American Sports Car Ace to Run Rolex 24 with Burtin and CTSCC Year with Fall-Line 2012 is setting-up to be another landmark season for Bryan Sellers. The Braselton, Ga.-resident will launch the follow-up to his most successful year of sports car competition to-date with twin Grand-Am-sanctioned events at the Daytona International Speedway (DIS) later this month: the 50th Anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Grand-Am 200 in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC). Sellers - who finished second in the GT class of the 2011 Rolex 24 - will run the No. 17 FOAMETIX/Burtin Racing with Goldcrest Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in Grand-Am's Rolex Sports Car Series GT class and the No. 46 Fall-Line BMW M3 Coupe in the CTSCC GS class. The young American who stepped into the sports car spotlight in 2011 will first pilot the two entries during the January 6-8 "Roar Before the Rolex 24 At Daytona" on the 3.56-mile, 12-turn speedway road course.Sellers has signed to run with Fall-Line Motorsports throughout the 2012 CTSCC season with team owner Mark Boden (Winnetka, Ill.) as co-driver. The team is a full-service sports car racing and road car performance provider based in Buffalo Grove, Ill. with extensive Grand-Am experience. Sellers previously co-drove with Boden in select CTSCC events in 2010. The CTSCC is a ten-event season opening with a two hour, 30-minute race on Friday, January 27 at DIS. The season closes September 29 at a yet to be announced venue. While the Fall-Line-prepared BMW M3 Coupe is an excellent contender for the GS championship, Sellers will be forced to miss the May 12 round at New Jersey Motorsports Park as a result of prior racing commitments. As such, his chance for a driver championship is limited. However, his contributions to the team's title efforts will be significant. While his racing skill gives the No. 46 excellent opportunities for race wins, his testing and development expertise provides considerable advantage even when he is not on-site. For the Rolex 24, Sellers's off-season task has been to place himself with the operation most likely to continue his string of successes in the race. In addition to his 2011 podium result, he also earned a third-place finish driving a TRG Motorsports Porsche in 2008. After considering offers from several past race-winning programs, Sellers signed to drive the FOAMETIX/Burtin Racing with Goldcrest Motorsports Porsche based on the team's reputation for preparing competitive entries and its stellar driver lineup. The former open wheel-racing champion will share the green and yellow No. 17 with past Rolex 24 winner Jack Baldwin (Marietta, Ga.), team-owner Claudio Burtin (Marietta, Ga.), Sebastian Asch (Germany) and Martin Ragginger (Stuttgart, Germany). Sellers raced in six CTSCC events in 2011 for Kinetic Motorsports driving a BMW M3. He entered two Rolex Series events finishing second in the Rolex 24 At Daytona GT class with Paul Miller Racing and fifth with Magnus Racing in the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen. The two Grand-Am rides come in addition to Sellers's racing and development driver role with Team Falken Tire in the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón (ALMS). Sellers will open the ALMS season in the No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR at the 60th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 17. Quotes
Bryan Sellers:
About his expectations for the two Grand-Am programs in 2012:"The prospects of doing well in Grand-Am look very good on paper. Fall-Line Motorsports has been one of the top GS teams for quite some time. Their commitment and preparation have made them a winning program and I am very excited to be joining an organization such as theirs. As for the Rolex 24, Burtin Racing has always had a great car with a lot of bad luck. I am very optimistic in what has been put together. If you look over the results you will see that they have always had one of the quickest cars and this year could be a chance to turn-around all the bad luck into good. I have had the opportunity to drive with Martin (Ragginger) many times and know his capabilities. Together with the rest of the driver lineup we should have a good chance. I am really looking forward to the 2012 race season!"About the mental and physical challenges of a busy 2012 race season: "The traveling always takes a toll on your body. With the off-season being so short nowadays it makes the training regimen very difficult. However, I feel as if I am in the best shape I have ever been in and mentally I am prepared for a long year. I am looking forward to the challenge of it."About signing with Fall-Line: "I am so pleased that the Fall-Line deal has finally come together. It is something that we have both been working on for quite some time. I had the opportunity to run with them in a few races in 2010 and Mark Boden and I had a chance to win the two races we were in together. Unfortunately, we were not able to take advantage of the opportunity then but I think that will change in 2012. I feel like this year we will have a lot of chances to win races and we need to make sure we closeout those chances. Mark is a great person and I feel like we will both have a lot to offer each other. My goal from the start of the season will be to win as many races as possible and to try and get Mark a championship. Fall-Line has proven they can be a championship team and I would love to be a part of bringing the champion's trophy to their shop."About signing with FOAMETIX/Burtin: "This is a great opportunity for me. The FOAMETIX/Burtin program has overlooked no detail and they have put their best foot forward to try and win the Rolex 24. Daytona is always a difficult race to predict, it always pulls-in heavy hitters and that's why everyone wants to win it. I feel very confident that we will be on pace and competing for the win. The Rolex 24 is all about execution and hopefully we do that better than the rest."About his objectives for the Daytona test days: "My goal for the test is to reacclimatize myself with both programs and try and to start the season off on a good foot. It is always a little more challenging to balance two programs at the same time but it is something that I love to do. I think it sharpens me and brings more to each team."
