Bryan Sellers Takes Podium Attack to Mosport

BRYAN SELLERS TAKES PODIUM ATTACK TO ULTRA-QUICK MOSPORT

*Mosport’s Spot on Schedule Can Make or Break a Season *

BOWMANVILLE, ONT, CAN, July 15, 2011 – Bryan Sellers loves speed and intense competition. Mosport International Raceway will provide plenty of both at the July 24, Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport. Rolling on two consecutive, top-five finishes in the GT class of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón (ALMS), the Braselton, GA-resident attacks the ultra-quick Mosport facility in Bowmanville, ONT, CAN with full focus on capturing his first career ALMS podium. Sellers and teammate Wolf Henzler (Germany) have pressed the podium in the No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in every race this season – setting the team’s career-best finish of fourth at the Long Beach (CA) Grand Prix in April – but are yet to stand among the top-three at the end of a race. The two hour, 45-minute event at Mosport, considered by many as the quickest track overall on the nine-race calendar, provides an ideal setting for the Ohio-native, who honed his craft in the millisecond world of formula car racing, to stand on his first ALMS podium.

Like Mosport itself, the schedule is now coming fast and success at Mosport can make or break a season. Teams had nearly three months to test and prepare for Lime Rock Park - the most recent race held July 9 at the Connecticut track. They will not even have two weeks between Lime Rock and the sole Canadian round on the docket. The same can be said for Round Five at Mid-Ohio on August 5 and Road America on August 21. A succession of races at Baltimore, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in California and Road Atlanta will close the season between September and October. There is precious little time to make even minor repairs other than pre-race preparations between events. Therefore, any major misstep severely damaging a car here can quickly derail a promising year. And missteps are common at a track that rewards an open throttle. Fortunately, Sellers, one of the sport’s young guns, revels in the precision and focus required to go fast while maintaining the Falken Porsche and competing for position. The skills he learned early in his career - being fast while also being smooth and exacting so as not to place a wheel wrong - will serve him well here at Mosport. Sellers finished seventh here last year in the Team Falken Tire Porsche.

Mosport has long been a favorite of racers because of its speed and level of difficulty. Unlike most tracks in Europe and even many in North America, Mosport’s 2.459-mile, 10-turn layout is largely unchanged from its 1960s-era, original design. The track has some of the quickest turns on the calendar demanding courage in even the best of cars. Drivers must dig deep within themselves to overcome the inherent fear that racing wheel-to-wheel at these unyielding speeds creates. Of the ten turns, only the famous “Moss Corner” complex of turns “5A”, “5B” and “5C” truly slow the cars significantly, the remainder of the lap is a series of sweeping turns which rise-and-fall in the woods just over an hour north of Toronto.

Sellers will have a chance to get an early reminder of the speed of Mosport in a test day on Thursday, July 21. The test, which proceeds Friday’s “Promoter’s Test Day”, will provide the team its first opportunity to feel the Falken tire on the mega-quick course. The early test can provide valuable insights that might have otherwise been exposed later in the weekend.

Quotes

Bryan Sellers:

About Mosport International Raceway: “Mosport is possibly the most challenging circuit of the year. It really places a premium on car set-up and determination. When the car is good at Mosport it is one of the most fun tracks I have ever driven. However, when the car is bad it is not an enjoyable place to say the least. I look forward to getting there and seeing how the Team Falken Tire Porsche stacks up.”

About the balance of precision and courage at Mosport: “Mosport places a premium on both courage and precision. One without the other goes unrewarded. It is a very easy place to go and push very hard but be off a little on your line and really pay large penalties. It is also very easy to be precise but off the pace because you are not pushing hard enough. It is a huge balancing act and that is part of what makes racing at Mosport so much fun!”

About the current string of races on the ALMS schedule: “From a driver’s perspective, I think it is a good thing you’re in the car every week; constantly driving and improving. However, I think that the next stretch of races is very difficult for teams much more so than the drivers. The team has very little time to prep in between races and along with all of that they still have to travel. Everyone will be at their peak come next race and that’s where it gets exciting.”

Live coverage of qualifying for the Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport can be found on www.ESPN3.com, Saturday, July 23 at 3:30 pm (EDT). Flag-to-flag coverage of Sunday’s race will air live on ESPN3.com at 2:50 pm. ESPN2 will broadcast highlights same day on Sunday at 10:00 pm. Live timing and scoring of each session can be found at www.AmericanLeMans.com.

For more on Bryan Sellers, please visit him on the web at www.BryanSellersRacing.com. Follow Bryan on Twitter (www.Twitter.com/BryanSellers) and Facebook.

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