Decorated Sports Car Racer Brings Leadership and Experience to New Team
PARSIPPANY, N.J. – The Paul Miller Racing driver lineup for the 59th Annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring has been completed by one of the world’s best sports car racers over the past two decades as the team announced today that three-time American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón class champion Sascha Maassen will co-drive the No. 48 Marquis Jet/TOTAL/IPC Porsche 911 GT3 RSR on Yokohama tires with Bryce Miller and René Rast in the classic, once-around-the-clock endurance event.
Maassen, 41, from Aachen, Germany, owns a racing résumé that includes the ALMS LMP2 title in 2006, ALMS GT championships in 2002 and 2003, two GT-class victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and five class victories in the 12 Hours of Sebring. The former Porsche factory driver picked up his fifth Sebring class win last year in the LMP2 class and scored four straight GT class victories from 2001 through 2004.
“I am happy to be back in a Porsche GT car at Sebring where I had some of my nicest GT wins,” said Maassen. “I must thank Paul Miller Racing for the chance to come back to this race, and I am happy to help a new team with my experience. We have everything we need to be successful: a Porsche, good tires, good drivers and a good team.”
Maassen will share the No. 48 Porsche with 24-year-old Rast, who hails from Steyerberg, Germany and was the 2010 Porsche Super Cup champion, and team leader Bryce Miller, 28, of Summit, N.J., a multi-time race-winner in ALMS and GRAND-AM competition who was part of the 2007 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series GT championship-winning team. Rast and Miller will look to benefit from Maassen’s vast knowledge base at Sebring.
“Sascha comes into our program as a proven winner and consistent pacesetter,” said Miller. “He’s done just about all of it when it comes to sports car racing. We’re really looking to draw from his experience and his leadership to make a positive impact in our team. We’re very excited about having Sascha onboard.”
The trio of Miller, Maassen and Rast will look to get Paul Miller Racing’s full-season effort in the highly competitive ALMS GT class off to a solid start in the series’ season-opening and biggest race. The team has moved into GT this year after competing in the GTC class last season and faces what is admittedly a steep learning curve.
“We’ve definitely got our work cut out for us in the GT class this season, but I can think of nobody better to help us get our effort off on the right foot than Sascha,” said team owner Paul Miller. “His experience and accomplishments are really second to none. He obviously knows what it takes to make Porsches go fast around racetracks all over the world and especially at Sebring. We’re looking to him to lead our young drivers and young team in the right direction and I don’t believe we could have asked for a better combination than this for the 12 Hours.”
Next up for the Paul Miller Racing team is the 59th Annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh From Florida on Saturday, March 19. The once-around-the-clock event will take the green flag at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Paul Miller Racing is among the top GT teams competing in North American sports car road racing. In 2011, the team will contest the full American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón, as well as the Rolex 24 At Daytona. The team enjoys a long-standing relationship with Porsche and competes with the support of three international sponsors in Marquis Jet, IPC Information Systems and TOTAL Lubricants.
