Bryan Sellers Flying High from Coast-to-Coast After ALMS Win

BRYAN SELLERS FLYING HIGH FROM COAST-TO-COAST AFTER ALMS WIN

American Young Gun Ready for 6 Hours of Racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

MONTEREY, CA, September 13, 2011 – Bryan Sellers might have been able to fly under his own power from coast-to-coast last week. Having won his second-career American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón (ALMS) race – the Baltimore Grand Prix – in commanding fashion on the East Coast, the Braselton, GA-residents is at all-time high. He now readies for the ModSpace ALMS Monterey presented by Patrón on the Monterey, CA Peninsula at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, one of the county’s premier road courses. On September 17, Sellers joins teammate Wolf Henzler (Germany) in the No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR for Round Eight, the penultimate event, of the ALMS season for six hours of endurance sports car racing.

The 2.238-mile, 11-turn natural terrain road course could not be more different than the street course layout in Baltimore. With its sweeping turns and elevation changes – including the world-renown, multi-story drop known as the “Corkscrew” – Mazda Raceway presents a whole different set of challenges from the sea-level, Maryland circuit. However, like Baltimore, whose new-to-everyone design made all teams equal, the endurance nature of the ALMS Monterey helps balance the 13-car GT class field. It has been on these even-footing events: the 12 Hours of Sebring (endurance race), Long Beach Grand Prix (street circuit), Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (rain) and Baltimore that the former open-wheel racing champion has excelled. All of these venues have required precision driving and smart racecraft, areas in which Sellers is gifted, and the results have borne that out. A new Falken racing slick to be introduced this weekend will further benefit Team Falken Tire in the final two races of the year. The newest iteration of the tire is a product of Sellers’ testing efforts in Japan and the United States over the summer months.

With his second victory of the season, Sellers is tied with teammate Henzler for fourth in the GT class Driver Points Championship. The duo is just 11 markers out of third-place with 55 points available at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The steady march toward the top-three in points has come from a string of top-six finishing positions dating back to the second race of the season. The only time Team Falken Tire has finished worse than sixth was at the season-opening 12 Hours of Sebring where a late gearbox failure snatched a guaranteed podium. The year has set the standard not only for Sellers but Team Falken Tire as well which had never finished better than fourth entering 2011. The organization, led by Derrick Walker (Indianapolis), now stands as the highest-ranked Porsche in the field.

Sellers exercised his role as a Falken Tire factory driver between Baltimore and Mazda Raceway. He spent a week driving Falken-shod Jeeps in the mountains of Colorado. The event highlighted the Japanese company’s impressive range of WildPeak All-Terrain tires. Sellers left the Jeeps behind to travel to Monterey where he will take part in a children’s hospital visit in Palo Alto on Wednesday. Testing for the ModSpace ALMS Monterey is scheduled for Thursday with practice and qualifying on Friday. The race will start at 1:30pm (PT) on Saturday.

Quotes

Bryan Sellers:

About Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca: * “* Mazda Raceway ** Laguna Seca is very picturesque which sets the scene for a beautiful race. It's always everybody's favorite venue. The track is very challenging. It's very low grip but has a multitude of corners ranging from flat low speed corners to banked high-speed corners. It’s a challenge to drive well for six hours and that is one of the aspects I love the most about it.”

About his expectations for the race: “We are currently carrying a lot of momentum into Laguna after winning at Baltimore. I'm not sure what to expect this weekend but I do know that we will have another new batch of Falken tires to try and make another step forward. We were very strong over a long run at Sebring and Road America so with a six hour race hopefully that plays into our favor.”

About the Falken Tire off-road experience: “I was fortunate enough to be able to go on an off-road trip with Falken Tire and their new WildPeak all-terrain tire. We were gone on a week-long tour through Colorado. I saw some beautiful parts of the country and saw what an off-road Jeep is really capable of on the right tire! It was a great way to follow our Baltimore win and prepare myself for six hours of racing in Monterey.”

The ModSpace ALMS Monterey presented by Patrón will air on ESPN2 at 1 pm (ET), Sunday, September 18. Live coverage of the event can be seen in the U.S. on ESPN3. 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 16 beginning at 6:30 pm (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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