Sellers: “I’ve Had My Eye On Doing PWC For a Long Time”

Bryan Sellers says his full season deals with K-PAX Racing in Pirelli World Challenge and Paul Miller Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship have him in the unique position to contend for two different championships with two different GT3 manufacturers this year.

Sellers and Paul Miller Racing co-drivers Madison Snow, Bryce Miller, Andrea Caldarelli, and Dion von Moltke finished a solid seventh in a stout GT Daytona field in the Rolex 24 at Daytona to start the IMSA season in January in the team’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3, while Sellers has begun testing in anticipation of the start of the World Challenge season next week in his K-PAX McLaren 650S GT3.

Speaking on this week’s Sportscar365 Double Stint Podcast, Sellers said he’s thankful for the opportunity to chase a title in both series.

“I think it is pretty unique: the opportunity to drive for two different manufacturers, and I would say two successful manufacturers worldwide,” Sellers told Sportscar365. “The good part about this for me is its it’s just a constant book of knowledge.

“You continue to learn, continue to drive different cars, get different tricks from each place you go, learn from different drivers. In terms of what it can offer me going forward, it is pretty exciting.”

Sellers said his dual programs came together due to a confluence of hard work and good timing.

“The Paul Miller thing came around again from last year because I think Madison and I had a really good run, a strong second half of the season,” he said.

“We felt that we had all of the pieces to come back and win a championship run at it if we could just have a little bit more luck than we had last year. We all renewed moving forward hoping that we could take it to the defending champs.

“The K-PAX deal has been something that I’ve chased for a long time. I’ve had my eye on doing World Challenge for a long time. I know a lot of the people over there from back in the Porsche RSR days, a lot of the people running the operation.

“For me, I’ve always wanted to be a part of that program and this year the opportunity presented itself with Austin Cindric going and doing the [NASCAR Camping World] Truck Series, it left an opening.

“I guess it was one of those things where it was right place, right time. You continue to stay in contact with people and hope that it pays off. This time, it did.”

For Sellers, who has made sports car racing his career since debuting in Grand-Am and the American Le Mans series in 2005, World Challenge presents an opportunity to race in a car that is all his own for the first time since 2004 in Formula Atlantic.

Even without co-drivers for the Sprint rounds, he expects the team element of K-PAX to feature prominently all season.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve done any individual racing,” he said. “It means the better part of my career has been spent sharing the car with somebody and learning how to work with somebody and make compromises that are good for the both of you.

“To come into more of a sprint racing format will be a little bit different. At the end of the day, it’s still a team, especially on the K-PAX side of things.

“The owner wants to go out and win championships, and I think in his ideal world, if [teammates] Alvaro [Parente] and myself finish 1-2 in no particular order, and Mike Hedlund wins the [GTA] championship, then we have to look at that as our goals.”

Sellers said the response he got to his programs from both of his teams and manufacturers has been positive.

“I think it’s interesting because both parties involved were happy to help,” he said. “Most manufacturers and teams seemed happy and eager to make it happen.

“For them, I don’t think it’s such a bad thing. I know from a team’s perspective, they’re looking at it and saying, if I can take my driver and get him double the seat time, double the races, and continue to get track knowledge because they go to some of the same tracks, then there’s no real downside for me.

“From that outlook, it was really good and it was an easy sell. I know Paul was really happy for me to be able to have another program to race in.

“The K-PAX guys and [Flying] Lizard crew knew going in that the Paul Miller deal was already existing, and they were more than happy to allow me to be a part of that.”

Click here to listen to the full interview with Derani on this week’s Double Stint Podcast.