Bryce Miller - Spa podium

Bryce Miller celebrated his birthday in racer style on Sunday, earning a
second-in-class, fifth-overall finish in the Total 24 Hours of Spa. The
Summit, N.J., driver was the top U.S. finisher in a strong international
field, despite his rookie status on the 7.004-km (4.35-mile) Circuit de
Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

 

Miller shared driving duty in the No. 97 Marquis Jet / IPC / Total Porsche
911 GT3 RS with Porsche Junior Team drivers Marco Holzer of Bobingen,
Germany, and Martin Ragginger of Salzburg, Austria, and their teammate Luigi
Lucchini of Brescia, Italy. The car was prepared by Brixia Racing.

 

The young squad started eighth on the GT2 grid, but quickly moved up to
third in the first hour of the race. They lost two laps due to the timing of
caution periods, but their consistent pace and smooth pitstops kept them in
podium contention throughout the race. They took second in class during the
18th hour and held the position through a final round of driver stints for
the podium finish.

 

"Everyone on the team delivered a pretty good birthday present! It's really
exciting to be here and to experience the energy and the enthusiasm of the
fans. The depth of talent on the teams and the track are unlike anywhere
else," Miller said.

 

"The caution flags came out one lap after our pit stop on two occasions and
we went down a lap. The car had the pace to compete for the win, but we just
got really unlucky. But most of the challengers behind us had mechanical
difficulty or errors, so by the end of the race, we didn't have a lot of
pressure. We were able to manage our own pace and bring it home."

 

Heavy rain limited track time during practice sessions, so Miller had to
learn the challenging circuit during the race. But with a strong car and
crew, he got up to speed quickly. 

 

"It was a little bit tricky because the course is really complicated and all
our practice time was overrun by rain. I got four or five dry laps and that
was my only first-hand experience at trying to find braking points and turn
points," he noted. "During the race, I had to be really methodical in my
improvements because the track gets really dark at night and there's a lot
of fog. It was crazy, but it was fun!"

 

partners

 

Bryce Miller races with the support of three international sponsors. Marquis
Jet is the recognized leader in private jet cards because it's the only
program that offers exclusive access to NetJets - the gold standard in
private aviation - 25 hours at a time. IPC Information Systems is a leading
provider of mission-critical communications solutions to financial services
firms. Total Lubricants is the world's fourth-largest publicly traded
integrated international oil and gas company.

 

- brycemiller.net -

 

 
 
Sylvia Proudfoot

sylvia@spurcom.ca

403 287 3945