Local endurance racing team gets final jewel of triple crown

Monday, March 21, 2005 | 8:54 a.m.

Las Vegas-based Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing scored a convincing victory in the GT2 class at the 53rd annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and earned the third jewel in endurance racing's coveted Triple Crown.

Germany's Jorg Bergmeister, Las Vegan Patrick Long and Monaco's Lucas Luhr piloted the team's Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to a 7-lap victory in America's oldest sports-car race and gave Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing wins in three of the most prestigious endurance races -- the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2003 and 2004), the 24 Hours at Daytona (2001) and Sebring.

Bergmeister, Long and Luhr started the race from the pole after rain washed out qualifying and never fell lower than third place despite suffering a broken shock absorber in the third hour and a malfunctioning radio throughout the race. The team regained the lead in their class shortly before the start of the fourth hour and stayed out front for the remainder of the event.

"To start the 2005 season off with a victory in Sebring is huge," team owner Michael Petersen said. "We had problems several hours in, but the guys did a fantastic job of keeping the car out front. I can't thank the guys on the crew enough and the drivers, too. As for the Triple Crown, we still have some unfinished business: The 10-hour Petit Le Mans is still a notch we want to achieve.

"To win the 24 Hours of Daytona with Lucas and to win the 12 Hours with Lucas, Pat and Jorg and to win Le Mans with Jorg and Patrick and Sascha (Maassen), what can I say? This is an incredible feeling. Most teams will never be able to experience it; it is a big deal to me and I am just honored to have achieved this."

The grueling event took its toll on the GT2 field as only 7 of the 17 starters finished the race. The Atlanta-based J3 Racing Porsche finished second in class and the Sonoma, Calif.-based Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche was third in GT2.

"I can't say enough about the team and the drivers," Petersen Motorsports/ White Lightning Racing team manager Dale White said. "We had a plan from the start and we stuck to it. We took advantage of some problems that a few other cars had, but we were there to do that. That's a big part of endurance racing; you have to be there at the finish to win.

"Mike and I went sports car racing about ten years ago for fun, to get away from the business of off-road racing, and here we are. It is a little hard to believe at times. This is a really big deal to us and we're going to enjoy it -- we aren't going to rest on it, but we're going to enjoy it."

During its years in off-road racing, the team scored more than 50 victories in the deserts of Southern Nevada and Mexico.