Bryan Sellers Looks for One More in Baltimore
Falken Factory Driver Looks to Win Third Time in ALMS GT on Inner Harbor Circuit
BALTIMORE, August 26, 2013 – Baltimore has been very, very good to Bryan Sellers. Since the track debuted on the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) presented by Tequila Patrón schedule in 2011, the Braselton, Ga.-resident and his German co-driver Wolf Henzler have won every GT class race held in the Maryland city. Sellers returns to the Inner Harbor race course again on Saturday, August 31 to try and capture the two-hour Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT in the No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR for the third consecutive time with Falken Tire and Henzler.
In 2013, the 12-turn Baltimore street course will utilize 2.02-miles of the downtown area of Maryland’s largest city. As is often the case in street races, the course has been slightly modified in 2013. As it has since its inception, the track will race around the Inner Harbor district of Baltimore utilizing Oriole Park at Camden Yards as the backdrop of the pit lane and paddock complex. The layout of the track will be identical to 2012 with the single exception of a three-curb chicane on the Pratt Street front straight. This chicane mimics the one used in 2011 and is constructed to slow the cars on what otherwise would see many some classes exceeding 200 miles per hour on the narrow, wall-lined city streets.
Regardless of the layout, the Team Falken Tire program has excelled in Baltimore. In 2011, the program led 43 of the 67-lap race. In 2012, Sellers and Henzler were on point for 44 of 71 laps. With the unification of the ALMS and the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series coming in 2014 under the United SportsCar Racing banner, this will be the final Baltimore race run under ALMS sanction. Sellers, who was voted by the fans as the ALMS’ most popular driver in 2012, is keen to make history as the only driver pairing to win an ALMS race in Maryland.
Adding to the confidence for the weekend is the performance put on by Team Falken Tire at the only other street race of the year, the Long Beach (Calif.) Grand Prix held in the spring. There, Sellers qualified the car second and led the race in the early going. While the final result did not represent the strength of the car, it did confirm that the operation has the tools to succeed on the street courses.
Live coverage of qualifying of all ALMS classes can be found at the Series’ web site and ESPN3 on Friday, August 30 at 4:20 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Live streaming of the race can be found on ESPN3 beginning at 3 p.m. EDT, Saturday, August 31 while ABC will provide delayed television coverage at Noon EDT, Sunday, September 1. 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 the Grand Prix of Baltimore: “The fans make the Baltimore race! There was nothing better than standing on the podium the first year and seeing the streets lined with people. They have really embraced the race and us as drivers, and have truly made it a destination race. I am very much looking forward to returning!”
On Team Falken Tire’s Street Course performance: “From the program’s inception we have been exceptionally strong on street courses. The entire package of our program fits well. Everything from the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to the Falken Tire to the setup works well on street courses. There is very limited run time on the schedule so over the years we have tried to keep everything as simple as possible and roll forward what we learn year to year. It seems to work well for us.”
On the potential of winning three consecutive races at Baltimore: “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t mean much to win three in a row at Baltimore, but it does! There is nothing I want more at the moment than to repeat as a winner at Baltimore again. To win anything twice is difficult, to win three times is nearly impossible. I hope we have the impossible in us this weekend.”
On how this year’s course design will impact the team’s performance: “It should have very little impact on the overall performance of the cars. The chicane is so slow that all the cars will go through it at a similar speed. I don’t foresee it creating a bigger speed differential.”
On the challenges of street course racing: “A street course is very narrow and confined meaning the possibility of getting caught in an incident that may not be of your making is much higher. There is nowhere to go to avoid an incident. That’s the biggest challenge.
I love street courses. I really look forward to them. I don’t approach them any differently than any other track. At the end of the day it is still a race course and all the same techniques apply.”
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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