Team Falken Tire Driver to Race in Eighth Sports Car Race in Eight Weeks
After nine months and eight races, Bryan Sellers comes to the final round of the 2013 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) season this Saturday. For the last time of the season, the Braselton, Ga.-resident will pilot the No. 46 Trim-Tex Drywall Products/BCKSTGR Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 with co-driver Mark Boden (Winnetka, Ill.) in the two-hour, 30-minute race as part of the GRAND-AM Championship Weekend presented by BMW at Lime Rock Park. The CTSCC tally for the year to-date includes two victories (Watkins Glen and Indianapolis) and Sellers is eager to add a third CTSCC race win to end the year on a high note.
Bryan Sellers in the Trim-Tex BMW. Image by Wes Duenkel Lime Rock falls in a string of eight races in eight weekends for Sellers dating back to the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón event at Road America on August 10. Counted in the tally are two "double weekends" when Sellers raced both the CTSCC and the Rolex Sports Car Series races for Fall-Line (Kansas Speedway and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) on the same weekend. Saturday, he will focus on supporting Boden's effort for a top-five finish in the CTSCC point standings. The future holds two more races in three weeks to close the season. Those ALMS races will come at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) on October 5 and Petit Le Mans in Braselton, Ga. on October 20. Sellers travels to Lime Rock from Austin, Texas's Circuit of the Americas (COTA). The three-time winner in the ALMS GT class, teammate Wolf Henzler (Germany) and Team Falken Tire were able to rebound from a massive accident at Baltimore (August 31), entering the COTA round of the ALMS held on September 21 with a highly modified and updated 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Despite a trying week of tuning the car, the program was able to secure a seventh-place finish, the highest-placing Porsche in the field.Lime Rock Park's 1.5-mile, seven-turn track provides the road racing equivalent of a short track oval in intense competition. The quick lap times and difficult passing options provide high drama for the end of the year. With teams eager to prove themselves entering the off-season, the passion for a podium finish grows even stronger. In 2012, Sellers/Boden finished second in this race having led 12 laps.The upcoming CTSCC finale will mark the first time of the season that the series will split the ST class and GS class cars into two separate races. Practice and qualifying will take place on Friday, September 27 with the race taking the green flag at 9:50 a.m. ET on Saturday, September 28.Timing and scoring for all sessions can be found at www.GRAND-AM.com. The race will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1, Sunday October 6 at 5 p.m. ET. Live coverage will be available online at www.SPEED2.com. QuotesBryan Sellers:On ending the CTSCC season: "You always want to end the season on a high note. We have had some good races with the Trim-Tex/Fall-Line BMW this year, and we have had some bad luck. I definitely want to end on a good note. Last year we had a very good car here at Lime Rock and were able to be very fast. I hope we can carry that into this year and end on a high note!"On the mental and physical strains of the schedule: "It has been a very difficult stretch of the season, I won't deny that. But it is what I love to do so it has not been too challenging mentally or physically. I think the more you drive the better peak form you are in. I really enjoy the grind!"On the BMW at Lime Rock: "The BMW is strong in areas where there are long sustained corners, where minimum speed is placed at a premium. Lime Rock fits that mold. It is a difficult place to pass so track position will be very important. The Fall-Line team will, as always, do a great job to take care of that aspect of the race from pit lane. My job is to take care of business out on the track!"On how the strategy will change with only GS cars on track: "The amount of yellow flags changes substantially without the ST cars out there. This in turn will affect how you play the race out. You have to stay on top of all the situations that can and will happen and be able to adapt to those things. I think the strategy, more than anything, is impacted when it is a GS-only race."On what it takes to win at Lime Rock: "It will take perfection to win at Lime Rock! A lot of cars have been very strong from the middle of the season onward. To be able to stand on top of the podium we are going to have to execute perfectly! We've done it twice before this season so we know we have it in us."On the ALMS program: "It has been a tough couple of races in ALMS for Team Falken Tire. We have had some really bad luck and some huge struggles. Everyone on the team knows their job is to step up in difficult situations and deliver. We are a tight team and if nothing else we dig in and do it for each other. We have come a long way as a team over the years, part of that growing is finding ways to stay motivated in all situations."
