Bryan Sellers to VIR In Pursuit of ALMS Win to Join GRAND-AM Double in 2013
Closes GRAND-AM CTSCC Season at Lime Rock with Top-10 for Fall-Line
ALTON, Vir., October 1, 2013 – Thus far in 2013, Bryan Sellers has added two major sportscar racing victories to his resume – GRAND-AM Sports Car Challenge wins at Watkins Glen International and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With the GRAND-AM season ending last weekend at Lime Rock Park, the Braselton, Ga.-resident has two remaining opportunities in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) presented by Tequila Patrón to continue his two-year streak of wins in its GT class. Sellers will join teammate Wolf Henzler (Germany) driving the No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) for the Oak Tree Grand Prix of VIR on Saturday, October 5 in pursuit of that elusive first ALMS win of 2013.
The challenge before Sellers will not be easy. The 3.27-mile, 17-turn VIR road course has not been kind to the Falken team the last two seasons. However, entering this weekend’s two-hour, 45-minute show, the program has the additional benefit of a day of tire testing at VIR as well as a better understanding of their 2010/2012 fusion Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. After losing their primary 2012 Porsche in an pre-start accident on the streets of Baltimore, Team Falken Tire used its two-time winning 2010 model as a baseline for a car using 2012 homologated parts for the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) round on September 21. That race proved a good test session for the car allowing Sellers and Henzler to provide valuable information to the team and Falken Tire engineers to incorporate into this weekend’s car.
Sellers will have his first opportunity to test the No. 17 Porsche at VIR on Thursday, October 3. The ALMS has one-hour and 30-minutes scheduled for team testing. Official practice begins on Friday at 10:25 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) with a second practice at 2:30 pm leading into the 15-minute GT-only qualifying session at 4:05 p.m. A final warm-up will help fine-tune race setup at 9:35 a.m. on Saturday, October 5 with the race taking the green flag at 2:15 p.m. ET.
Live coverage of qualifying for all ALMS classes can be found at the Series’ web site and ESPN3 on Friday at 3:35 p.m. Live streaming of the race can be found on ESPN3 beginning at 2 p.m. ET, Saturday while ESPN2 will provide delayed television coverage at 5:30 p.m. ET, Sunday, October 6. 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.
GRAND-AM Review – Lime Rock Park
During the course of the GRAND-AM Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) season, Sellers made nine starts in the No. 46 Trim-Tex Drywall Products/BCKSTGR Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 with co-driver Mark Boden (Winnetka, Ill.). The pairing won at two of the sports’ greatest tracks, Watkins Glen and Indianapolis, and threatened at several others. At Lime Rock, after Boden started 16th, the two moved the car up to ninth by race’s end, more positions gained than any other team. The No. 46 Fall-Line program finished fifth in the season-long point standings. The GRAND-AM Championship Weekend CTSCC race will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1, Sunday October 6 at 5 p.m. ET.
Quotes
Bryan Sellers:
On the gains made with the car at COTA entering VIR: “The crew and engineers were run through the wringer leading up to the last race getting the car ready. Then at COTA, we continued running through changes to try and find what the combined Falken Tire car needs now. We were able to make huge gains through the course of the weekend but didn’t quite end where we wanted or needed to. I have full faith in everyone in our program that they will dig in and find what we need to move forward at VIR and Petit Le Mans.”
On expectations for the VIR weekend: “We have struggled at VIR but we were able to do a test and make some gains earlier this summer. I believe VIR can suit the Porsche and Team Falken Tire well. There are a lot of sections that we need to be efficient in putting the power down. I am hopeful that we will have good pace and be able to have a good race this weekend.”
On VIR: “I love the picturesque look and feel of VIR. There are no tracks that are quite as scenic and historic. I really enjoy the uphill section of the esses. That section is unique to VIR. It is fast and very technical making it very difficult to do right.”
On the last two races of the ALMS season: “It’s been a long season with a lot of races the last few months. However, refocusing on the last two races is an easy thing to do. We still have a lot of unfinished business to take care of, and although it will be difficult, we all race for the same reason. There is always an opportunity to win and be successful and you cannot let down.”
On the CTSCC season: “It was a great year! Fall- Line Motorsports is a great team and really did everything in their power to give us good racecars. We had some bad luck early in the season that took us out of a few races. We were able to battle back and get Mark [Boden] back into the top five in points. That was an important personal goal of mine and I know really important to the whole Trim-Tex/Fall-Line crew as well.”
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 .
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 .
Visit www.FalkenTire.com for more on Team Falken Tire. Learn more about the American Le Mans Series at www.ALMS.com .
Go R/C racing with Bryan at www.HPIRACING.com .
Stayed charged with Batter Tender at www.BatteryTender.com .
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