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Update: Due to a post-race technical infraction penalty to the No. 6, the No 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 was promoted to a 3rd place finish.
September 23, 2024
It was a rollercoaster race, culminating in their best season finish for the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 GTP at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Battle On The Bricks.
The JDC-Miller MotorSports team battled through a number of issues, which made the strong finish especially sweet. Early in the hot and humid weekend, the team struggled to find the pace needed to compete in the extremely competitive IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship GTP field. They worked late into Saturday night and gave their drivers a much-improved car for the Sunday race. Tijmen van der Helm started the race in 11th and moved up to 5th on lap 18 in very difficult mixed weather conditions. Our rain expert, Richard Westbrook, took over as the rain increased and continued the strong push. His comment was, “I’m British. I was born in the rain.” Some great strategy calls were made in the dry second half of the race, and Phil Hanson did an outstanding job of fuel-saving for an extended last stint to bring the car home 4th.
September is Child Cancer Awareness Month. The team’s Porsche 963 carried close to 50 LOVE RACING. STOP CANCER. stickers around the 2.439 mile speedway. Supporters made donations and then wrote a message on the decal which was affixed to the car for a 6 hour 200 mph ride. This effort has raised close to $35,000 with donations still coming in. Donate here.
JDC-Miller MotorSports hosted St. Jude patient Grayson, his brother Hudson, and mom Anne, on Saturday and they had a especially great time when the team’s Audi RS3 LMS had a TCR class podium finish in the Michelin Pilot Challenge race. They took the opportunity to give the bricks a kiss and went home with a Michelin hat from the podium celebration.
Quotes:
John Church, Managing Partner, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963
“Hats off the driver’s and the crew. This was a tough race. We were chasing things all weekend and everyone really stepped it up and were rewarded with our best finish of the year. We tested here last year and had a pretty good idea of what the car liked on this track. The hot and humid weather early in the weekend changed things but it came back to us on Sunday with the cooler weather. There was a tremendous amount of hard work put in this weekend so its gratifying to see a good result. Very much looking forward to a strong run at Motul Petit Le Mans.”
Richard Westbrook, Driver, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963
“A fantastic result, which I think everyone on the team can be proud of and thoroughly deserved. We came back from lots of issues in the race. It was really, really tough. I was out when it was really wet and, you know, it was enjoyable. Visibility was terrible. We were in the mix and then out of the mix and back in the mix, but had some really good strategy at the end get Phil back on the lead lap, which we did, and then we were in a really strong position on fuel. Really clever strategy by the team. The team really deserved a good result this weekend. It was a tough car in practice and qualifying, but everyone worked really hard so in the race we had a good car in the wet and the dry.”
Tijmen van der Helm, Driver, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963
“We had a quite difficult race weekend but very pleased with the result. We came from the back so we had some work to do. It worked out quite well. We had some small problems later on in the race, but we quickly got them sorted and could maximize the results. It is our best result of the year so there is a lot to be proud of. Really looking forward to Petit Le Mans and hopefully getting on the podium.
Phil Hanson, Driver, No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963
“A good weekend for us. We started a bit on the back foot. Struggled early on in the weekend to get a grip on the car. The crew made a lot of changes to the set up trying to find the balance and made good steps forward for the race, which is good to see. A little bit of damage and other small issues meant that throughout the race we lost some set up. This made braking very difficult late in the race. I think that aside, we had a quite competitive car today which put us in position to capitalize on other teams’s issues and mistakes throughout the race. It was a good result for the package that we had this weekend.”
September 18, 2024
The JDC-Miller MotorSports will be racing the No. 85 Porsche 963 GTP to stop cancer at this weekend’s Battle On The Bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. September is Child Cancer Awareness Month, which has an official color of yellow.
The IMSA community provided a tremendous outpouring of support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® patient Colton at Road America, so the JDC-Miller MotorSports team decided to invite St. Jude patient Grayson and his family to join their effort for the six hours of the Battle On The Bricks.
St.Jude patient Colton enjoying the fan walk at Road America.
Not only will Grayson be joining the team, but so will a couple of hundred other JDC-Miller MotorSports and St. Jude supporters who joined the LOVE RACING. STOP CANCER. campaign. The team kicked this effort off with a “team meeting” at the JDC-Miller MotorSports shop, with over 200 joining in. The meeting consisted of a Porsche 963 technical presentation, a display of the team’s freshly restored 2016 Rolex winning Prototype Challenge Oreca, and various other activities. The highlight was a couple of live pit-stop demonstrations with fan Q&A. Photos are here: St. Jude Benefit – Dropbox.
For the race, we will be placing special LOVE RACING. STOP CANCER. stickers on the Porsche 963 with a message written by the supporter. A $250 donation puts your yellow sticker on the car and a $500 donation receives a larger black and yellow sticker. Supporters are encouraged to write whatever they like for the six-hour trip around IMS. Supporters have already donated over $25,000 to St. Jude.
Want to put your name on the JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963? There is still time, and we would love to have your help by inviting your friends and family to join in this important race…the race to end childhood cancer! All donations are tax-deductible and donors who make a gift of $250, $500, or more receive a customized LOVE RACING. STOP CANCER. sticker with an opportunity to add their message and be showcased at the Battle On The Bricks. (Email here if you wish to do this.) Click here to read more about the JDC-Miller MotorSports partnership and to donate today, or just go to www.stjude.org/jdc.
The race will be carried on Peacock from 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT, with the final three hours on NBC.
