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JDC-Miller MotorSports brings their Porsche 963 GTP home in the 8th position at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

Katie Church on May 14, 2024

May 13, 2024

Savage, Minnesota

JDC-Miller MotorSports qualified in the 9th position and finished the race in 8th this weekend at the 2024 Motul Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

JDC-Miller MotorSports driver Tijmen van der Helm had a good qualifying run, turning a 1:13.184, which placed him 9th fastest in the highly competitive GTP field – .869 seconds covered the entire 10-car GTP field. This was the first time IMSA has run at Laguna Seca since the track was repaved last year, and the whole GTP field broke the previous lap record of 1:13.924 set in 2022.

It was a strategy race for the JDC-Miller MotorSports team, which allowed the car to move up to 6th position after the first round of pitstops. Using a different tire strategy than their competitors, they dropped back to 10th at one point but then worked their way up to 6th. Late in the race, the team’s Porsche was pushed off the track entering the corkscrew which dropped them back to 8th for the finish.

Quotes:

John Church, Managing Partner, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963

“Unfortunately, we unloaded on the back foot pace-wise, and it took us until qualifying to catch up. The guys did a great job on track and in the pits allowing us to grab a few spots on each pit stop. We were up and down the charts a bit and were pushed around a bit losing some of the ground we gained. We struggled with our tire strategy more than anticipated and then were ultimately pushed off in the Corkscrew which put us back a couple spots when we were running 6th. All in all a solid effort by the team and we will look forward to Detroit.”

Richard Westbrook, Driver, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963

“We couldn’t quite make the double-stint on the tires work. It was a tough ask. The longest run we had done in practice was 20 laps or so. We had not tested a long run on our Michelin tires. The team needed to try something and it nearly came off. We were looking at a top five when the right front dramatically went away.

I felt confident about being able to defend our 6th position but then got dive-bombed going into the corkscrew and lost two positions from that move which was really disappointing. Then, it was just a case of bringing it home.

Really proud of the team. They are willing to try things to be more competitive and that is the way we like to work.”

Miller, Taylor, No. 17 Earn Third Straight TCR Win of Season

Katie Church on May 11, 2024

May 11, 2024

By John Oreovicz and Mark Robinson IMSA Wire Service

Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor kept their perfect 2024 season intact in the Touring Car (TCR) portion of the Michelin Pilot Challenge by following the same recipe of success.

As he did in the first two races this year, Miller put the No. 17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS3 LMS TCR in contention at WeatherTech Raceway, then Taylor powered the car into the lead and on to victory lane.

Taylor passed a pair of Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Hyundais in the final 21 minutes of the two-hour race to secure the third win in as many outings this season for the No. 17 Audi. It’s been a rewarding beginning to 2024 for the JDC-Miller team after a shot at winning the TCR championship slipped away in the 2023 finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

“We’re focused on winning this championship after it got away from us in Atlanta last year,” Taylor said.

Miller started second in TCR but a miscue behind a GS car during his stint dropped him to fifth place when he turned the No. 17 over to Taylor on a pit stop. Taylor trailed leader Mason Filippi in the No. 98 BHA Hyundai Elantra N TCR by eight seconds with 45 minutes remaining but chipped away the deficit quickly.

Taylor shoved his way past Robert Wickens in the No. 33 BHA Hyundai through the Andretti Hairpin with 21 minutes to go. Two laps later, he followed a pair of GS cars past Filippi in the same spot to grab the lead and went on to win by 1.254 seconds.

“I don’t think we had crazy outright speed, but on old tires, which is what this track is known for, we were OK,” Taylor said. “It was a couple tough passes. The GS guys helped me out a little bit, making some holes, and we took what we could.

“It feels great, feels great,” Taylor added. “I had my mind on my wedding next week a little bit, but it feels good to be here. Great points for the team and just happy for everyone in the program.”

The win was the ninth for Taylor in Michelin Pilot Challenge competition and the eighth for Miller. Meanwhile, Filippi and co-driver Mark Wilkins, trying to repeat as the WeatherTech Raceway TCR winners, felt that second place was the best they could do on this day.

“I think we did the best we could today,” Wilkins said. “We can’t compete with that car with the pace right now that they can run, so for us, we were just trying to make as few mistakes as possible. We ran really a perfect day in my opinion, so second is a win for us today.”

Saturday’s race broadcast will air at 1 p.m. ET Saturday, May 18 on CNBC. Both classes of the Michelin Pilot Challenge return to action June 6-8 at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Four Hours of Mid-Ohio.

