Bryan Sellers Scores First Career ALMS Victory At Mid-Ohio

BRYAN SELLERS SCORES FIRST CAREER ALMS VICTORY AT MID-OHIO

No Raining on Ohio-Native’s Homecoming Parade

LEXINGTON, OH, August 7, 2011 – Bryan Sellers scored his first career American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón (ALMS) GT class victory on Saturday with a shocking, rain-soaked exhibition at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge. Despite the No.17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR entering the final, green flag lap in fifth position, there would be no raining on the Centerville, OH-native’s homecoming parade here at Lexington’s Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Sellers’ teammate, Wolf Henzler (Germany), used Falken’s superior rain tire to move from fifth to first on the final lap of the two hour, 45-minute race in a driving downpour that wreaked havoc on most of the competition. The storm was so severe that it forced officials to red flag the race, Round Five of the nine-race season, with less than 20 minutes remaining. Waiting for the weather to clear enough to return to green, the clock ticked to zero and the race standings were made official. In the process, Sellers and Henzler gave Falken Tire, Team Falken Tire and team manager Derrick Walker (Indianapolis) their first ALMS victories. The operation earned the “Battery Tender Hard Charger Award” for the second time this season and moved Sellers and Henzler into fifth-place in the GT class point standings.

Even excluding the rain-shorted finish, the race had numerous surprises. Multiple cars were involved in penalties and on-track incidents; even the safety/pace car suffered a race-ending transmission failure. However, it was smart, clean driving that kept the No.17 in contention and in the position to win at day’s end. In the weekly rotation, it was Henzler’s weekend to qualify and Sellers’ to start the race. Sellers, who now calls Braselton, GA home, took the green flag from ninth on the GT grid. He fell back one position at the start but quickly regained it and began to move towards the front when he was struck from behind by the No. 04 Ford. The former open wheel champ put on impressive display of driving by keeping the blue and teal Porsche on the track without damage. The incident, which was deemed unintentional, dropped Sellers back several positions. Again, he was able to fight and retake several places while also setting the car’s fastest race lap (1:22.719) in the process. He would relinquish the ride to Henzler one hour into the race during the team’s first of three pit stops.

With the Falken Porsche now positioned for the final one-hour and 45 minutes, Henzler continued to reclaim positions just as Sellers had during his stint. Knowing that rain was likely and the strength of the Falken wet weather tire, the team hoped for showers. The precipitation finally began to fall with 50 minutes remaining on the clock. The team fixed rain tires during the final stop of the race. Moments later the yellow flag would fly again and remained out for over 20 minutes. With just under 30 minutes to race, the green flew and Henzler gained one position before the yellow flew yet again. Eight minutes later, the green returned and Henzler went on full-out attack in a driving rain that left most sliding off course. He moved from fifth to the lead before the start-finish line where the final full-course caution was waiting. The race ran several laps under caution before the red flag stopped the on-track action until the time expired officially giving the milestone victory to the team. Sellers’ previous best career ALMS finish, fourth, came earlier this year at the Long Beach (CA) Grand Prix and in 2006 at Lime Rock Park.

Quotes

Bryan Sellers:

About his first victory: “Early in the week we knew that there was a large chance of rain on Saturday. We knew we had a really good rain tire with Falken that would give us a chance to fight for a win should the race be wet. We were quite literally praying for rain all week in the hopes that we could see ourselves on the podium. I had no idea how it would end but I knew we had a shot when it started to rain. I feel like I, as well as Team Falken Tire, worked hard for the win and that eventually hard work pays off. It was a team victory; everybody played such a huge part in it.”

About the significance of the victory: “I don’t think wins will ever come easier but hopefully now that I have that eight billion pound monkey off my back they come more often. The victories are very short lived but its great right now.”

About his stint: “We were in one of the slowest corners on the track and David [Murry] hit me with so much speed that I have to wonder if he even braked at all. The hit could have very easily been the end to our race almost as soon as it started. We lost three positions and those were very difficult to get back. The Jaguar is so fast in a straight line that at a place like Mid-Ohio it makes overtaking almost impossible. As soon as I cleared the Jag I could see the leaders at the crossover and knew I had to push as hard as possible to stay on the lead lap. We had to be on the lead lap for when it did rain to give Wolf a chance during his stint. I just started throwing down as many qualifying laps as I could. Fortunately, the Team Falken Tire Porsche was very good on old tires and we were able to open the gap from the leaders a little bit and catch a very timely yellow before I handed the car over to Wolf. Wolf did a great job. I knew we had a great rain tire and Wolf is great in the rain. It all came together.”

About his role in the development of the Falken Tire: “It does add some satisfaction that I was a part of the development of this Falken tire for sure! It’s been really cool for me to see the progression of the tire and have a part in it! My congratulations to everyone at Falken Tire for their first ALMS victory.”

A two-hour highlight show of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge and Bryan Sellers’ first ALMS victory will be broadcast on ESPN2, Sunday, August 7 at 10:00 pm. Watch the full race broadcast on www.ESPN3.com in the archives. Additional event information can be found at www.AmericanLeMans.com.

Bryan Sellers will now carry the momentum of the Mid-Ohio victory – and three, consecutive top-five finishes prior to it – to Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI. The Time Warner Road Race Showcase will run on Sunday, August 21.

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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