By Jeff Olson – ALTON, Va.
The 2023 season just keeps getting better for Madison Snow, Bryan Sellers and the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 as they pursue the GT Daytona (GTD) class championship.
The pair of American sports car aces teamed up to earn their fifth GTD victory of the year, essentially leading the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR from start to finish. They won by 12.187 seconds over the No. 96 BMW fielded by Turner Motorsport and driven by Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher. The five wins in a single season set a WeatherTech Championship record for the GTD class.
Russell Ward and Philip Ellis (No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3) denied BMW a 1-2-3 sweep of the podium by passing the No. 97 Turner BMW shared by Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull for third place with less than two minutes remaining in the two-hour, 40-minute contest.
There was little drama at the front as Snow assumed the lead after winning the Motul Pole Award on Saturday and held it until handing off to Sellers for the middle stint. Despite what Sellers called a difficult second driver exchange back to Snow for the final stint, Snow maintained the top spot and pulled away to the checkered flag.
Sellers and Snow now lead the GTD standings by 375 points over the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and drivers Marco Sorensen and Roman De Angelis, who finished 12th in class Sunday, with two races remaining. The No. 1 also leads the No. 27 by 229 points in the IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup standings, with only the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks on Sept. 17 left to decide that title.
“Amazing doesn’t even come close to describing it,” said Sellers, who credited Snow for carrying him on a day when he did not feel 100 percent physically. “Wins are so hard to come by in this series, and it’s why everyone does this. Before this, we’ve never had more than two wins in a season, so to get five is just crazy.”
The victory was the 19th for Sellers in 195 IMSA starts; Snow now claims 14 wins in just 93 races.
“If there was a secret, I don’t think we’d be trying to give it out,” Snow said. “It’s really the team. We just work really well together. We’re always trying to improve; we’re always helping each other out.
“The beginning of my final stint was hard mentally because I knew I had to just drive for 50 minutes and not make a mistake,” he added. “Once you get in the rhythm and get going, it gets easier.”
The Turner team used an aggressive fuel strategy to help the No. 96 gain three places from its starting position and finish second.
“It’s a step in the right direction, a rebound after a couple rough rounds,” Gallagher said. “We kind of got shoved around in the beginning, and the team called a great strategy. Not enough to beat the No. 1, but we’ll look for a win at Indy.”
Ellis was also happy to notch a podium finish after the Winward team struggled for results in recent races.
“We just took a chance,” he said. “We saw (the No. 97 BMW) slowing down quite a lot and weren’t sure if they were just managing the pace or the tires or having to save some fuel. I don’t think he could put up much of a fight at the end.”
The WeatherTech Championship resumes with all five classes racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks from Sept. 15-17.
Jeff Olson | IMSA Media
