Flying Lizard Celebrates First Podium with Tait at Road America
ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin. (August 7, 2023) – Flying Lizard Motorsports once again closed out a Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America race weekend with a pair of podium finishes, continuing to build on the team’s historic legacy. The weekend at the fan-favorite Road America road course concluded with driver Tom Tait celebrating a third-place finish in Lamborghini Super Trofeo in front of a record-breaking crowd, his first podium result in the series. Chris Bellomo and Johannes van Overbeek also drove to a second-place finish on Saturday afternoon, gaining valuable points in their quest for the championship.
“All of the cars performed well this weekend,” said Program Manager Darren Law. “It was great to see Andy Lee secure pole for race one and then also to have cars on the podium with Johannes and Chris in second for race one and Tom Tait getting his first podium of the year in race two. We are continually working on what it takes to engineer these Lamborghini Super Trofeo cars and look forward to VIR in just a couple of weeks.”
Race One
Andy Lee and the No. 14 pink unicorn Lamborghini started race one from pole position in the Pro/Am class, his first pole of the 2023 race season. The No. 41 of Marc Miller started from sixth, with Johannes van Overbeek and the No. 68 right behind in seventh. In the Am class, the No. 64 of Tom Tait started eighth in the Am class, after missing the two previous rounds at Watkins Glen International. Lee slid into second place at the start, as the No. 96 of Billy Johnson took the lead in the opening lap. Miller advanced up a spot to run in the top five before Tait’s car slid off the track after running across fluid on the circuit surface. Ultimately, Tait had to retire early. Round five went back to green 20 minutes into the race, and the ten-minute mandatory pit window opened. Van Overbeek climbed to sixth place and the team of the No. 68 opted to bring the car in for the required stop early in the window, a move that would benefit him and co-driver Chris Bellomo. Bellomo took over, and a full course caution paused the chase for 16 minutes. Due to the pits being closed during the caution, the second-place No. 14 and the third-place No. 41 were unable to pit until the race returned to green and the pit window re-opened. The pit procedure resulted in a hoard of cars pitting with just a handful of laps complete, shuffling the race order to benefit those that pitted before the caution. With pit stops complete, Chris Bellomo joined the race in fourth place, and the duo worked their way up to second place at the finish. Together with van Overbeek, Bellomo celebrated the car’s second podium finish of the season and the fourth for Flying Lizard Motorsports. Paul Nemschoff and Marc Miller finished fifth in the Pro/Am class, with teammates Slade Stewart and Andy Lee in seventh.
Race Two
The No. 14 pink Lamborghini once again led the team charge at the start of race two, with Slade Stewart taking the green flag from fourth place with the No. 68 of Chris Bellomo behind in fifth place. Paul Nemschoff and the No. 41 began the final run from seventh in the Pro/Am class and Tom Tait and the green and black No. 64 entry rounded out the group in ninth. The field spread out early on, creating minimal passing opportunities for the Lizard squad. Stewart and Bellomo pitted early into the 10-minute mandatory window, allowing Lee and van Overbeek to drive to the finish. Nemscoff and Tait pitted in the final five minutes, ready to get the second half of the race underway. Tait rejoined in seventh, gaining two spots since his start, while his co-drivers continued to race in their starting positions. The race turned his way with 14 minutes remaining when contact between several cars brought out the first of two late-race cautions The caution brought the field back together, positioning Tait and the rest of the Am class to have a competitive battle to the end. That competitive spirit led to a multi-car incident as the field roared into turn one, and Tait masterfully maneuvered through the calamity, driving to a well-earned third-place finish. Stewart, Lee, Bellomo, and van Overbeek once again earned top-five results, with Nemschoff and Miller closing out their home race weekend in seventh.
Next Up:
The Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series next races at VIRginia International Raceway, the fourth double header racing weekend of the six-race United States races on the 2023 schedule. The four Flying Lizard Lamborghinis will once again race in support of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar championship, August 25-27. For event information, visit lizardms.com.
2023 Race Schedule
May 12-14, 2023
Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
Salinas, California
June 22-25, 2023
Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America
Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen, New York
August 4-5, 2023
Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America
Road America
Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
August 25-27, 2023
Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America
VIRginia International Raceway
Alton, Virginia
September 15-17, 2023
Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis, Indiana
November 16-17, 2023
Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America
Autodromo Vallelunga Piero Taruffi
Campagnano di Roma, Italy
