(August 22, 2010) — ORBIT / Paul Miller Racing had a good start to the American Le Mans Series race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., but a hit from another GTC car forced the team out of the race. Luke Hines of Essex, England, and Bryce Miller of Summit, N.J., drove the No. 48 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, carrying the colors of their sponsors Marquis Jet, Grand Prix Racewear, IPC Systems and TOTAL Lubricants.
Hines drove the first half of the two-hour 45-minute race, vaulting from fourth on the GTC grid to first in the first few laps on the 4.048-mile road course. He led the class twice before a pit stop for fuel at 29 minutes. He returned to the track sixth and regained three positions, then stopped for a driver change at 1h19. Miller took over but was slowed by a broken seat bracket. He returned to the track sixth, then quickly moved up to third in class. But his charge to the front ended when another GTC car knocked him off track. He spun across the track and into a concrete barrier, ending the team’s day.
Luke Hines: ” I enjoyed the race and I enjoyed the track. We had a good start and took the lead. A lot of the teams put their better drivers out first, so it was nice to drive against some different drivers. I was fairly confident we were in the shout. It was just bad luck that this happened to us. Bryce was driving really well this weekend; we both had the pace. We’re getting there!”
Bryce Miller: “I was forced off the track in sixth gear in the middle of the straightaway just past start-finish. We’d just taken the green flag restart and I was coming up on him very quickly – the closing speed was almost like two different categories. He decided he wanted to block me, and I went around to the other side and then he chose to bump me when I was at the very edge of the race track already, and I went off into the grass. I was deep into the brakes at that point, just trying to scrub speed off the car, then sling-shotted across the race track into pit wall.
“Everything is there for us to string together a result; it’s just a matter of it all coming together now. We’ve hit all our marks and we just need a little luck at this point. I’m hoping it will come our way in the final two races.”
The remaining 2010 ALMS races are at Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ont., on Aug. 29 and at the team’s home track, Road Atlanta, in Braselton, Ga., on Oct. 2.
race report
time driver action
start Hines
7m Hines GTC leader
20m Hines GTC leader
29m Hines pit – fuel
1h19 change pit – Miller in, four tires, fuel
1h36 Miller hit off track, spun into pit wall
1h38 Miller pit – out of race
partners
Bryce Miller and Luke Hines compete with the support of four 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. Grand Prix Racewear is a respected supplier of motorsport protective clothing and driver accessories, based at Silverstone Circuit in England. The company offers worldwide delivery of 15,000 product lines. 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.
– www.orbitracing.com, www.paulmillerracing.com, www.brycemiller.net, www.lukehinesracing.com –
