Flying Lizard Makes Long Awaited Return to IMSA at Long Beach Grand Prix

Flying Lizard Motorsports will make its highly-anticipated return to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the prestigious Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, April 20th. Elias Sabo and Andy Lee will compete in the GTD class, piloting the No. 28 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 on the downtown street circuit.

A local to the Long Beach, California area, Sabo has long wanted to race in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event in front of his home crowd. Sponsored by 5.11 Tactical, the No. 28 Aston Martin livery will be orange and black, sporting the same look the entry carries in the SRO Fanatec GT World Challenge America series. 

“I couldn’t be more excited to be driving in the Long Beach Grand Prix this year,” said Sabo, a resident of Newport Beach. “This race is at my home track. It’s so exciting to be able to compete in front of a number of my friends and family who will be in attendance. Andy and I had originally entered the race in 2020 but it was canceled due to Covid. Now four years later we get a chance to compete in a bucket list race for me.”

The one-off return to IMSA is a full-circle moment as Flying Lizard Motorsports celebrates its 20th anniversary. The now 24-time sports car racing championship program started racing in IMSA’s American Le Mans Series in 2004, quickly becoming a fan-favorite with the now-iconic red and silver livery, one that only adored Porsches for the team’s first decade of racing. Originally based in Sonoma, California, the operation became a factory-supported effort in 2007, partnering with Porsche Motorsport North America for six years. The iconic duo of Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long became synonymous with Flying Lizard, as did other legendary names such as Johannes van Overbeek, Wolf Henzler, Patrick Pilet, Richard Lietz, Nick Tandy, and Mike Rockenfeller, to name a few. In the team’s eleven full-season and two partial-season IMSA efforts, they earned six championship titles, 69 podiums, and 25 race wins. The team represented the American Le Mans Series at the 24 Hours of Le Mans eight times, earning one podium and an additional three top-five finishes. 

In 2014, the Lizards became a customer racing team after owner and founder Seth Neiman sold the team to longtime Lizards Darren Law, Thomas Blam, and Tommy Sadler. In the years under their ownership, the team has expanded to race Audi, Aston Martin, Bentley, Lamborghini, Nissan, and McLaren cars all over North America and Europe, earning an additional 18 professional racing championships, now boasting a history with 140 wins to date.

The team has been a staple under the SRO America umbrella, where Sabo and Lee have made great strides and fought for championship titles in the GT America and GT4 America series. This year, they have stepped up into GT3 racing, recently opening the 2024 season at Sonoma Raceway.

“From the moment I started working with Elias, Long Beach was always a huge goal for us,” said Andy Lee. “It’s basically Elias’ hometown race since it’s so close to his business and family. We came close to competing in 2020 in the GT4 division before the event was cancelled during the pandemic. I can’t tell you how excited we are for the opportunity to compete this year and to do so in the IMSA WeatherTech GTD class is extra special.”