JDC-Miller MotorSports returns to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the first anniversary of their customer Porsche 963 GTP program

Katie Church on May 8, 2024

Savage, Minnesota (May 6, 2024). JDC-Miller MotorSports is returning to
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, where they debuted their Porsche 963 GTP
campaign one year ago. Last year, the JDC-Miller MotorSports team brought their two
week-old 963 to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca to shake down the car in a most
public way. Prior to Practice 1, the team had only made a lap around their parking lot
with the new car. Typically, in motorsports, this would be considered very risky, akin to
learning to swim by diving into the deep end of the pool; the team, however, had
confidence in their abilities and the abilities of their partners in this project.

With the help of their technical partners, Porsche Motorsport NA, Multimatic, Bosch, and
WAE Technologies, the team powered through the concise timeframe and soldiered on
to finish 7th of the 8 GTP cars and only 23 seconds behind the race winner. Gaining that
race experience set the stage for upcoming solid performances for the remainder of the
season.

For the 2024 Motul Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N, the team returns
knowing the car and how it responds to changes. They now have experience with the
GTP-class Michelin tires and are well-rehearsed on pit stops and driver changes.
Richard Westbrook returns to one of his favorite tracks with three wins at WeatherTech
Raceway Laguna Seca under his belt. For Tijmen van der Helm, the tracks, with the
exception of Detroit, will no longer be new to him as he returns to each of them behind
his Porsche 963 GTP wheel.

The team is confidently looking forward to this year’s race.

Quotes:

John Church, Managing Partner, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963

“Last year, we decided to take an aggressive approach to rolling out the new car. Early
in the year, we knew we would not have the Porsche for Sebring, so our attention
shifted to Laguna Seca. The Porsche team in Weissach worked through many
challenges to get the car together and shipped, but it was clear that the timing would be
very tight. We could have waited to debut the car at Watkins Glen a month later, but I
felt strongly that we needed to start gaining experience and knowledge of this complex
machine as soon as possible. The entire JDC-Miller MotorSports crew was fully
onboard with this approach, as we were all excited to get our Porsche 963 program
underway. Through herculean efforts and many long nights by many people, we
performed very well at Laguna Seca. What we learned that weekend set us up for 4th
place finishes at the next two races, Watkins Glen and CTMP. While incredibly stressful,
we learned much about the Porsche 963 and the GTP program. Knowledge and race
experience that benefits us today. I am really looking forward to this weekend.”

Ryan Perera, Systems Engineer, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963

“Looking back at this weekend one year ago, we went to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna
Seca, knowing our partners would help us get the car ready for the race.

There was a massive outpouring of support from our technical partners, Porsche,
Multimatic, Bosch, and WAE, who were all as excited to see this car on the track as we
were. At times, there were a dozen knowledgeable and skilled people in our garage
looking to make valuable changes and updates to the car. People were queuing up to
plug their laptops into the vehicle. It quickly became overwhelming as we had not
completely thought through how we needed to manage this process. The stress level
rose until John (Managing Partner John Church) put a stop to making changes and
directed everyone to get focused on readying the car for the race. That allowed us to
focus on fixing the issues you inevitably have with all new cars and establish a
performance baseline we are building on to this day.

After that experience, we established a process to work with our technical partners and
maximize their valuable expertise in an organized manner.

As stressful as it was, I feel a great deal of pride when looking back on that weekend.
We went to Laguna Seca to shakedown a brand-new car unlike anything we had raced
before and finished on the lead lap. Quite an accomplishment!

Josh Kerrigan, Car Chief, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963

“We spent a couple of weeks at Porsche in Weissach learning about the car and its
systems as well as how everything went together. Our challenge for Laguna Seca was
simply time. We didn’t have any. With a new car, a ton of electrical and other
components must be installed. The punch list is always very long, but even longer with
all the added systems of a GTP car. Unfortunately, we had the car in our shop for less
than a week before the truck headed west. The drivers came and were fitted to the car.
We went through the start-up process just one time before the car had to leave. When
the trailer was opened at Laguna Seca, there was a tremendous amount of work yet to
do to make the car ready for the race. Pit stops under GTP rules had to be worked out
and practiced, as well as driver changes. Every night was a very long night.

The payoff for all the hard work came on race day. When Tijmen took the checker on
the lead lap, all I could think of was, “Wow, we did it!”

JDC-Miller MotorSports finished in the 7th position at the Grand Prix of Long Beach

Katie Church on April 26, 2024

April 22, 2024

Savage, MN

JDC-Miller MotorSports returned to the streets of Long Beach, this time with their Porsche 963 GTP. The team’s last visit in 2022 resulted in a podium for driver Richard Westbrook.

The JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 GTP showed good pace all weekend. Tijmen
van der Helm was very strong in qualifying, only .6 off the pole, but 7th on the grid in the
very tight IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP field.

In the race, the car dropped two places at the start. Then van der Helm ran fast,
consistent laps as the team worked on a strategy to move the car up. At the first yellow,
Westbrook got in for the run to the finish. He worked his way up to 7th before getting
spun by another competitor. Later, he was involved in a typical Long Beach turn 11
traffic jam but fortunately didn’t lose position. Westbrook fought on to bring the car home
in 7th.

