Team Falken to debut new car at Sebring

Crain News Service report

SEBRING, Fla. (Feb. 25, 2014) — Team Falken Tire will make its competition debut in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship in the 12 Hours of Sebring event on March 15.

The team, sponsored by Falken Tire Corp. for the past seven years, returns regular drivers Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler in the No. 17 Porsche 911 RSR for the series' GT Le Mans class. Marco Holzer will team with Messrs. Sellers and Henzler for the Sebring race.

The team is racing a new Porsche 911 RSR, similar to the factory-backed car that won the recent Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The car races on Falken race tires—produced in Japan by Falken's parent Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. — thus far the only car not using Michelin tires in the GT Le Mans class.

Mr. Sellers has been driving for the team since Falken Tire joined the American Le Mans Series 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.

This report appeared on the website of  Autoweek magazine, a Detroit-based sister publication of Tire Business.