SEBRING, FL (Friday, March 16, 2024) — It was an up-and-down day for Paul Miller Racing as the team sought to defend their 2023 victory at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
While they fought valiantly, Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Neil Verhagen would manage just a fourth place at the line.
The day started off well for the team, after starting sixth, the No. 1 iHeartRadio BMW M4 GT3 would cycle to the lead by lap 48, and lead a grand total of 26 laps over the opening stages of the race.
However, a slight miscue with the timing of the pass-around under caution with three hours to go would move the No. 1 to the rear of the IMSA GTD Pro class.
The team fought back despite the adversity and an increasingly ill-handling race car following 11+ hours of wheel-to-wheel battle, entering the final half hour in the sixth position.
Ensuing issues for cars ahead would promote the No. 1 and reward them with a fourth-place finish.
“I really think that was near the maximum we could have achieved today,” Paul Miller Racing team owner, Paul Miller, said.
“If you look at the pace of it all, we had about a fifth place car and could have challenged up to about third, so to finish fourth is something we can be really proud of. It just took us a roundabout way to get there.
“But, a third and a fourth in our first two races in GTD Pro I think is something everyone on this team can be proud of. We’ve worked hard to compete at this level and it’s nice to see that hard work pay off so quickly in the season.”
The fourth place at Sebring and third place at the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona have vaulted the Paul Miller Racing team into second in the GTD Pro championship, despite just stepping up to the Pro class this year.
Additionally, the team lead the Michelin Endurance Cup standings with two of five endurance rounds complete in the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Bryan Sellers
“It was a difficult day, but Sebring is always a difficult day—even when it ends up in a victory. We led a fair number of laps, we had a really strong showing through the heat of the day. But, then at night the balance of the car changed a little bit. We started to have bigger issues and bigger imbalances and we started to not have the same speed we had earlier in the day. But, when you zoom out and look at it, for all the ups and downs we had, the best we probably could have finished today was third and we ended up fourth. We’re still learning in GTD Pro and this class is difficult and we all sat there on the pit stand and made a mistake today. But I’m proud of how this team bounced back. They never gave up, and we’re leaving Sebring with still a really good result.”
Madison Snow
“I’m very excited to return to Sebring. We had a wonderful result last year due to the strategy and effort of the crew. The fans that attend make this an amazing race weekend every year, and it’s one of our few night races we have on the schedule. Night racing is something I always look forward to, due to the increased challenges it brings. Hopefully we can get a good result this year and get our third Sebring win as a team!”
Neil Verhagen
“First Sebring, P4! Ending up just shy of the podium is a little bittersweet, but I think we can be happy with P4 especially considering where we were with just a couple of hours left in the race. The team did a fantastic job to make those spots up and give us a chance to score more points today. It’s a little early to start thinking of the Michelin Endurance Cup championship, but it’s great to be leading it after two races. I think in general, we can be pretty happy with today. One small mistake in the middle, but I don’t think we had what a lot of the podium-finishing cars had in terms of pace. So, to still be able to finish P4 was a very solid effort from everyone. Thank you.”
