LONG BEACH, Calif., April 15, 2012 - Limited track time - and not a single dry weather lap - was not enough to scare Bryan Sellers as he took the green flag for Saturday's Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach (Calif.). Instead, the Braselton, Ga.-resident stared down the challenge, answering it by setting the pace in the No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR he shares with Wolf Henzler (Germany). The Falken Tire factory ace drove the opening stint - just short of half-distance in the two hour American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón (ALMS) event - on Saturday afternoon moving the car from eighth-place in GT class to fourth. After a full-dry race, Team Falken Tire would take sixth in class, 12th overall, in the second round of the 10-race championship. The team was the highest-ranking Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

Sellers opened the single, two-hour practice session of the weekend for Team Falken Tire on Friday morning. However, an unusual Southern California rainstorm soaked the track and hampered any setup efforts on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street course. Sellers handed the car over to teammate Henzler and he would not set foot in the car again until the start of the race having never had a dry lap. Henzler, a renowned wet-weather racer, qualified the car in conditions that changed rapidly from dry to washout. Despite the No. 17 setting the quickest lap in class, qualifying was abandoned due to the weather and the field was set on team championship points - Team Falken Tire would start eighth, 23rd overall. It was determined to start Sellers and run the former open wheel-racing champion for the race's opening stint.

Sellers took the green flag under brilliant blue skies and he wasted no time in getting the feel of the new 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR and Falken AZENIS racing slick on the dry track. Within the first five minutes, he had already gained two positions in a car with an unfamiliar setup on a tricky street course. Within two more minutes he moved into the top-five on a track some say you can't pass on. Before the 30-minute mark, Sellers had the only