American Driver to Run Fall-Line's Audi R8 in Rolex and BMW in CTSCC on Saturday
Since signing with Fall-Line Motorsports for the 2013 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) season, Bryan Sellers was scheduled to come to Kansas Speedway's inaugural professional sports car race to pilot the No. 46 Trim-Tex Drywall Products/BCKSTGR Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 on August 17. However, on Monday of this week the Braselton, Ga.-resident was also asked to step into the team's No. 46 B+ Foundation Audi R8 GRAND-AM in Saturday's SFP Grand Prix Rolex Sports Car Series race. He'll co-drive in both the GRAND-Am sanctioned sports car events with Fall-Line principal Mark Boden (Winnetka, Ill.) at the Kansas City, Kan.-area track. Two great cars on the Great Plains!This will be GRAND-AM and Sellers' first visit to the 2.370-mile "roval" - a mix of a road course and an oval - at Kansas Speedway. Similar to Daytona International Speedway (DIS) where both the Rolex Series and CTSCC opened their season, the layout uses the oval track's banking while also cutting into the infield to create the road course portion. Again, like DIS, the track is expected to be quick in both the Rolex GT and CTSCC GS classes for production-based racecars. An Audi won in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Fall-Line BMW ran competitively raising expectations for this weekend.The Fall-Line Audi R8 is still very much in development. Sellers, who has built his career as one of the strongest development drivers in the paddock for both chassis and tires - he is a Falken Tire factory driver - is being called upon to close the development gap as rapidly as possible. He will couple that with his racecraft, his ability to race wheel-to-wheel has helped the Boden-Sellers combination to two CTSCC victories (Watkins Glen and Indianapolis) in the last three races. Sellers tested the mid-engine Audi recently for Fall-Line in a private test near Chicago.The weekend will be very hectic for Sellers and Boden as the pairing jumps between the two Fall-Line cars. Activities open with a test day for both the Rolex Series Audi and the CTSCC BMW on Thursday. Official CTSCC practice begins at Noon (Central Time) on Friday followed by the first Rolex Series practice at 1 p.m. Each series will have a second practice before CTSCC GS class qualifying gets underway at 7:35 p.m. Friday evening. The 15-minute Rolex GT qualifying will begin at 9:25 p.m. The two-hour, 30-minute CTSCC race will take the green flag at 3 p.m. on Saturday while the two-hour, 45-minute SFP Grand Prix Rolex Series race will start the countdown to the checkered flag at 7 p.m. Timing and scoring for all sessions can be found at www.GRAND-AM.com.Sellers' debut in the No. 46 Audi R8 can be seen live on FOX Sports 2 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. The Motor Racing Network will provide radio coverage on www.GRAND-AM.com and www.MotorRacingNetwork.com. Twitter users can follow by using #SFPgrandprix.The CTSCC race will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1, Sunday August 25 at 3 p.m. ET.
Quotes
On racing the B+ Foundation/Fall-Line Audi R8: "Audi has a great track record in building successful racecars and that includes the GT R8. Mark and everyone at Fall-Line have chosen Audi as their partner to move forward into GT racing, and I trust their judgment. I think the B+ car will be very strong and I hope that we will be in a position to race the R8 to a podium finish!"On developing the Fall-Line Audi R8 during the Kansas weekend:"Every weekend consists of development, certainly some more than others. I think this weekend will be a combination of both development and competition. We have to be able to learn as much as possible to try and prepare for future races as well as next season. We have a lot of work to do so anytime on track is valuable. Having said that, we will be there to try and win at all costs." On his expectations for the weekend in the Audi: "Daytona was very strong for the Audi and Kansas is a very long oval. Hopefully there is some correlation there. The oval portion of Kansas is similar to Daytona, however the road course is significantly different. I am not sure what to expect but I am hoping and working for the best outcome possible."On the opportunity to race two events in one weekend with Fall-Line: "My relationship with Fall-Line is very strong. I love being a part of this program and I love having Mark as a co-driver! Over the last couple of years we have become very good friends. He is someone I look up to and turn to for advice. That is very important for me to have that in a working relationship, and a personal one. When the Audi program came around they asked if it was something I would be interested in and, of course, I said 'yes'. Fall-Line runs a great program and I am looking forward to seeing it grow."On learning a new car and a new track at the same time: "Learning the Audi will be the most difficult part, I have not spent much time in the car. Fortunately, the track does not seem extremely difficult so it will allow me to have more time focusing on the B+ Audi R8."On running two races in the same day: "It's a great opportunity. Racing in both the Challenge and Rolex series will give us much more time to try and develop ourselves for both races. I am really looking forward to all the driving!"On his expectations for Kansas Speedway: "I am not sure what to expect from Kansas. It will be our first trip there and we have been very strong the last couple of races, so I hope this one is no different."
On returning to the Trim-Tex/Fall-Line BMW after winning two races and missing the most recent round: "I am very excited to get back into the Trim-Tex BMW. I missed the last race and it was very difficult watching that race and not being involved in the driving. We do get the chance to try again this coming weekend though so I am eager to get back into the car and pick up where we left off."
