okay what does this mean?

[cameraman]

Flying Lizard Statement on Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Transition Announcement

October 26, 2012 – Seth Neiman, Flying Lizard team principal: "I and the entire Flying Lizard family would like to thank Porsche for their support and partnership over the last nine years. Together we have worked hard and have learned to rely on each other in critical moments, of which there have been many throughout our 100 races and multiple GT championships. Joerg Bergmeister, Patrick Long, Hartmut Kristen, Jens Walther, Uwe Brettel, Alwin Springer, Roland Kussmaul, Hans-Georg Breuer, Wolf Henzler, Patrick Pilet, Marc Lieb and many others at Porsche get our special thanks, along with the numerous Porsche employees and affiliates in Germany, Atlanta and Southern California who have been an integral part of our team, and with whom we have become close friends. Flying Lizard remains committed to sports car racing, and we look forward to announcing details of our 2013 racing program later this year."

Transition to what? Racing program with whom?
:confused:

[extramundane]

There are rumors of a change in manufacturer. It's not like the Porsche has been the best GT car over the last few years, but it's surprising given their status as *the* North American Porsche team.

Edit: Yep. Porsche Presser (http://www.sportssystems.com/novell/efx/email/filehost/AD176.pdf)


In North America, the development partner helping to design, engineer and
implement improvements in the current 911 RSR race car has been Flying
Lizard Motorsports in the GT class of the ALMS. This partnership now is
discontinued.

[Gnam]

totally not excellent.

Hard to picture them with another manufacturer. Flying Lizard Ferrari just sounds wrong.

[Andrew Longman]

totally not excellent.

Hard to picture them with another manufacturer. Flying Lizard Ferrari just sounds wrong.
This.

And hard to imagine Porsche with another team as their #1.

Hmmmm

[cameraman]

Here is the whole Porsche presser

Porsche Motorsport Development Activity to Transition to Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (type 991) Starting in 2013

Stuttgart, Germany/Santa Ana, Calif. – October 26 --With a new race car based on the new, seventh-generation Porsche 911 (type 991) street car on the horizon, Porsche Motorsport has announced it will wind down its development program for the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (type 997) – a very successful venture which began in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in 2005.

Hartmut Kristen, head of Porsche Motorsport worldwide, in making the announcement, explained that the current 911 race car will reach the end of its product cycle, and, while support will continue for customer teams, further new component development will be discontinued in favor of resources devoted to the all-new car.

“Just like our recent Porsche RS Spyder program, we must appreciate the success of our race cars during their product cycle, but move on to new models when it is time to do so. The venerable Porsche 911 GT3 RSR has provided our Porsche customer teams with numerous wins and championships, and will remain competitive in 2013. Porsche will support the customer teams which continue to race that car, but the time has come and we now must focus our research and engineering development efforts on its successor,” said Mr. Kristen.

“The new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR is slated to make its North American debut in 2014,” said Kristen.

In North America, the development partner helping to design, engineer and implement improvements in the current 911 RSR race car has been Flying Lizard Motorsports in the GT class of the ALMS. This partnership now is discontinued.

Jens Walther, president of Porsche Motorsport North America, was quick to point out that customer teams still wishing to run the current 911 race car will be able to continue to do so in the American Le Mans Series with full at-the- track engineering and parts support. PMNA shop service from Porsche will also continue in 2013.

“We will be at the track with our usual support for 2013, and some of our current customer teams have already committed to run the 911 GT3 RSR (type 997) next year. Each of the current teams will be announcing their plans as we get closer to the ALMS Winter Test in February,” he said.

Walther also pointed out that the Flying Lizards have been a terrific development partner since they took on the role with Porsche Motorsport in 2007.

“Team owner Seth Neiman and his entire Flying Lizard Motorsports organization have helped both Porsche Motorsport and all our customer teams around the world by being our development partner in the U.S. Together we have won multiple championships in the ALMS. The team has assisted in testing everything from new engines and transmissions to the latest aero package we introduced earlier this year – all to improve the car for everyone. In the midst of all that, they won three straight ALMS GT championships in the most competitive class in sports car racing. We thank Seth and his team for that service, and hope their racing plans going forward continue to include Porsche,” Walther said.

“It’s impressive how the 911 GT3 RSR has developed from year to year. The lap times alone are astounding, because despite the restrictions imposed on us again and again by the regulations, the car just got faster every year,” says Porsche works driver Joerg Bergmeister, who has celebrated the majority of his successes at the wheel of the 911 GT3 RSR.

[extramundane]

Patrick Long ‏@pLmotorsport
Don't panic, its not as bad as you may assume. #lizards

Seems like a lot of wasted breath if they're just moving from factory to customer team, but what do I know.

[G.]

Note to teams: if I start buying your swag, start worrying. :\

[Anteater]

Pretty funny, G.! I finally broke down and bought an ALMS shirt at Laguna Seca in May, and look how that's turned out. :\

[Agip27]

Look it's simple. It's stupid for Porsche to have 'factory' teams when other manufactures are selling GT cars now. Why should a Porsche customers compete against the 'factory' Porsche team? Who is going to buy a Porsche and race in ALMS or Grand-Am, if they already know they wont beat the 'factory' Porsches? You have to realize that in the past Ferrari didn't sell GT cars, Chevy didn't sell it's Corvette in America, and neither did BMW. Things have changed now, you could buy a GT Ferrari and race ALMS or Grand-Am if you want to (AIM & Scott Sharp's team). Ferrari aren't supporting Risi anymore either. Bottom line is this; don't race against your customers, help them win!

Porsche did the same thing with the 962 (stopping the Rothmans program) once other manufactures started selling Group C cars. For Porsche their philosophy was; don't race against your customers, help them beat the Jag's, Nissan's, Spice, Toyota's etc.

A lot of the guys racing LMPC would be racing Porsche's if they had a level playing field. Porsche want to sell race cars , so by cutting out the so called factory supported teams it will increase their sales. Because, in 2011-2012 customers could go elsewhere (Ferrari, etc), not like 10 years ago, where Porsche's were all you could get....:thumbup:

[extramundane]

Who is going to buy a Porsche and race in ALMS or Grand-Am, if they already know they wont beat the 'factory' Porsches?

Falken beat the 'factory' Porsche team on a fairly regular basis. I think the better question is who is going to buy a Porsche and race in ALMS if they already know they won't beat the Ferraris, Corvettes and BMWs on a regular basis?

[Agip27]

Falken also make tires especially made for each track.....:D

[cameraman]

Flying Lizard Motorsports announced today that the team will run the No. 44 Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car in the American Le Mans Series GTC class in 2013 with drivers Seth Neiman and Spencer Pumpelly. In addition, for the first time in its history, Flying Lizard is introducing a customer program for Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. Team manager Eric Ingraham explained, "We're excited to race in GTC in 2013. Moving to GTC also gives us the opportunity to share our Porsche experience with customers who want to race professionally in either the ALMS GTC or IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge series."

[NismoZ]

So, they're moving UP to GTC? Just biding time (and saving $$) until the new rules are clarified? (am wondering what a fleet of GTC Corvettes, BMWs and Ferraris would look like. Bet the grids would be larger!)