page_title: Flying Lizard Motorsports
section_title: Toyo Tires (2015-Present)
hierarchical_section_title: Flying Lizard Motorsports / Racing History / Development Programs / Toyo Tires (2015-Present)
caption_attribution_description: English: The 25 Hours of Thunderhill race winning #74 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Johannes van Overbeek, Justin Marks, Andy Wilzoch, Charlie Hayes, and Wolf Henzler. van Overbeek
context_page_description: The Flying Lizard Motorsports group is a motorsport team from Sonoma, California, formed by Seth Neiman in early 2003. The team competed in the full American Le Mans Series season as well as the 24 Hours of Daytona, winning six championships to date. The Lizards have also been Porsche Motorsport North America's development partner from 2007 to 2012. The team helped develop the first- and second-generation 997 GT3 RSR as well as bring it to victory several times in its six-year run in the series. Now a customer racing team, Flying Lizard Motorsports runs and manages various sports car racing programs.
context_section_description: Flying Lizard Motorsports and Toyo Tires began their partnership in 2015 as a tire development program, with the tire manufacturer utilizing the sports car champions for private testing. In 2015, the duo put their development to the test, entering the Auri R8 LMS that had previously raced in the IMSA series. The #45 Audi R8 LMS won in the ES class and overall, with the all-professional driver lineup of Program Manager Darren Law, Tomonobu Fuji, Guy Cosmo and Johannes van Overbeek.
  The #45 Audi returned to defend its win the following year, with drivers Darren Law, Mike Hedlund, Johannes van Overbeek and Dion von Moltke. The Audi again finished first in the ES class and first overall. A second entry, a #74 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR joined the effort, finishing second in the ES class and third overall with drivers Charlie Hayes, Andy Wilzoch, Will Owen, and Tommy Sadler.
  In 2017, Flying Lizard and Toyo Tires achieved a three-peat, with the No. 45 Audi R8 LMS again taking the ES class and overall win from pole position. Darren Law, Tom Haacker, Nate Stacym and Charlie Hayes drove the car to victory, completing over 2,100 miles. The #74 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport of Johannes van Overbeek, Craig Watkins, Mike Hedlund, and Ross Thompson also clinched its own class win. The team also beat the all-time record of 761 laps completed during the race by completing 780 laps.
  The team returned with a two car effort in 2018, winning overall for the fourth consecutive year, with the #74 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Johannes van Overbeek, Justin Marks, Andy Wilzoch, Charlie Hayes, and Wolf Henzler. van Overbeek started from fifth and brought the car up to second in the opening lap, but within minutes, the Porsche was back in the garage for 14 laps, needing repairs on a broken axle. By Henzler's stint, the car had made it back into the top three, but again suffered a broken axle. In lap 596, van Overbeek brought the car back to the lead, and after 25 hours again finished first overall, officially becoming the team to hold the most wins at the endurance event. The second of two all-female entries on the grid, the #45 Jester & Babbitt Racing by Flying Lizard Motorsports Toyo Tires Audi R8 LMS GT4 was raced by the first-ever female drivers of the team: Christina Nielsen, Aurora Straus, Ashton Harrison, Laura Ely, and Erin Vogel. The all-female car cliched its Toyo Tires GT4 Challenge class win, finishing fourth overall after running a near flawless race and suffering no mechanical issues.
  In 2018, the duo of Toyo Tires and Flying Lizard Motorsports took on a new challenge: the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The team enlisted Clint Vahsholtz, driver with the most class victories in the history of the race, to run the No. 45 Flying Lizard / Toyo Tires McLaren 12C GT3. Of 77 entries, the team finished eighth overall and second in class on their debut of the 12.42-mile, 156 turn course, with over 9,000 feet in elevation changes from start to finish.
caption: The 2018 25 Hours of Thunderhill race winning Porsche and drivers
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