IMSA – Team Falken Tire To Debut New Porsche 911 RSR

Team Falken Tire will make its competition debut in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida on March 15. The team that won the 2013 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta returns regular drivers Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler in the No. 17 Porsche 911 RSR for the ultra-competitive GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. Marco Holzer will join the team for this week’s testing at Sebring and the race. The team is racing a new Porsche 911 RSR, similar to the factory-backed car that won the recent Rolex 24 At Daytona. Nick Tandy, Richard Lietz and Patrick Pilet won in the debut of the Porsche North America team, driving the No. 911 Porsche.

“We expected the new Porsche to be really good at Daytona, but the fact that they won and the team’s second car was so competitive is very encouraging for us,” Sellers said. “It’s really exciting to see what it holds in the future for all of us driving Porsches.”

Several members of Team Falken Tire were at Porsche’s competition headquarters in Weissach, Germany last week, making final preparations to the car. It was shipped to Sebring, where the team will test it on Thursday and Friday.

“It’s going to be a tight schedule getting the car back, but we’re planning on being there to test,” Sellers said. “It’s going to be good to have everyone there, to get a good benchmark to see where everyone’s at. Sebring has been difficult for Porsches in the last couple of years. I’m sure the new car will do a lot of things better, including going over the bumps. That’s one of the places we’ve lost ground in recent years, and hopefully we’ll be better with the new car.”

Sellers has been driving for the team since Falken Tire joined the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón part time in 2008. The team went full time two years later and has been under the management of open-wheel racing team owner Derrick Walker since 2011. The team won two races among four top-five finishes in the ALMS.

“I love Sebring,” said Sellers, a three-time career winner in the ALMS. “It’s one of my favorite tracks. It’s a difficult track, and it’s one of the only tracks I can think of where you’ve got to give your maximum all the time. It has so much history that always makes that race very special. I love the event itself, with the multi-knowledgeable fans packing the place. It’s only going to be increased this year with the new series coming there for the first time.”

Fonte: www.imsa.com