Bryan Sellers Appreciates Technicality of Turns at Fast and Furious CTMP

Racecar drivers like Bryan Sellers love speed. That comes as little surprise. However, it is not the full-throttle blasts down Canadian Tire Motorsports Park’s (CTMP) long straightaways that appeals the most to the Braselton, Georgia-resident. Rather, it is the desire for challenge that is the true inspiration. In fact, coming to one of the fastest tracks in the world, it is not the fast and furious pace of the 2.49-mile, 10-turn facility that draws the interest of the driver of the No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR, but the technicality of the track’s slowest complex of turns, 5a and 5b. Sellers knows it will be getting the slowest corners at the track right that will allow he and teammate Wolf Henzler (Germany) to go for two TUDOR United SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) class victories in a row on Sunday, July 12.

 

The longtime pairing drove to a dramatic and unexpected class win at the Six Hours of The Glen two weeks ago. They are currently tied for third in the class driver rankings at the season’s midpoint. To challenge in the factory team-laden class at CTMP at Sunday’s Mobil 1 Sportscar Grand Prix Presented by Hawk Performance, the duo will need to get Turns 5a and 5b correct every lap of the two-hour and 40-minute sports car race.

 

Drive Through the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park Turns 5a and 5b with Bryan Sellers: “My favorite turn to drive the Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park is actually a combination of corners: 5a and 5b. This complex of turns is a little different than the rest of the circuit, which are all high-speed corners. 5a and 5b combine a high-speed approach with a very technical exit. 5a has an uphill approach which allows you to brake very late. The technicality in the corner comes as you crest the hill. The climb is very steep and the brake zone is very short which gives you very little room to modulate the brake pressure. It is very easy to lock the front tires entering the corner. When you lock a front tire in 5a, it destroys the entry to 5b – which is also famously known as Moss Corner, and in turn the exit of 5b. That magnifies one mistake through the turns and onto the long straight. The combination of the two corners must be perfect to maximize the lap time and the passing opportunities down the straightaway. Get it wrong and you have essentially destroyed a whole lap. So, while we all think of CTMP as incredibly fast, and it is, the truth is you find a lot of that speed in the slowest part on the circuit.”

 

Want to learn more about the “behind the scenes” world of professional sports car racing? Be sure to check out Bryan’s blog at www.FlatSixes.com. The regular feature of the longtime Falken Tire factory driver shows various aspects of what it takes to succeed in endurance GT racing. His first blog studied the terminology used by professional drivers in describing handling. His latest, goes through the six stages of tire testing.

 

Sunday’s Round Seven of the TUDOR GTLM Championship continues a streak of races that Sellers and Team Falken Tire will campaign in the coming weeks of the summer. The green flag will fall at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST), Sunday, July 12. FOX Sports 1 will broadcast the race live. IMSA.com will provide audio coverage of every on-track lap, including practice and qualifying while video streaming of qualifying will be available on the IMSA web site beginning at 4:40 p.m., Saturday, July 11. The weekend’s activities can be followed on Twitter with the hash tag #Mobil1SGP.

Adam Sinclair