SPEEDWAY, IN (Sunday, September 17, 2023) — The Paul Miller Racing team clinched the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with one race to go by finishing a solid third today at the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Co-drivers Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers notched their second GTD championship as a pair, following the GTD honors in 2018. While that title went down to the wire, however, this year they clinched with a race to spare.
The Quartz Engine Oil-backed squad does not even need to attend the season-ending Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta and would still remain series champs.
In addition to the season-long title, the duo also notched the IMSA Sprint Cup for the second consecutive year. The championship-within-a-championship for races two hours, 40-minute or less was clinched as soon as the No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 took the green flag to start today’s race.
Snow started from pole, not just of the GTD class, but first of all the GT cars, and maintained that position through the first pit stop. The team would be caught out by a yellow and drop to fourth through the middle stint of the race, but kept their nose clean and used a flawless final pitstop to catapult themselves back into first.
Through the end of the race, it was up to Bryan Sellers to maintain the championship position over the No. 27 to ensure the No. 1 would come out on top of the points. With two charging non-championship contending cars fighting hard for the victory at all costs, Sellers wisely focused on maintaining the gap needed to the No. 27 to win the title, ultimately coming home third in the race—but taking championship glory.
“This has been a dream of a season, and to lock up the title with one race to go, it just doesn’t get much better,” Paul Miller Racing team owner, Paul Miller, said.
“I’m so proud of everyone on this team. Madison has shown his incredible maturity and growth this year, and today was no different. Bryan has been key in so much of our success, whether it’s through hard charging like at Watkins Glen or keeping an eye on the big picture in really difficult conditions like today. And this team, I cannot say enough about all of them.
“They work tirelessly to make this car the best that it can be, and that has paid off this season. And, their pit work is second-to-none in this field. It wasn’t just today’s result that was made possible by their amazing work, it is every result we’ve had this year. Congratulations to this entire team. What a year.”
The Paul Miller Racing team led 48 laps en route to their third-place finish. The 300 points earned through that result puts them 405 ahead of the No. 27, more than the 385 on offer at Petit Le Mans.
Despite wrapping up the season-long and Sprint Cup titles today, PMR is also still in contention for the Michelin Endurance Cup, comprising the four endurance races held during the year. The No. 1 sits in third position, just four points off the lead.
“How do you even start to explain the feeling of winning a championship and making history at the same time?” Paul Miller Racing team manager, Mitchell Simmons, said.
“This year has been unreal. Five wins in a single season, a new record, and two more podiums to back it up. And I’m just massively grateful to every member of this team for their efforts to make it happen. But, we aren’t done yet.
“Yes, we have the championship wrapped up, but we still have one more title to fight for and a home race to run. I know that even though we already clinched the championship, every member of this team is already looking at what else we can do at Road Atlanta. What other history can we make?”
The 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship comes to a close next month, with the 10-hour final event, Petit Le Mans, at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. It will be a celebratory event for the Paul Miller Racing team, as newly-crowned champions getting to race in front of their home crowd. The Paul Miller Racing shop is located just down the road from Michelin Raceway—in Buford, GA.
Madison Snow
“As a team, Paul Miller Racing accomplished exactly what we came here to do. We wanted to lock up the championship and come home with hardware—and we did exactly that. The strategy and pit stops were on point all day, the crew did amazing work all weekend to put us in a position where we could contend for the win. It was a really tough race for us as the traffic was absurd, way too many cars on this track but we managed to survive. I really want to thank our spotters for the job they did today making sure we got through all that traffic clearly. And of course, Bryan. He did an excellent job fighting through the field for more than two hours. I’m glad he was the one in for the tough stints today and, as expected, as he executed flawlessly.”
Bryan Sellers
“It’s pretty amazing and it’s starting to sink in a little bit now. Race wins are great and winning is what we come for—but the championship is just such a reward for everybody. It just shows the season-long effort and commitment and the work that everybody has put in has paid off. I’m just so happy that we were able to do it. We’ve had a lot of good years at Paul Miller Racing, but this goes down as our best one as a program. It will be great to reflect this week and really think about how special this has been. In the moment, when you’re racing, you don’t want to get ahead of yourself. But, now we can enjoy it for a moment—before we have to get ready to go racing again that is!”
