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Bryan Sellers Lands on Park Place for GRAND-AM Six Hours of The Glen

Bryan Sellers Lands on Park Place for GRAND-AM Six Hours of The Glen

American to Run Both Rolex Series and CTSCC Races at Watkins Glen

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., June 24, 2013 – A savvy Monopoly player knows that a chance to land on Park Place is a chance to secure your victory in the popular board game. For American sports car racer Bryan Sellers, landing a ride with Park Place Motorsports means a chance to secure a win in one of sports car racing’s biggest event. The Braselton, Ga.-resident will join the team’s regular drivers Patrick Lindsey (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Patrick Long (Playa del Rey, Calif.) in the No. 73 Children’s Tumor Foundation/Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car for Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on June 30. The GRAND-AM Rolex Series race is part of a double-header weekend for Sellers at Watkins Glen International. He will also continue in his regular Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) ride, the No. 46 Trim-Tex Drywall Products/BCKSTGR Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 he shares with Mark Boden (Winnetka, Ill.), at the Watkins Glen, N.Y.-area racetrack. That race will be run on June 29.

Bryan Sellers Lands on Park Place for GRAND-AM Six Hours of The Glen

Bryan Sellers joins Park Place Motorsports at The Glen.
Image courtesy of GRAND-AM.

Sellers opened the 2013 Rolex season with the most veteran of teams, Brumos Racing, but when that group mothballed its program for the remainder of the season, the former open-wheel racing champion was left looking for the right program for the second major endurance race of the GRAND-AM season. When Park Place Motorsports learned of the availability of the fast Porsche driver, Sellers was asked to join the first-year operation. That puts Sellers with the youngest team in the GT class. While the Dallas-based offshoot of one of the largest Porsche dealerships in the country is making only its sixth career start, it is still among the elite contenders for victory in the prestigious race held in Upstate New York.

Park Place by name is new to the GRAND-AM Rolex Series in 2013 but is far from a rookie organization. Formed on the strong structure of Horton Autosport and its very experienced partner/manager John Horton, Park Place entered two cars in its first race at Daytona in February and has entered as many as three this season. Led by Lindsey and Porsche factory driver Long, the team has proven fast and is currently sixth in the GT class team standings.

Sellers, who is a factory driver for Team Falken Tire in the American Le Mans Series, hopes to make it a double-win weekend as he returns to the No. 46 at the 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course. The team has been a regular at the front of the CTSCC GS class field this season but thus far has been unable to lockdown the podium result that it seems destined to achieve in the production car-based series. Sellers and Boden led the most recent race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with Sellers in prime striking position with less than 15-minutes remaining in the race when a late yellow negated the Fall-Line team’s race strategy and Sellers’ hard drive through the field. They finished fourth.

CTSCC will have a promoter’s test day on Thursday, June 27 with official practice scheduled for Friday, June 28. Sellers’ first opportunity to drive the Park Place Porsche will come when Rolex Series practice begins at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on Friday. CTSCC GS class qualifying will be held on Friday at 10:40 a.m. ET while the Rolex GT cars will set the grid for the “Six Hour” at 11:05 a.m. that same day. Timing and scoring for all sessions can be found at www.GRAND-AM.com.

The two-hour, 30-minute CTSCC race will start at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 29 with live web coverage on www.SPEED2.com where available. The race will air on SPEED, Saturday, July 6 at 4 p.m. ET. The Motor Racing Network will provide radio coverage of both events on www.GRAND-AM.com and www.MotorRacingNetwork.com.

The clock will begin on Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen with the 11 a.m. green flag on Sunday, June 30. The race can be seen live on SPEED.

Quotes

Bryan Sellers:

On joining Park Place Motorsports: “It is a real honor to be asked to join Park Place Motorsports. They are easily the best new Porsche team I have seen come along in a long time. To be asked to support their program and their partners, like the Children’s Tumor Foundation and Park Place Porsche, means a lot to me.

Patrick Lindsey has shown great speed this year and has been great in the races. I have raced against Patrick Long for years and he is easily one of the best in the business. It will be nice to have both of them on my side as opposed to going against them. I hope I can just bring an outside perspective to the program. I always like when a third driver comes aboard because they bring a new perspective. There might be something that you may have adapted to as the full time driver and they see it. It may be something that can really improve the program.”

On his role within the team: “Your role is significantly different when you’re asked to be the third in an endurance program. You have to get in and get the job done with limited track time. That does not, however, change how you approach the job. Every time you are in the car you give everything you have from all perspectives and try and be informative and helpful as possible. Being a third driver is all about being able to fit in with the current partnership and doing as good of a job as possible while creating as little waves as possible. So, I hope that is what the Park Place guys saw in me and that I’d be a good fit with the team. Whether I am the lead driver or the third at an endurance race, I always try to be a team player and bring my skills and experience to the table.”

On his Park Place co-drivers: “I spent some time with Patrick Lindsey over the winter in Germany doing some fitness training and we developed a good relationship. We got along really well. I have known Patrick Long for quite some time and we’ve become good friends. I feel really good about racing with these guys. I am going to do my best to fit in and contribute and I think it’s going to be a really fun weekend.”

The No. 46 Trim-Tex/Fall-Line BMW has threatened for victory all season. Image by Wes Duenkel

The No. 46 Trim-Tex/Fall-Line BMW has threatened for victory all season.
Image by Wes Duenkel

On his schedule over the weekend: “I am very lucky to be able to do get the chance to run both races this weekend. It means less down time. Fortunately, although Park Place is a new team, I know everyone there and feel very comfortable with the other drivers as well as the crew. Over the last year or so, the Fall-Line guys and I have been able to create such good line of communication that it is really efficient and productive. So, I feel confident in how this will work out. Both teams are in full support of what I’m doing. I raced here last year with Fall-Line in the Challenge race and TRG in the Six Hour so I am pretty comfortable with the schedule. I am really looking forward to both races.”

On the Trim-Tex/Fall-Line Motorsports car at Watkins Glen: “I am fully expecting to be competing for a race win at the Glen. If the Trim-Tex/Fall-Line car is anywhere as good as it was in Mid-Ohio, we will have a shot to win at Watkins Glen. We are way overdue for a podium finish and have been too strong all year for things to not eventually fall in our favor. I hope this weekend is that weekend.”

Patrick Lindsey, driver/principal, Park Place Motorsports:

On Bryan Sellers joining the team: “When the question of a possible third driver for the Six Hour was raised we didn’t have to scratch our heads long before Bryan’s name was thrown out there. I’ve watched him be fast in everything he drives, but beyond that he is consistent and smart; the exact combination we’ll need to have success at The Glen.

On the challenges of the Six Hour: “Watkins Glen is a very difficult, intimidating track that rewards confidence and precision. A driver needs the best possible car under him or her. John Horton and the Park Place crew put the best car under us at every venue and we’re going to need it when we face the competition on June 30th.

Porsche’s aren’t the fastest car in the field right now, but they are consistent and proven machines. If we can execute on pit lane and make smart decisions on track I know we’ll be there in the end to content for a win.”

On prospects for the race: “I love being the ‘new guys’ that always punch above our weight. It is an image that is in step with our amazing partners at Park Place Porsche, Children’s Tumor Foundation and HITRUST Alliance… partners who believe in making a difference in their respective arenas by going that extra mile.”

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