Dated: September 27, 2010
Paul Miller Racing will field a bicontinental, tri-country driver lineup for the Petit Le Mans, final race in the 2010 American Le Mans Series. Pierre Ehret of Tegernsee, Germany, will join the team’s usual driver pair – Luke Hines of Essex, England, and Bryce Miller of Summit, N.J. – for the 1000-mile / 10-hour race at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga., on Oct. 2. They will drive the No. 48 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, carrying the colors of team sponsors Marquis Jet, Grand Prix Racewear, IPC Systems and TOTAL Lubricants.
The team has had a strong run this season, leading the GTC class in five ALMS races. Miller also notched a record class pole position at Mosport International Raceway and a record race lap at Miller Motorsports Park. Unfortunately, the success has been countered by adversity. The No. 48 Porsche has been completely rebuilt in the past month, after a hit from a prototype car knocked Hines into a guardrail at Mosport on Aug. 29. Hines was uninjured, but the car required extensive repairs.
The able Paul Miller Racing crew put the car back on track Sept. 25 and 26 for two days of testing before the official Petit Le Mans action starts on Sept. 29.
“Today was a little relaxed but we accomplished what we came here to do,” Bryce Miller said after the first test day. “We did a few laps with the car to shake it down and we’re all relatively pleased with the baseline performance. There is still room for improvement in our setup, but it was quite encouraging to reestablish some pace. Now we can all look ahead and set our sights on the race.
The team has put forth a tremendous amount of effort to rebuild the car after our incident at Mosport. And even while inside the tight time frame to make the Petit Le Mans race, you can clearly see that every clamp, hose and wire has been outfitted with the utmost care and detail. The craftsmanship is amazing – I feel tired just looking at all the work they’ve done! Now that we’ve completed a fair test, hopefully these team members can catch up with a little rest before official testing begins Wednesday.
