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LONG: A Dream Run From Daytona to Sebring
He's the youngest American to win Le Mans, Daytona, Sebring, and Petit Le Mans. Pat Long joins SPEEDtv.com for 2009 - read his first column.
Patrick Long  | http://www.patricklong.com  |  Posted February 04, 2009   Clearwater Beach, FL
Pat Long has been a part of the Porsche factory for years, with stints in ALMS LMP2, GT2, in Grand-Am in DP and GT, and has won twice for the German marque at Le Mans. (Porsche)


American Porsche factory driver Patrick Long joins SPEEDtv.com for 2009 as a feature columnist. The youngest American to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and Petit Le Mans, Long's incredible driving talent is only matched by his sharp and insightful writing skills. Look for regular columns from Pat this year as he takes you inside his life as a premier international sportscar driver.

Hi everyone. I’m finally opening my computer for the first time in a week, sitting in the Lufthansa lounge at Orlando’s airport, capping off a pretty intense week of racing and testing. Today’s project was a tire test for IMSA, and in what seems to be the theme of the week, I did LOTS of laps. Really and truly, when it rains, it pours.

The Rolex 24

Winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona was absolutely incredible, and one of the most memorable races in my career. I’ve had the good fortune to have success early in my career, having won at Le Mans, Sebring and Petit Le Mans, and the thought had crossed my mind that Daytona might be the one that always eluded me. It was very special to win there, and to do it with my close friend and 2009 teammate Jörg Bergmeister made it all the better.

After all the chaos and pressure of Daytona, I woke up at 5am on Monday, drove to Sebring and got straight into 4 days of testing with Flying Lizard at the ALMS Winter Test and for Porsche’s IMSA Cup efforts.

Emotions
Long added a win at Daytona last month with Porsche and TRG to his already impressive resume. (Marshall Pruett)

At the moment, the main thing I feel is fatigue. To some extent, winning the Rolex 24 hasn’t really set in yet, but the emotional high of winning the race and being in such a cool program for 2009 is really enjoyable. The work is really going to begin now – from Sebring, I’m flying to Stuttgart, Germany for dinner with Mr. Hartmut Kristen, the head of all of Porsche’s motorsport activities, then I’m off to fitness camp for 10 days, in the Canary Islands. After last year and the chaos of testing and racing all month, 10 days of intense exercise and training sounds really relaxing and inviting! It’d be easy to sit back and complain about stress and my schedule, but I’ve got nothing but positive vibes and praise for the opportunity. I’m a lucky guy.

Flying Lizard

The team at Flying Lizard Motorsports is awesome. The combination of friends and top-level professionals is a fusion that is unchallenged with this group. That was really on display in Sebring this week – Jörg and I showed up Monday morning and while it was friendly, it was straight into business the moment we got there. Our objective at the winter test was to put our new horse through its paces and establish a baseline for the 12 Hour race. The 2009 Porsche GT3 RSR is quite a bit different from the 2008 model, mainly because we have some new rules to abide by from the ACO and IMSA. We have a new 4-liter engine, as well as strict regulations on restrictor size and minimum ride height. The effect of a higher minimum ride height means we have to start from absolute ground zero in regards to setup, so we used the test to come to terms with all of that. My expectations have been exceeded with the Lizards and the professionalism of the team adds to my excitement, driving with Jörg in the #45.

Competition
Pat followed up his Rolex 24 victory with a test with Flying Lizards the following morning at Sebring. The life of a factory driver includes very little rest... (Marshall Pruett)

Our hands will most definitely be full with the competition in the GT2 class this year. I’ve gone on record as saying that this year’s GT2 class is going to be the most competitive in the ALMS’ history, for whatever my opinion’s worth. We’re going to have strong competition from the sister Porsche in Farnbacher Loles, Ferrari’s going to be strong as always, and the new BMW will be stiff competition. When Corvette comes to race after Le Mans, it’s going to be fireworks.
All that said, when you’re confident with the equipment that’s under you and you’re having fun, I believe those are the ingredients for winning championships. I guess that you can hear in my tone that I’m in a pretty good place spiritually, and looking forward to the season.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, SPEED, FOX, or NewsCorp.

Patrick Long is the only American factory driver racing for Porsche, having joined Porsche in 2003 as a Junior Driver. After starting his career with Porsche racing in the German and British Carrera Cups and Michelin Supercup, he made his professional racing debut in 2003 at Petit Le Mans.

Patrick is the youngest-ever American winner of the four "classics" of endurance racing - the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Rolex 24 At Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans. He has had ample early success in his career, including winning the 2005 ALMS GT2 Championship, 9 ALMS races in the GT2 and LMP2 classes, and holds the GT2 track record at Le Mans.

Patrick's laid-back Southern California attitude and European racing education make him unique in the sportscar racing world. Conversationally fluent in five languages, Patrick is as at home surfing the point breaks of Malibu as he is speaking in French at Le Mans. Currently residing in the Clearwater Beach, FL area, his childhood loves of motocross racing and car culture have flourished as a result of his job and partnerships with Troy Lee Designs, Oakley, Wheel Enhancement and Shock Doctor.

Learn more about Pat at: http://www.PatrickLong.com and about Porsche at http://www.Porsche.com
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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