a full run at a pass, were often within a few tenths each time. The No. 92 of Bill Auberlen and Tommy Milner finished ahead of the No. 90 driven by Dirk Mueller and Joey Hand. Although BMW has not won a race this season, it still leads the manufacturer’s championship and has placed a car on the podium in each of the first five races.

Risi Ferrari got one car home with the nominees for “best supporting actors,” the No. 61 “rosso red” F430 GT driven by Pierre Kaffer and Mika Salo to a fourth place finish. Risi also scored its first win in the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge for GT, in the team’s second race running on Cellulosic E85 ethanol.

Kaffer avoided some of the early calamities that took out some of the other GT contenders early. The team’s No. 62 was eliminated early after the Ferrari and the No. 3 Corvette made contact into Turn 1. At the same point, the No. 40 Robertson Doran Ford GT and No. 75 Jaguar also suffered some damage.

Corvette lost the No. 3 soon after in an accident at Turn 1. The team managed to get one of its cars home with the No. 4 of Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin in fifth.

GTC, devoid of the No. 80 and No. 81 Alex Job Racing Porsches, had a new winner with the No. 63 TRG car of Andy Lally and Henri Richard securing their first victory of the season. In its search for a third straight win, Black Swan Racing came up just short in second with Tim Pappas and Jeroen Bleekemolen.