Falken Tires proving superior in ALMS

Team Falken Tire and drivers Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler captured an impressive victory in their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR this weekend at the 2011 Inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix, round seven of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patr¢n season. In what turned out to be a heavy fought street fight around the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, the Falken Tire squad took their second GT victory of the year in front of a sold out crowd in what will no doubt become a marquee event in the ALMS schedule.

Henzler took the green flag in his #17 Porsche machine in the fifth position and managed to wiggle through carnage in Turn-1 of the narrow 2.04-mile circuit, picking up two positions in the process. The German driver immediately started reeling the leaders in showcasing the speed and grip of his specifically engineered Falken Tires. After putting the pressure on the leaders for many laps, Henzler pulled a daring outside pass for the lead around Turn-1 and got the position, for the rest of he stint he maintained a quick pace until Lap 35 when Team Falken Tire, operated by Walker Racing, brought him in for his one and only pit stop for new Falken tires, a full tank of fuel and a driver change.

The Team Falken Tire pit crew, lead by crew chief Nico Castellaccio, performed the quickest pit stop in the GT field and sent Sellers out on his way with one hour to go in the race. After a restart Sellers took advantage of contact between the top two running GT cars, picked up the lead in Turn-1 and never looked back. He led the remainder of the race and took the checkered flag for the second time this year. The team’s first victory came at Mid-Ohio earlier this year where the Team Falken Tire drivers took advantage of their superior Falken rain tires to survive monsoon conditions at the picturesque road course.

The Team Falken Tire crew will now head west to Monterey, California for the ModSpace American Le Mans Series Monterey presented by Patron. The six-hour race will take place at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on September 17th, and will be broadcast live on ESPN3.com at 3:15 PM ET, and tape delayed on ESPN2 on September 18th at 1PM ET.