WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (July 4, 2016) – Paul Miller Racing and team drivers Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Bryce Miller endured a challenging Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International on Sunday where a pair of early tire issues and a related differential problem knocked the team’s No. 48 Castrol/Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 from contention.
The tough day was all the more disappointing considering the Paul Miller Racing team and drivers got the best performance out of the Lamborghini they have all season in practice and qualifying on Friday and Saturday.
After ranking as high as sixth in practice, Snow qualified the Lamborghini fourth and started the race from the third GT Daytona (GTD) grid position after the pole-winning car failed technical inspection.
“We definitely had the best race car we have had all year,” Snow said. “It just shows that at every race we are learning a lot more about this car. We look in every direction and keep finding things that work. We had a quick race car and had some quick laps.”
After running as high as third in the opening laps, Snow had two left rear tires go down within the first 90 minutes of the race.
He masterfully stayed under control each time but the No. 48 likely sustained ultimately terminal damage to the differential and axle assemblies when Snow was forced to drive the stricken Lamborghini back to the pits around the 3.4-mile circuit.
“It’s frustrating to see this all happen,” said Bryce Miller, who followed Snow in the driving order. “We had two left rear tires go down and saw that the No. 6 Audi also had three tires go out on their left rear too. It belies some question as to whether there might be an issue there or not, but everyone was safe and I am sure it will be determined what happened.”
After a pair of lengthy repairs in the paddock, Sellers took the track for the first time in the race’s final hour. He did less than two laps before the team, realizing no improvement in position could be made, wisely elected to retire the Lamborghini with next weekend’s race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park fully in mind.
“It was a really tough day for everybody at Paul Miller Racing,” Sellers said. “Days like this are super unfortunate when you have a great race car and the guys have worked hard to prep the car and get everything ready for the race.
“Today just seemed like it was one thing after the other. You want to take the opportunities when you have a good race car to make the most out of it, and unfortunately today we just didn’t have the chance. You just have to take the positives out of it, we had a good race car, and now we will just reload and go back at it next weekend at Mosport.”
Previously known as Mosport, the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park race can be seen live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) at 11 a.m. EDT next Sunday, July 10.
Follow Paul Miller Racing at www.PaulMillerRacing.com, on Twitter @PaulMilleracing and at the Official Team Page on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PaulMillerRacing.
