Bryan Sellers Feels Liquid Sunshine on His Shoulders with GRAND-AM Glen Win
American Opens Double-Race Weekend with Victory at Watkins Glen
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., June 29, 2013 – Despite a drowning rain that soaked Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International at several points during today’s Continental Tire 150 at The Glen, Bryan Sellers left the event with sunshine on his shoulders. The Braselton, Ga.-resident teamed with Mark Boden (Winnetka, Ill.) in today’s two-hour, 30-minute race to capture his first-ever GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) GS class victory. It was a hard fought race in the first of two major sports car events Sellers will compete in this weekend. The first leg of the double all came down to a last lap pass that saw the No. 46 Trim-Tex Drywall Products/BCKSTGR Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 overcome a season of near-misses to take the win. The second leg will come tomorrow as Sellers co-drives the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in the No. 73 Park Place Motorsports’ Children’s Tumor Foundation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.
Since arriving at the 3.4-mile, 11-turn track in the Finger Lakes region of New York on Wednesday, intermittent heavy rain showers have plagued track activities. The intensity and unexpected nature of the storms have kept teams searching for the right setup and the right tires for their cars. Today’s race was no different. Boden started the car 11th on the grid after a strong qualifying effort in challenging conditions. When Boden handed the car to Sellers, rain was threatening yet again. Twice after pit stops Sellers worked his way through the field, the first time reaching third, the second time the lead. Making daring passes in unexpected areas of the track, the 2012 ALMS Most Popular Driver Award-winner used the rain and wet track conditions to his advantage. However, after making his way to second place, a late race deluge nearly ended any opportunity to win.
With 35 minutes remaining, the rain came so intense and so unexpectedly that multiple cars left the track and made hard contact with the safety barriers along the course. One particular incident took over 30 minutes to clean and repair a portion of the wall. While the minutes slipped off the clock, Sellers bided his time behind the safety car.
With two minutes remaining, the green and white flags fell over the field. Exiting the final turn, Sellers set up a lapped car that sat between he and the race leading No. 13 Rum Bum Porsche 911. He passed the backmarker by the start-finish line and was side-by-side for the race lead before turn one. Sellers drew ahead enough to take the position entering the first turn. Now, with the lead, Sellers was a sitting duck on the wet track. Balancing the desire for speed with the need for precision, he would gain a gap at certain areas of the track, including taking The Glen’s “Esses” nearly flat, and lose in others when the slick racing tires gave way under the torque of the BMW’s V8 engine. Coming around the last corner, he caught the rear end as it came around, put the power down fully committed to winning for his Fall-Line team or losing in a spectacular fashion. Sellers’ driving skill ensured the victory.
The former open-wheel racing champion now turns his focus from the celebration of a victory to the task of adding a second title for the weekend. Sellers has joined Park Place Motorsports to race the No. 73 Children’s Tumor Foundation Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry with Patrick Lindsey (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Porsche factory driver Patrick Long (Playa del Rey, Calif.). The team, looking for its first GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series win with tomorrow’s Six Hours of The Glen, has been a regular frontrunner much of the season and thus far at Watkins Glen. The team qualified eighth for the six-hour endurance race.
Today’s CTSCC race will air on SPEED, Saturday, July 6 at 4 p.m. ET.
The clock will begin on the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen with an 11 a.m. green flag tomorrow. The race can be seen live on SPEED. The Motor Racing Network will provide radio coverage of the event on www.GRAND-AM.com and www.MotorRacingNetwork.com .
Quotes
Bryan Sellers:
On winning the Continental Tire 150 at The Glen: “This win is fantastic! I am so happy for the Trim-Tex Fall-Line team and for Mark! He has had so many great drives, especially here, I'm just happy that we could finally get a win. The team made some great strategy calls and put me in position to win. I just wanted to do my part to reward all the effort. This win is really sweet because it didn’t come easily and it didn’t happen overnight. We really had to earn this one.”
On the last lap: “I practiced accelerating out of the corner the last two laps behind the pace car so I knew I could get a jump out of the last corner. The pass on the brakes was a little bit of blind faith that we would have enough grip and it worked out! After that I just worked at running the quickest lap I could without going over the edge. It is so difficult to be the first guy through those conditions, especially on the last lap. The track was still very wet and the grip was low. I'm pretty happy we didn't have to do more laps. I knew I had to take every opportunity. You never know if you’ll get another chance and I wasn’t about to come back second because I didn’t risk it on the restart.”
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 . While you can find more on Park Place Motorsports at www.ParkPlaceMotorsports.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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