Quotes:

John Church, Managing Partner, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963

“We were very happy with our qualifying time, but it did put us back in the field due to
how incredibly tight the competition is in the GTP class. We got behind early in the
race, and with a short race like this, you just can’t make up the time. From a strategy
standpoint, there is only one pit stop and almost one-third of the race was run under
caution, so there just isn’t a lot to work with.

The team gave the drivers a very competitive car. The drivers drove a great race. The
pit crew did an incredibly fast pit stop. There was a stretch in the race where, for a
number of laps, Richard was the quickest car on the track. Some days things don’t work
the way you would like.”

Richard Westbrook, Driver, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963

“A little bit battered and bruised from a typical Long Beach Street fight. It’s very difficult
to plan for these races. They seem to just always turn into chaos. We worked really
hard on the weekend, and JDC gave us a really good car, very fast.

We didn’t quite get the run to the green flag at the start we would have liked. Then we
were a bit on the back foot, track position-wise, and it’s always challenging to make that
up in a hundred-minute race with several cautions. Another competitor tagged me from
behind, putting us back. Then we closed back up to the pack and showed that we had a
nice race car.

It’s just a shame that we couldn’t show it with the kind of result that we all deserved.
We worked really hard this weekend, and I have to thank the team for giving us another
great car to work with.

We need to turn that into results now, which will come. Hopefully, starting at Laguna
Seca.”

Tijmen van der Helm, Driver, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963

“Difficult race; we ended up in P7, where we also started. The good news is I think there
was more pace in the car. The way the race unfolded we didn’t get to use it.

There are some points to work on for the next race. I am looking forward to Laguna
Seca. We are getting all the pieces in place and should see results soon.”

In Preparation for Laguna Seca…

On Sunday after the race the team was invited to participate in the Porsche Experience
Center’s Morning Shift cars & coffee event displaying the 963. Following the Cars &
Coffee event, we were able to prep the car in the Porsche Motorsports shop for Laguna
Seca. Hundreds of Porsche fans got to see the JDC-Miller MotorSports team in action.


JDC-Miller MotorSports partners with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®for the remainder of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season

Katie Church on April 15, 2024

April 15, 2024

Savage, Minnesota

JDC-Miller MotorSports is honored to announce it will be partnering with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® for the remainder of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

The collaboration is possible thanks to a generous supporter of St. Jude and JDC-Miller MotorSports, who is dedicated to ending childhood cancer.

Watch for future announcements as we bring the power of St. Jude to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Its purpose is clear: Finding cures. Saving children.® It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. When St. Jude opened in 1962, childhood cancer was largely considered incurable. Since then, St. Jude has helped push the overall survival rate from 20% to more than 80%, and it won’t stop until no child dies from cancer. St. Jude shares the breakthroughs it makes to help doctors and researchers at local hospitals and cancer centers around the world improve the quality of treatment and care for even more children. Because of generous donors, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food, so they can focus on helping their child live.

Visit St. Jude Inspire to discover powerful St. Jude stories of hope, strength, love and kindness. Support the St. Jude mission by donating at stjude.org, liking St. Jude on Facebook, following St. Jude on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok, and subscribing to its YouTube channel.

Quotes:

John Church, Managing Partner, JDC-Miller MotorSports

“Our relationship with St. Jude began last June when we hosted Porsche Minneapolis and Porsche St. Paul at our facility for the 75th Anniversary of Porsche celebration. St. Jude was a key part of that effort, and our relationship was born. We take a lot of pride in being a very family-oriented organization, so it’s a natural fit. St. Jude is an impressive organization, and what they do is incredible. All of us at JDC-Miller MotorSports are very proud to support this effort.”

Amanda Cahow, Territory Vice President, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®

“We continue to be amazed and humbled by the generous support of our donors at St. Jude. This new partnership with JDC-Miller MotorSports will allow for the St. Jude mission to continue to grow and showcases the hope that St. Jude families find comfort in when they hear the four most devastating words a parent can hear, “your child has cancer”. We are so grateful for the way JDC-Miller MotorSports embraced our fight against childhood cancer and look forward to what the future holds as we find cures and save children together.”

William Dunne, General Manager, Porsche Minneapolis and Porsche St. Paul

“Our Porsche dealerships have been in a partnership with St. Jude for over a decade. Two years ago, we established a relationship with JDC-Miller MotorSports after they announced that they would be racing the Porsche 963. This relationship has grown stronger over time, as they have become an integral part of our Porsche community.”

“Connecting a passionate Porsche enthusiast with St. Jude and JDC is rewarding, knowing the partnership will help cure childhood cancer worldwide. I’m excited about what we can do together.”