Paul Miller’s Sellers, Snow Closing In on GTD Title

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

Bryan Sellers said he and co-driver Madison Snow are still taking the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season “race by race” despite entering next month’s round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a chance to clinch the GTD title.

Sellers and Snow scored their fifth class victory of the season in Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway following another controlling run in their No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3.

It came despite Sellers stepping out of the cockpit for the final stint due due an illness that saw Silver-rated Snow take the car to the checkered flag for the second consecutive race.

“I think how [Madison] has stepped up this year has been unbelievable,” said Sellers. “Like today… pardon my language but he really saved my ass today.

“I didn’t feel well all weekend and I had to tell him last night, ‘Listen, if I don’t get better, I’m going to need you.’

“You just have that trust in him all the time. I think we also have a great working relationship with everybody in the program and that helps. It speaks volumes to the team that Paul’s allowed us to build.

“One of the things that Madison and I have put quite a bit of focus on is being better together.

“We’ve put a lot of work into making sure we are leaving every stone unturned in terms of data review and video review.

“I think it’s definitely shown not just on his part but my part about the speed that we’ve had this year. I think that comes from being able to sit down together and have very serious and honest conversations about how to improve.

“I’m super thankful to be a part of this program with Paul Miller and Paul Miller Racing.”

Sellers said Snow’s ability to close out the race was one the the keys to their class victory on Sunday.

“Sports car racing is not ever about one person,” he said. “It’s about a whole team. And it’s just not about Madison and I, it’s about our crew and their stops.

“To date, they’ve been completely flawless as well.

“If you reflect on today, it was crucial because I did need him. I told him when we were done that there was no way I could have done the double [stint] because the driver change itself was a complete disaster.

“I got out of the car and the belts weren’t undone and I forgot to plug his radio in. You name it today… basically in the driver change I did it wrong.

“But that’s where continuity comes into play. We’ve done enough of these together that you can still fumble your way through it, do it quick and trust that when you shut the door, things are OK and it’s in good hands.”

The duo now hold a 375-point lead in the GTD standings over second-placed Roman De Angelis and Marco Sorensen, of The Heart of Racing, heading into the penultimate round of the season at The Brickyard, meaning Sellers and Snow could theoretically lock up the championship one race early.

A maximum of 385 points are up for grabs at each WeatherTech championship event.

However, Sellers is quick to point out that “anything” can still happen in the final two races.

“You always have to know where you’re at but at the end of the day the points never come easy but they [can] certainly go away very easily,” he said.

“With two rounds left, anything can happen.

“It’s always been our thing whether it’s something we do to stay away from the pressure or whatever, we just try to go race by race every single time.

“At the end of the day, if we evaluate it that way and we have a bad finish but it’s the best we can do, then there’s nothing else we can do about it.

“The next one is Indy so we have to see what happens.”

Snow, meanwhile, admitted he never envisioned the team scoring five wins — a class record — on the GTD season.

“Definitely not,” he said. “I think two was our record before with a whole bunch of podium finishes, and we know that podium finishes is what you need for a championship and for a great season.

“Pfaff, the year they won the [GTD Pro] championship, they had a lot of wins and had an excellent year.

“You look at that and think how good of a team that is and they did.

“No, we never thought that this was possible going into it.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John