Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing has announced the line-up it hopes will defend the GT2 class victory in the opening round of the American Le Mans Series – the Twelve Hours of Sebring.

Team boss Mike Petersen has confirmed that Jorg Bergmeister and his brother Tim will both be at the wheel of the #31 MMPIE/ PAWS/ Michelin Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with Nic Jonsson the third driver to share the car for the event – an event where the team has never failed to finish on the class podium.

The Bergmeister brothers will become the first siblings to compete at the world famous event in the same entry since Don and Dale Whittington in 2000 and Jorg will be looking to try and secure a repeat of twelve months ago when he secured victory alongside Patrick Long and then went on to secure the ALMS GT2 title.

“I'm really excited to have Tim in the car because I know he is quick,” he said. “I think it is a great opportunity for my brother to drive with Petersen/ White Lightning. Most important, he knows that if he hurts the car he has to deal with me. Having Nic in the car is also really great because I know him as a teammate in another series. I think it is a really good line-up. It's nice to have the title at the beginning of the season but it is a long way to get to the championship again. The competition at Sebring seems to be even stronger than last year. Hopefully we'll be in good shape with the new car.”

Tim will be making his ALMS debut at Sebring but the elder of the two brothers brings extensive knowledge of the 911 after competing in the Porsche Supercup for the past two seasons. Hoping to put that knowledge to good use, he said was looking forward to his debut.

“I am really happy to race for Petersen/ White Lightning in the Twelve Hours of Sebring,” he said. “I think it is going to be a very good chance for me to prove my speed and my technical understanding working with the team. Racing in the ALMS will be very exciting for me because it is a high professional series. The biggest challenge will be to handle the traffic without losing too much time and jumping from bump to bump with the car.”

Jonsson had his first start in a Porsche 911 GT3 with the team in 2003 and team owner Petersen said that the partnership of Jonsson with the Bergmeister brothers was one he was hopeful of gaining success with.


“2006 is about ready to start and we have what I feel to be a very competitive driver lineup,” he said. “We have Jörg and Nic who have both been with us before and Jörg's brother, Tim, who has pretty much been around for the better part of last year. The team is very excited to get the brand new car out and see what happens at the Twelve Hour. We are looking forward to defending our title.

"This year is going to be very competitive with all the new and returning teams. Hopefully we can start it out strong with a good finish. It has been a short off-season and soon we will have some more exciting news in regards to the rest of the 2006 season and beyond for the future!”

The full-season Petersen/White Lightning driver pairings as well as other additional major announcements will be made in the coming weeks.