IMSA: Sellers provides boost for Paul Miller Racing

Leaving Canadian Tire Motorsport Park with Paul Miller Racing's first podium of the season confirmed the potency contained within the cockpit of the No. 48 Lamborghini Huracán GT3. Sports car veteran Bryan Sellers and rising star Madison Snow added to their pole position in the GT Daytona class at Detroit with a fine third-place run at CTMP, and with Sellers' newfound role as a pro driver and mentor in IMSA's Pro-Am GTD category, the Ohioan is also proving to be an invaluable asset to PMR.

Sellers entered last year's race at CTMP as the winner of the most recent GT Le Mans round at Watkins Glen with the Falken Tire Porsche program, and with Falken's exit at the end of 2015, he was forced to reroute his career from years in all-pro GTLM competition to IMSA's GT training ground.

As Sellers shares, the switch, which could have been received as a step down, has been treated as a fresh learning experience.

"I've really enjoyed it and it's been a lot of fun," he told RACER. "I had a great relationship with the Falken team and Wolf Henzler as my co-driver, so there was some natural questions on how something new with Madison and the team would come together; I'm sure they felt the same way, but it's been seamless for me. Working with Madison has been great; he's a lot younger than I am, and it's like a breath of fresh air with him.

"And coming from GTLM to GTD has been interesting in what's changed. It's just the car. That's it. When you're in GTLM or GTD, or any of the classes, you live in your own world and don't really keep track of the little things in the other classes. Now that I'm in GTD, what you see is the true depth."

Sellers made a name for himself in the manufacturer-rich GTLM class where sports car giants pilot each of the factory entries. With a half-season of GTD experience behind him, the 33-year-old says the same is true in his new battleground.

"I can't possibly name all the names because I'd forget some, but you have guys who are multiple ALMS champions, multiple Grand-Am champions, have won Daytona six or seven times, and that's in just a few of the cars," he said. "There's some sort of star in all of them. People tend to overlook the depth of the GTD field, and how closely the GT3 cars are matched. It's a pretty incredible thing we have going right now. It has a little less prestige than GTLM, which is a shame, because GTD deserves it."

Sellers is also impressed with his new team, which moved from the proven Audi R8 LMS to the Lamborghini for 2016.

"If you look at our results this year, we expected more from ourselves sooner, but that's because the Paul Miller team is so good," he said. "At the first race of the year, I was new to the team, Madison was new, and we didn't know where to take the car to get what we needed from it. But at the halfway point of the season, we've built a great working relationship, learned what the car needs, and our strength is ever increasing.

"If you look at how things went going into CTMP, we were close in a lot of races. We've been super strong at a lot of tracks, but had a few mechanical issues or tire issues that have taken us out of a good finish. But as a program, at this point in the season, we're in a really good position and we're still learning every day. That's the thing that has impressed me the most."

Sellers and Snow also gave Lamborghini's its first podium of the season, which bodes well for the new Huracán GT3 and the numerous teams using the V10-powered coupe.

"The lack of podiums [prior to CTMP] wasn't because of a lack of pace," he said. "We'd just missed a little bit here or there, and that was the frustrating part. It's one thing if you think the cars can't the job done, or the drivers can't get the job done, but that wasn't the case. Really, it was just a matter of time until everything clicked."