Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler experienced an up and down weekend in the Team Falken Tire car at Virginia International Raceway in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS).
The Porschenstein, as christened by this author, is a 2010 model 911 GT3-RSR that has been upgraded by the team to feature many of the 2013 aero parts featured on the 2012 car before it was written off in the six car pile up in the last ALMS street race at Baltimore.
With a strong start to the race following a tenth place starting position, Henzler went wide in the opening 20 minutes of his opening stint meaning a trip to the pits in order to get the grass out of the cars radiator.
Due to the early pit stop, the Falken crew – headed by Derrick Walker – got an excellent pit stop strategy going and were as high as second at points, but lack of pace towards the end of the race saw them finish in eighth place.
Sellers said: “First of all, I think it is very important to take a look at our team in this particular situation. Our Team Falken Tire guys were perfect all day. They were fast in the pits and were able to gain us spots on every single stop. They are so dependable and fast that I look forward to the time when a pit stop comes! We didn’t have all the speed needed to be successful at VIR so it was up to them to give us an opportunity, and they did.”
For Sellers, the last race of his ALMS career before moving to the Tudor United Sportscar Championship is his home race at Road Atlanta for the season closing Petit Le Mans. Based just down the road, Sellers can have the luxury of staying in his own home before hopefully taking Falken to a strong finish: “I love being able to close our season at a home race. Everything we do in the second half of the season is geared towards Petit Le Mans. In the past, we have raced well in endurance races and this one will have to be no different!”