Bryan Sellers Doesn't See Much Not to Like About Canadian Tire Motorsports Park
Falken Driver Puts Premium on Technique Over Bravery on ALMS Weekend
BOWMANVILLE, ONT. CAN., July 17, 2013 – One of the fastest tracks in North America, a GT class track record of just one-minute, 15.478- seconds to cover its 2.459 miles and 10 turns, intense fan support and decades of tradition. What isn’t there to like? If you ask Bryan Sellers, he’ll tell you that he doesn’t like that the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón (ALMS) doesn’t race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) more than once a year. The July 21 Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix in Bowmanville, Ont., Can. is the ALMS season midpoint for the Braselton, Ga.-resident and the No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR he shares with Germany’s Wolf Henzler.
Celebrating its 15th annual running, CTMP is one of the few tracks that dates back to the ALMS’ inaugural season. Sellers will be starting his fourth event with Team Falken Tire at the track formerly known as Mosport International. He also has a GT class start in 2005 and won two FF2000 races here 2002. Long considered the fastest road course on the ALMS schedule, CTMP is a favorite of the drivers. It is slowed only twice by turns 5a and 5b known as “Moss Corner” and the final turn, a 90-degree right-hander onto the front straight. Even more important to the drivers than the speed is the track’s rhythm which demands perfection and focus.
Contrary to general opinion, the track is more than a flat-footed lap demanding bravely. It is one of the most technically demanding tracks on the calendar insisting that a driver keeps constant respect for its speed. An attempt to “brave” through a handling issue or push beyond what the car is capable of doing – a practice that often returns rewards at many tracks - can lead to disastrous results. Therefore, teams focus on the car’s setup over a full race stint at the track north of Toronto even more than most tracks. Finding the proper balance between drivers, a full fuel load on fresh tires versus an empty tank and worn rubber is critical. The consideration becomes more about speed over a full fuel run rather than for a perfect, single hot lap.
Live coverage of qualifying of all classes can be found at the Series’ web site and ESPN3 beginning with the GTC class on Saturday, July 20, 3:20 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). Live streaming of the event can be seen on ESPN3 at 11:45 a.m. ET while ESPN2 will begin its television broadcast at 1 p.m. Full international coverage as well as live in-car camera footage will be available real time at www.ALMS.com . Live timing and scoring of all sessions, including qualifying and the race, are also found on the Series’ official web site.
Quotes
Bryan Sellers:
On CTMP: “The days of pure race tracks is slowly but surely disappearing. Today’s tracks are so planned out and manufactured. The days of walking the land and designing a track based off of what you have are over. CTMP is one of the few old-school tracks that are left. When you go there you see what they were thinking when they built it. There is just something special about it. I love going to these types of tracks.”
On technical versus bravery at CTMP: “Bravery without precision is what gets you in trouble. There needs to be a combination of both at CTMP. You must be brave to produce a lap time. It is a very fast track with little margin for error which forces you to step outside of your comfort level quite often. The track is a very line-specific. It accumulates a lot of rubber and dirt on the outside of the track so if you are not precise and calculating the bravery does you no good.”
On getting the most out of the Team Falken Tire Porsche at CTMP: “You must feel comfortable to get the best out of yourself and out of the car. This is not a place where you want to spend a full stint fighting the car. It is very draining mentally if you’re fighting the car the whole time. However, if you have a strong car you can really settle into a rhythm and put together a great stint.
Fortunately, Wolf and I like very similar things in the Falken Tire Porsche. We are both a little more sensitive to some things than the other; however, we always end up being on the same page with the setup. We really try and focus on what gives us the best opportunity to race and do not put a ton of emphasis on anything else.”
On the importance Falken Tire plays in finding the right car setup: “Falken Tire is a huge part in our ability to get a proper car setup. Because of our constant tire development, we quite often have a large selection of tires to choose from which really allows us to be specific with our choices and use the tire as an advanced tuning tool.”
On the ALMS season thus far: “I would say we were strong on the first half of the season. We had some great races with the Falken Tire Porsche and some that we need to address for the future. But all in all, our race ability was better than it ever has been for the first half of the season. We are still a long way away from where we want to be, but we have a good platform to build on for the rest of the season.”
For more on Bryan Sellers, please visit him on the web at "> www.BryanSellersRacing.com . Follow Bryan on Twitter ("> www.Twitter.com/BryanSellers ) and LIKE him on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/BryanSellersRacing . Tune-in to Bryan’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/BryanSellersRacing .
Visit www.FalkenTire.com for more on Team Falken Tire. Learn more about the American Le Mans Series at www.ALMS.com .
Learn more about Fall-Line Racing, visit www.Fall-LineMotorsports.com .
For more on the Grand-Am Sports Car Challenge go to www.GRAND-AM.com .
Go R/C racing with Bryan at www.HPIRACING.com .
Stayed charged with Batter Tender at www.BatteryTender.com .
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