Elkhart Lake, WI (Saturday, August 7, 2021) — On a cloudy and rainy day at Road America, the Paul Miller Racing team found a bright spot in IMSA GTD points qualifying, where Bryan Sellers set the third fastest time, claiming vital championship points for the team.
The No. 1 Total lubricants-backed team started the day in dry conditions, setting the seventh fastest time in the opening practice session.
Then, it was Madison Snow that had the honors of piloting the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO during the first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship qualifying session to set the team’s starting position for Sunday’s two-hour, 40-minute race.
With the field on dry tires and the rain starting to fall, Snow set the eighth fastest time of the session. The No. 1 team, as well as the entire rest of the field, pulled into the pits with more than three minutes left in the session as increasing rain significantly slowed the laptimes during the session.
It was in the next 15-minute session, on Michelin wet-weather tires, that Sellers achieved his third-place lap.
“We have struggled this season to get grip in the tires, and that goes double when the track surface has been washed away like it has been here this weekend,” Paul Miller Racing team manager, Mitchell Simmons, said.
“With Friday not producing much usable data, we really weren’t sure where we would be on setup when we went into qualifying, but even with that uncertainty, the guys did a great job.
“Bryan and Madison both did incredibly well in tricky conditions and the team is looking forward to racing—rain or shine.”
The Paul Miller Racing team will roll off eighth for the 2021 Road America Sports Car Weekend race.
Live flag-to-flag coverage of the event will be available on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold beginning at 1:35 PM Central / 2:35 PM Eastern.
Same day network coverage will air on NBCSN beginning at 7:00 PM Central / 8:00 PM Eastern time.
Madison Snow
“Even though the qualifying session was 15 minutes, with the rain getting heavier, we really only had about seven or eight minutes of usable time to set a fast lap. It really made it tricky, because if you weren’t inch-perfect on your first, or maybe second, lap, you didn’t have another chance to go fast. We were able to set a decent time that I think is pretty representative of the pace of our car compared to the cars ahead. It’s going to be a battle, and we’ll have to execute perfectly, but I think we can get a good result here.”
Bryan Sellers
“I’m pretty happy with that result. We’re a little bit off the No. 9 car, but you learn a lot in these sessions. As a team, we haven’t spent that much time on these Michelin rain tires, so trying to figure out the best way to get the grip out of them is very important, even when you only have 15 minutes. That was really valuable information for us to have. It looks like it might be wet, and the car was pretty good in the rain, so we’ll see how we go!”
