Fights Through GRAND-AM Field Twice to Capture Fourth-Place at Mid-Ohio‏

Ohio-native Bryan Sellers entered Saturday'sGRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) Diamond Cellar Classic with a simple straight-forward mission: reach the checkered flag and do it as high in the running order as possible. Mission accomplished for the Braselton, Ga.-resident. At the end of the two-hour, 30-minute race, Sellers would cross the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course finish line fourth in the GS class after racing through the field twice. The result in Lexington, Ohio was the highest of the year thus far for the No. 46 Trim-Tex Drywall Products/BCKSTGR Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 he shares with Mark Boden (Winnetka, Ill.). After several near misses at podium finishes, the team sees the result as a good turning point for the season.

Using a unique pit strategy for the GS class, the Fall-Line Motorsports team brought Boden, who had qualified 15th and worked up to 12th, in for the team's first of two pit stops 45 minutes into the race. The under caution stop for fuel, tires and a driver change came just short of the required minimum drive time for Boden. Being on top of their game, the Fall-Line operation held the Falken Tire Factory driver in the pit stall for approximately 30 seconds to make sure the minimum was met. Sellers returned to the race deep in the field when the green flag flew again.

Racing on native soil and at one of his favorite tracks, Sellers went on the attack. By the race's second yellow flag period, he had the No. 46 up to eighth. As the leaders pitted for their first time, the former open-wheel racing champion was into the top-three. He passed for second and, within a minute executed a textbook pass to take the lead with just over one hour remaining. From there, Sellers gapped the field by as much as five-seconds before making his second and final pit stop with 49-minutes left on the clock.

Now in 16th, the assault began again. Within ten-minutes, Sellers was 10th. Within ten more minutes, he was seventh. By this point, it was clear the race's leaders were on a fuel conservation strategy hoping for a late caution period to slow the field and save the remaining gallons they needed to reach the end without a second pit stop. With 15-minutes remaining, Sellers passed for fifth but was nearly run off course by one of the slower ST class cars. He held the position and was now within ten seconds of the leader. With just under ten minutes until time expired, the 2012 American Le Mans Series Most Popular Driver Award winner hounded fourth-place using a spinning ST car to make the move into fourth.

Sellers was now primed to move onto the podium when the yellow flag flew again to extract the ST car from a gravel trap. The caution slowed his pursuit and relieved the top-three of their fuel concerns. Now nose-to-tail with seven minutes until the finish, Sellers attacked but was unable to take the final move onto the podium. 

SPEED will broadcast the race on Sunday, June 23 at 4 p.m. ET. Sellers will return to the No. 46 Trim-Tex Drywall Products/BCKSTGR Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 for the next round of the CTSCC on June 29 at Watkins Glen International. Quotes

Bryan Sellers:

On the race: "It was a blast being able to drive through the field. It is extremely difficult to pass at Mid-Ohio, but that makes being able to come through the field a little bit more rewarding. The Trim-Tex/Fall-Line BMW was very strong on certain sections of the track and I just had to try and take advantage of those sections. The car was fantastic and I was able to push very hard and was able to stay consistently fast for the whole race.

All we need is a little good fortune to start winning! We had a great race and great strategy at Mid-Ohio. We were fast and raced well, the yellows just didn't fall in our favor. To win, everything has to be perfect and it will be sometime in the very near future for the Trim-Tex/Fall-Line Motorsports team. We led again and we were in the  position to win again. This is a tough series and if we keep putting ourselves in this same position, it will happen. We'll win." 

On the pass for the lead:  "I knew I had one chance at it because the Aston was very strong. I worked the pass for a couple of corners and when the opportunity presented itself I was able to take advantage of it. I knew when we got into the lead nobody would have an answer for us."

On his final pass for the day: "That was a double-edged sword. When the ST car spun it moved us into fourth but possibly cost us the win. All the other cars were very tight on fuel and the yellow that was brought out because of that spin allowed them to make it to the end."