Bryan Sellers Heads Home to Close ALMS Season in Georgia
BRYAN SELLERS HEADS HOME TO CLOSE ALMS SEASON IN GEORGIA
Petit Le Mans Enduro Offers Perfect Opportunity for 3rd GT Victory of Year
BRASELTON, GA, September 23, 2011 – Bryan Sellers returns home for the 14th annual Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda on October 1. The Braselton, GA-resident will close a successful 2011 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón with the 1,000-mile/10-hour endurance classic at Road Atlanta in front of his hometown crowd at the foot of the North Georgia Mountains. Sellers is joined behind the wheel of the No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR by season-long teammate Wolf Henzler (Germany) and endurance specialist Martin Ragginger (Austria). The trio will be fighting for the team’s and Sellers’ third career ALMS GT victories when the green flag falls at 11:30 a.m. ET.
The Petit Le Mans is a perfect opportunity for Sellers to record his third career ALMS win. Team Falken Tire has been strong at most venues in 2011 but has excelled on the street and endurance races. The 10-hour or 1,000-mile format – the race will be checkered at whichever comes first – provides ample time for strategies to play a major role. The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR that Sellers will be driving has proven one of the most reliable race cars in history reducing concern of a mechanical failure. Meanwhile, the 2.54-mile, 12-turn Road Atlanta circuit offers a unique blend of high speed and technical corners demanding the most out of the drivers. All combined, and encouraged by his hometown crowd, Sellers could not ask for a better venue to close his season.
Sellers, Henzler and Ragginger shared the Team Falken Tire factory ride in the season-opening Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring (FL) as well. It was there that the first signs of the program’s potential began to show after two seasons of development. The blue and teal Porsche ran most of the race in the top-three before a gearbox failure dropped them from contention. Sellers and Henzler then went on to score a string of top-five finishes before capturing Sellers’ and Falken’s first ALMS victory at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Aug. 6) in a torrential downpour. They followed two races later with a second victory of the season on the streets of Baltimore (Sept. 3) where Sellers had the strongest race of his sports car career gapping the favored BMW factory team.
Sellers remains tied as the highest ranking driver in a Porsche, fifth, in the ALMS GT drivers’ championship. Following Monterey, he and Henzler dropped from fourth after falling out of the race when a GTC entry ran into the No. 17 and repairs were too extensive to make on site. With 30 points available to the race winner at Petit Le Mans, Sellers can move as high as third in the standings – the championship and second place are mathematically unobtainable. Recapturing fourth-place is only six points away but sixth-place is only one point back.
Team Falken Tire had to work overtime to make repairs to the heavily damaged machine after the race on the Monterey Peninsula. The impact damaged not only the bodywork but it bent the frame, damaged several ancillary components and physically moved the engine and transmission six inches forward in the chassis. The work has been completed and the Falken Tire factory driver is scheduled to get on-track at Road Atlanta as part of a pre-event test on Sunday, Sept. 25.
Quotes
Bryan Sellers:
About Racing at Road Atlanta: “A home race never really adds pressure but it does help you get a little extra motivation to perform. There is always a lot of local media, friends, family, all of which you hope to put on a good show for. We have had some decent runs at Road Atlanta in the past but it would be great to turn one into a victory.”
About the effort to make repairs to the Team Falken Tire Porsche: “The guys have worked so hard through all the races with no complaints… ever. In between the Monterey and Petit races has been no different. There was a lot of damage after Laguna and questions of whether we would make it to Atlanta on time but the guys worked non-stop. Not only will we have the Falken Tire car for the first day of practice; we’ll have it early! It really adds some motivation to us as a team because the only way to reward the guys is with results!”
About the challenge of racing an endurance event: “I would say the biggest difference is just the parts of the race car. Everything gets replaced to run for ten hours. Outside of that, it is a full-out sprint race, as hard as you can go all the way to the checkered flag!”
About preparations Falken Tire has made to ready for Petit Le Mans: “We have used the second half of the ALMS season to prepare for Petit Le Mans. Leading up to the race we will have multiple sets of Falken tires to test. We’ll then narrow that down to the best combination for speed and durability of a stint. We have high expectations for the weekend but it’s also a big challenge. But, that’s why we’re here.”
The Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda will air on ABC at 4 p.m. (ET), Sunday, Oct. 2. Live coverage of the event can be seen in the U.S. on ESPN3 beginning at 11:15 a.m. (ET). Outside the U.S. live coverage can be found at www.AmericanLeMans.com, Rogers Sportsnet in Canada and MotorsTV in Europe. Live qualifying of all classes can be seen on ESPN3, Friday, September 30 beginning at 2:35 p.m. (ET). Live timing and scoring 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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