Sellers teams with Valentine in TRG Porsche

Bryan Sellers switched from open-wheel racing to sportscars in 2005 and never regretted his decision. The former karting ace has proven his ability to race any type of sportscar from the short two hour plus endurance sprints to the longer 12 and 24 hour events.

Bryan Sellers and Kevin Buckler. Photo by Eric Gilbert.

On March 27-29, Sellers will be sharing a Porsche GT3 Cup with RJ Valentine on the Homestead-Miami Speedway’s infield road course for the second round of Grand-Am Rolex Series competition in the GT class. TRG will enter the duo at selected events this year. Both drivers, in different TRG Porsches, drove for the Kevin Buckler-owned team at the 2008 season opener in Daytona.

“It’s an honor to be driving with RJ this season - the guy’s a legend! We were talking and he mentioned he’d raced the Rolex 24 22 times, I think, which means he’s got an abundance of experience,” commented Sellers. “RJ and TRG together have been right in the thick of it in the Grand-Am Rolex Series for the last few years, so I expect we’ll be pushing for victories every time out.”

In January 2008, Sellers came close to his first Rolex series victory at Daytona, along with Emanuel Collard, Romain Dumas, Tim George Jr. and Spencer Pumpelly, in the TRG No. 67 Porsche GT3 Cup. The team ended on the GT class podium in third.

Hailing from Centerville, Ohio, Sellers won the 1998 World Karting national championship. The following year, the up and coming open-wheel star competed in the Skip Barber Midwestern Region where again, he prove his talent by not only taking the rookie title but with his 15 victories, he took the series championship. The following season, he was the sub-champion in the Barber national series.

Continuing his climb up the ladder, he landed the 2002 Formula Ford North American title before landing a partial season ride with the former Lynx Atlantic team; he raced the full season as a Lynx team driver in 2004 with three podium finishes. Sellers, like many young drivers searching for the elusive ride in Champ Car, saw the handwriting on the wall and when the door opened to move to sportscar racing, he focused on his new adventure in racing.

Since 2005 and his first sportscar race, Sellers has never looked back. Instead he has had a great time driving the type of cars that many would envy: Panoz Esperante GTLM, the BMW M3s and Porsches.

Marino Franchitti, Bryan Sellers and Patrick Bourdais. Photo by Eric Gilbert.

Perhaps one of his best memories would be the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Sharing the Esperante with Marino Franchitti and Patrick Bourdais in the LM GT2 class was an experience that many drivers would like to have the opportunity. To compete on the famous La Sarthe circuit in France is a sportscar racer’s dream.

Sellers returns to Grand-Am racing in the Rolex Series with TRG, sharing the team’s Porsche GT3 Cup in the GT class with Valentine. The duo will run a limited schedule starting with the March 29th race in Homestead, Fla.

“Teaming up with Bryan for this year is a very exciting step for me. He’s proven himself to be a very quick study and a very fast driver in his racing in open wheel and sportscars, and I’m thrilled to try to learn from him this season,” said Valentine.

With seven starts in the GT class over the past three years, Sellers is not considered a newbie, considering in his first Rolex GT class race, he landed the pole!

His first challenge in Grand-Am came at the same track where he will join his new team and co-driver, Homestead’s road course is the site of his GT class pole when he qualified the Porsche for the TRG East team. It was not only his first time in a sportscar, but also his co-driver Ryan Dalziel. The two open-wheel Atlantic stars were breaking new ground.

“I need to thank Peter Baron, who actually runs the team, for taking a chance,” said Sellers after earning his pole on March 4, 2005. “He took a little bit of a chance with guys who were unproven in a GT car. It’s definitely a new experience. The two of us have never done any sort of tin-top racing, or long distance racing. I think the longest race that both of us have done is 45 minutes. So it’s a completely different ballgame for us. But we’re both really excited about being here and we’re looking forward to the race.”

In 2006, he ran with Peter Baron’s SAMAX Motorsports, aiding in the team’s seventh place finish in the prestigious Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Prior to this year’s Daytona 24 hours, Sellers’ best Rolex series finish came at Iowa Speedway last year with TRG. Spencer Pumpelly and Sellers started last on the GT grid due to an engine change and yet the duo fought back to take fourth in the race. Teammates Valentine and Andy Lally scored the victory.

Over the past three years, Sellers has proved that you can go from being a single-seater driver in competition to being a co-driver in sportscar racing. Valentine sums it up best, “Bryan is a meticulous sort of driver - he makes very few mistakes, is really accurate with his feedback and doesn’t do any damage to the equipment, which is very important! Already, in the testing we’ve done together, it’s clear we’re going to work very well together. Sportscar racing really is a team sport, and having a co-driver with whom you can gel is a large part of the equation for success.”

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