Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Bryce Miller Look to Build on Team’s Third-Place Showing Last Year at The Glen
WATKINS GLEN, New York (June 30) – Coming off of the team’s best performance of the season one race ago in Detroit, Paul Miller Racing will be looking for its first 2016 win and second-straight podium finish at Watkins Glen International in Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen with Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Bryce Miller co-driving the team’s No. 48 Lamborghini Huracán GT3.
Earlier this month in Detroit, Sellers put the No. 48 on the GTD class pole in what was the first top qualifying effort for a Lamborghini this season in its first year of competition in the IMSA WeatherTech series.
Sellers then led the first 15 laps of the Detroit race before a slight bobble on a restart knocked the No. 48 from winning contention.
Snow took over, set the fourth fastest GTD lap of the race in his closing stint – the quickest for a Lamborghini and trailing only the top-three race finishers – and took the checkered flag in Detroit in eighth place.
The encouraging Detroit race came before a recent Balance of Performance (BoP) rules adjustments that gives the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 the benefit of 2.0 mm larger air restrictors starting this weekend at The Glen.
“I think it’s always hard to predict the performance of a race until you actually get there,” Sellers said. “But, with that being said, I think the overall feeling heading into Detroit is that we would struggle for speed, and that didn’t seem to be the case. I hope that means we will be strong as we head into Watkins Glen. The BoP did come in our favor a bit and without question that will help to close the margin.”
A first-year driver with Paul Miller Racing like Sellers, Snow is very optimistic heading to The Glen following Detroit and the recent rules adjustment.
“I am definitely feeling a lot more confident than the last few races,” Snow said. “Very excited for The Glen. We will just have to see when we get on track, and into the race how to balance it, but it looks like IMSA did a very good job with these last few changes.”
The team will also have the benefit of endurance-race specialist Bryce Miller returning the No. 48 team for the first time since the 12 Hours of Sebring in March.
Bryce Miller, along with then team co-drivers Christopher Haase and Dion von Moltke, finished third last year in the No. 48 in the Sahlen’s Six Hours.
“I really like this race and this track and we have traditionally been fairly competitive at The Glen,” Bryce Miller said. “The last time I drove with the team this year we worked hard together for a sixth-place finish at Sebring, which is still our best result this season. I believe the Lamborghini is a better race car now, and our team is certainly more familiar with the Huracán GT3 as well. I am really looking forward to Watkins Glen.”
The Glen race is Round Three of the 2016 Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup, a four-race championship within the overall IMSA WeatherTech series at the long-distance races.
At six hours, The Glen is the shortest endurance race of the year behind the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans, which is 10 hours in length.
“For me, it is still a sprint race,” Snow said. “The only thing I see as changing is adding a third driver, Bryce, which changes our seat time and how we all discuss the car in debriefs.
“But on track and in the days leading up to it, I don’t consider The Glen much of an endurance race, especially for the teams that are running three drivers. Each driver usually only will get in the car once.”
For Sellers, who co-drove to victory in last year’s Sahlen’s Six Hours in the GTLM class, The Glen has never seemed like an endurance race.
“It seems strange to say this, but it really never feels like an endurance race to me,” Sellers said. “The pace of the race is always so fast, it allows for very little margin of error. There are just enough pit stops to make it challenging, and important to have good track position, but few enough stops that it’s difficult to fight your way back from mistakes.”
Practice for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen begins tomorrow, Friday, July 1, at 11:25 a.m. EDT, with GTD qualifying on Saturday, July 2, at 3:40 p.m. EDT.
Race-day Sunday begins with a 20-minute warm-up at 8 a.m. with the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen scheduled to go green at 10:10 a.m. EDT.
Noteworthy
– Sellers believes perfection is the key to success at Watkins Glen. “You have to get it right, in every corner,” Sellers said. “Many tracks have corners that are important to overall lap time but very few have every corner that is important to overall lap time like The Glen. The length and the complexity make it difficult, challenging and certainly a driver’s favorite.”
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