Bryce Miller - Road America race

Bryce Miller enjoyed his first American Le Mans Series race at Road America
more than his second. The Summit, N.J., driver hoped to repeat his 2008
victory in the GT2 class, but a few factors conspired to keep him out of
contention on Sunday.

 

Miller shared the No. 87 Marquis Jet / IPC Systems Porsche 911 GT3 RSR with
Porsche factory driver Wolf Henzler of Nürtingen, Germany. Henzler qualified
sixth in class on the 4.048-mile Road America road course in Elkhart Lake,
Wis., after leading most of the Saturday qualifying session.

 

Miller drove the first stint of the two-hour 45-minute race. He and most of
the class were thwarted by an early caution period, when the position of the
safety car gave a one-lap advantage to a pair of BMWs. They went on to
finish first and second.

 

When the Farnbacher Loles Racing team called Miller in for a driver change,
he pitted from eighth in class and Henzler returned to the track ninth, one
lap behind the rest of the field. Henzler regained two positions, but was
forced back to pit lane just 22 minutes from the finish when a toe-link
broke on the car's left-rear suspension. The early retirement left the team
with a 10th-place GT2 finish.

 

Miller noted the Porsche engine restrictor size mandated by series rules
limits the race engineers' ability to configure the car's aerodynamics for
optimum performance.

 

"The restrictor plate is a large handicap for the Porsche and as a result we
had to run a really low-downforce configuration to compete with anyone," he
explained. "Our competitors can run an aggressive aero package with the
strong straight-line speed they've been afforded. The advantage in braking,
minimum cornering speed and tire wear is the comparative consequence."

 

Both Henzler and Miller had difficulty with the left side of the car,
perhaps precursors to the problem that ultimately took them out of the race.

 

"I had a condition with the car very late in my stint, where I was having
trouble keeping the front-left from locking up under braking. When Wolf went
out, he reported that the car was pulling to the left. He flat-spotted the
left-front tire, so he had to pit," Miller noted. "The pin in the left-rear
upright broke, so that retired us from the race."

 

The Road America race was Miller's second of the season behind the wheel of
a Porsche in the ALMS. Between the two races (Lime Rock Park in July and
Road America), he drove a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in the Total 24 Hours of Spa,
where he finished second in the GT2 class.

 

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