Las Vegas - Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing will defend its Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring GT2 class victory with one of the most talented and interesting lineups in the team's history. Mike Petersen (Las Vegas, Nev.) announced today that his 2005 American Le Mans Series GT2 championship-winning team will open their season with second-year Petersen/White Lightning driver Jörg Bergmeister, his brother Tim Bergmeister (both drivers of Langenfeld, Germany) and 2003 Petersen/White Lightning Sebring pilot Nic Jönsson (Buford, Ga.).

The trio will attempt to maintain the No. 31 MMPIE/PAWS/Michelin Porsche 911 GT3 RSR's streak of Sebring podium finishes with the 54th annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 18. The Dale White-managed team has never failed to earn a podium at the 12 Hours since its first event in 2003 having taken its first class win last year.

The Bergmeister brothers mark the first siblings to compete at the world famous event in the same entry since 2000 (Don and Dale Whittington) and are the only pair to be entered in the same car this year. This will be their second time sharing a race car with the first coming in 1999 in the 24-hour event at the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife where they finished third in their class. The last brothers to win the 12 Hours of Sebring were Geoff and Gary Brabham in 1991.

Jörg Bergmeister won his first 12 Hours of Sebring last year with the Las Vegas-based race team in dominating style. Together with Patrick Long (Las Vegas), the two went on to win the American Le Mans Series' GT2 Drivers Championship while the team, in only its third full-season of Series competition, beat the heavily-favored Porsche factory effort to take the GT2 Team championship as well as the IMSA Cup for privately entered cars. All told, Bergmeister, one of the most successful GT/GT2 drivers in Series history with 14 class victories, won five events last year in the No. 31. The Petersen/ White Lightning car started from the class pole one year ago on Sebring's 3.7-mile, 17-turn circuit.

Tim Bergmeister will be making his Series debut in the season-opener in central Florida. Despite having never driven an Series-ready Porsche, Tim, who is one year older than Jörg, has a great deal of experience racing Porsche's 911. He has competed in the Porsche Supercup the last five years earning third-place finishes in the one-make series championships the last two seasons. Prior to Supercup, he challenged for one season in Porsche Carrera Cup and the Formula 3 championship including stints with both the Jordan and Benetton F1 Junior Teams. Like Jörg, the older Bergmeister followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather into the sport. He began karting in 1978 at the age of 3 and continued as a factory driver from 1987-90 when he preceded his brother into Formula Koenig with three wins and the championship in his first year racing cars. He won the title 1992 and also won the H&R Cup. His final season of open-wheel competition came in 1999 when he made his United States debut in the Barber Dodge Pro Series earning top rookie in four of his five starts.

Jönsson is no stranger to the American Le Mans Series or Petersen/White Lightning. Jönsson, a native of Bankeryd, Sweden, had his first start in a Porsche 911 GT3 with the team in 2003. While it was a one-time start, Petersen and White kept close ties to the former Scandinavian Formula 3 champion as he continued to compete in American sports car racing. Jönsson is well versed in both GT and prototype sports car racing having driven in GT2, then known as GT, class competition in each season from 2000-04. He also has spent time behind the wheel of both open-top and closed cockpit prototypes since 2001. He has been racing in the United States since 1999. Like his co-drivers, Jönsson is also following a family tradition. His father was a mechanic for Sweden's most famous race driver, Ronnie Petersen, while his brother is currently the chief mechanic in Penske Racing's IndyCar program.

Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing will be debuting a new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR at Sebring. The full-season driver pairings as well as other additional major announcements will be made in the coming weeks.

The American Le Mans Series begins its 2006 season with the 54th annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The 12-hour endurance classic is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. EST on March 18 at Sebring International Raceway. It will be televised live on SPEED Channel in North America and MotorsTV in Europe. In addition, Greenlight-Television will distribute the race worldwide to more than 510 million households. American Le Mans Series Radio will have flag-to-flag coverage available at www.americanlemans.com, along with IMSA Live Timing & Scoring.