Sellers Reflects on “Pretty Special” GTD Title Clinch

Photo: Paul Miller Racing

Bryan Sellers said clinching the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD title one race early is a “pretty special” achievement, following a banner year for the Paul Miller Racing squad.

Sellers and co-driver Madison Snow locked up the championship with a race still to spare by finishing third in class in Sunday’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with their No. 1 BWM M4 GT3 crucially coming home ahead of nearest title rival The Heart of Racing.

“It’s hard to really reflect until it’s done,” Sellers said. “Every single weekend, you’re just trying to do the best you can, try and execute the best you can.

“Up to this point, I feel like the team had done a really good job.

“We had some fortune today with some cars coming together. We got caught out by the yellow; we didn’t stop early enough and a couple of the other cars did. We got jumped out of the lead.

“Of course, as it were, the car that we had to beat was the 27 [Heart of Racing Aston Martin] and they came out in the lead.

“We had some things go our way. But in the end, we led quite a bit of the race but didn’t have enough for the 57 or the 78.

“As soon as those guys started to mix it up, our goal was to then just to beat the 27 and sit there with them and watch the race go, which was difficult to do.

“In the end we were able to achieve our goal. Today, I think a big part of that was the guys in the pits. The final stop was really fast and allowed us to jump back up to the front again.

“I’m just really proud of all those guys and the job they’ve done all year.”

When asked if there was a special win or moment of the season that stood out, Sellers pointed to the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, a race that saw Sellers, Snow and Corey Lewis bounce back from adversity.

“We were two laps down because we had an electronics issue — the steering wheel went bad as we came to green on a restart,” Sellers explained.

“With three hours left in the race we pitted to try and get a little bit off-strategy to the other cars and luckily the yellow fell just right and we were able to get a pass-around and a final wave-by all in the same yellow and were able to drive back to second.

“You always have these races that probably could have ruined you or make-or-break you and that was probably the one for us that made a big difference.

“We could have walked away with last place points but instead we walked away with second and I think that was a defining moment for us.”

With a class record five wins on the season, and the chance to make it six at Motul Petit Le Mans, Sellers admitted the significance of their achievements.

“It’s pretty special,” he said. “I’m getting up there in age a little bit so you definitely want to make an impact in any way you can.

“Having a year like this year makes an impact. I certainly have not had a year like this in my career before where we had five wins and clinch the championship a race before the final race.

“It’s different and I think it’s very special. For the next week or so, it will be nice to sit back and take it all in and appreciate what we’ve been able to do as a group because we haven’t been able to do that yet.

“You would be a fool to not take a step back and enjoy this for a second.”

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