SAVAGE, Minn. (May 11, 2025) — JDC-Miller MotorSports brought their Porsche 963 home in an unsatisfying 9th position at the checker of the Monterey Sportscar Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Gianmaria Bruno had qualified the car in the 10th position.
Under beautiful, but cool California skies, 36 cars took the green flag for the two-hour and 40-minute race around the 2.238 mile circuit. The LMP2 class was not part of this event.
Bruni had a good start and maintained his position. The team planned to deploy an aggressive pit strategy to gain positions using an “undercut”, which was pitting early on lap 21 to get on new tires and in clean air. This strategy played out quite well, as competitors pitted and Bruni worked the No. 85 Porsche up to as high as 4th. To make this strategy work, however, you then need a full-course caution. Unfortunately, this race was unusually green from flag to flag, and a late stop for fuel left the No. 85 in 9th.
Looking ahead, the team is already focused on their next challenge at the Detroit Grand Prix, scheduled for May 31st. With the unique demands of the Detroit street circuit, JDC-Miller MotorSports is determined to find the speed and precision required to return to the front of the pack.
Quotes:
John Church, Managing Partner, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963
“We didn’t have quite the pace we would have liked all weekend. That resulted in a disappointing 10th qualifying position, so we knew we needed to come up with a strategy for the race that would move us up the order. We got aggressive and pitted on lap 21, which worked out very well. The downside was, however, that this strategy required a full-course caution, which we never got. That meant we had to stop for fuel late in the race, and we were back where we started. I can’t recall a race here that went the whole way without a full-course caution, but this year’s race did.
The crew and the drivers did a great job all weekend. IMSA racing is so competitive that if you are off by a couple of tenths here and there, you are going to finish 9th or 10th. I’m confident that when we study the data, we will learn where those tenths are, and make the adjustments we need to be up front at Detroit.”
Gianmaria Bruni, Driver, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963
“This was an interesting race. We tried to get the best out of it from the strategy, unfortunately, we needed a yellow that didn’t come. We gambled on a strategy, which sometimes works and sometimes not, and that is racing.
I think we did the right things for the position we were in. There wasn’t much else we could do to improve track position. It was good. We tried our best this weekend and now we move forward.”
Tijmen van der Helm, Driver, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963
“We were struggling a bit with pace this weekend, and we just wanted to take a gamble on the strategy to maybe have a better result. It didn’t work out so well because we never got the safety car we were expecting. When you look at this race, normally there are several safety cars. So luck just wasn’t on our side. We will put our heads together to find some more speed in the car for Detroit and beyond.”
