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The Unitronic JDC-Miller Motorsports Team are no strangers to adversity, as the majority of the team’s wins have a shared theme of defying odds to win, with the most recent and perhaps one of the most legendary triumphs coming this past week at the BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona.
The week started off without a hiccup, with the #17 Audi RS 3 LMS TCR rolling off the trailer for the first free practice in form, turning six laps and gathering a nice baseline for the team and drivers to work from. Little did anyone know, tragedy would strike ahead of Thursday morning’s second free practice session, as the engine in the Audi TCR just didn’t start suddenly and unexpectedly. With only a few hours before Thursday afternoon’s qualifying session, the crew knew they would need to quickly work through troubleshooting to have a shot.
The crew meticulously worked through a multitude of diagnostics and troubleshooting, checking, re-checking, and triple checking several critical components, qualifying came and past with the team still trying to find a solution as to why the engine would no longer fire. In fact, troubleshooting efforts would extend late into the evening after the sun fell. At this point, with all other potential causes totally exhausted, the team pointed its focus on the Engine Control Unit and Gateway Module.
HELP FROM MEXICO
Unfortunately there were no spare ECUs or gateway modules available in the country, and the team’s hopes for a solution before Friday’s race day sunk. Luckily John and Mich from Patriot Race Engineering / Audi Sport customer racing were in the paddock supporting Audi Sport customers, and together with assistance from Pro Rally MX, were able to locate the needed parts in a wrecked TCR in Mexico City. But that was only part of the solution, as the team would need to quickly find a way to get the parts from Mexico City to Daytona in less than 12 hours time, but quickly put together an action plan.
With the help of a fellow Audi competitor, Gou Racing, the team called back to their staff in Mexico to coordinate the ECU and gateway module to be removed from the wrecked TCR at around 11pm Thursday night, and boarded a commercial flight from Mexico City to Orlando International Airport. With the flight due to land at 11am on Friday morning, driver Mikey Taylor was nominated and sent out on a mission to retrieve the parts from the Orlando International Airport, which was just over a two hour round trip drive, and make it back in time for the race pre-grid, which was slated to start at 12:40pm. The Unitronic JDC-Miller Motorsport team knew it would be tight and no time could be wasted.
CHRIS MILLER STARTS FROM THE BACK OF THE PACK
With the #17 Audi only turning a total of six laps around the Daytona International Raceway circuit all week, Chris Miller took the green flag and immediately made quick work of the competition, expertly carving his way through the field moving from dead last to P4 in just eight laps time before he settled into his rhythm. With only 73 liters of fuel load permitted by IMSA’s Balance of Performance for the gen2 Audi TCR, fuel economy is always a topic on the minds of the Unitronic-JDC Miller team, so managing fuel economy and race pace is always important for both drivers. Miller’s stint was impeccable before handing over driving duties to Mikey Taylor for the second half of the 4-hour battle.
MIKEY TAYLOR DRIVES THE AUDI TO VICTORY
With two hours remaining and a pack of hungry TCR competitors in the field, Taylor drove with poise and was able to move the #17 Audi into P1 for the first time. After fending off challenges from Denis Dupont in the No. 76 Hyundai, Tom O’Gorman in the No. 15 Audi and Mark Wilkins in the No. 98 Hyundai, Taylor remained focused on the task at hand and with exceptional pit stops by the JDC-Miller Motorsports crew (and just enough fuel), he was finally able to cross the finish line with a 20.408 margin over the No. 76 Hyundai.
“What a roller coaster of a week we had! We unloaded with what we felt was a good car on Wednesday but our world was turned upside down on Thursday morning! I’m proud of our whole group for working through the issues and coming up with what seemed like the only viable solution! Thankfully everything worked out just in time and we were able to take care of business in the race! A great start to our championship campaign, and it is always magical to win at Daytona!” said an exhausted Taylor.
“What a wild weekend. Even with so few laps of practice I really believed that if we got the car to run we had a chance to win the race. The Unitronic JDC-Miller team has had some bad luck the past few years and it’s nice to have everyone’s perseverance repaid a bit. Winning at Daytona is always special but this will be hard to top. Ultimately, it’s a great start to a long championship so we will celebrate a little bit but we know there’s a lot of work left to be done.” said an optimistic Chris Miller.
“In what can literally only be described as the plot of a movie, the Unitronic JDC-Miller Motorsports team went from a non-running paper weight, to a 1st place winning race team in less than 5 hours. Winning with an incredible margin of over 20 seconds, and making it out to the grid with only 4 minutes to spare, it was something that truly had to be experienced to be believed. The team showed the real meaning of “its not over until its over”, and we are beyond excited that we got to witness it first-hand with them trackside." said Kollin Upton - eCommerce Catalog Manager, UroTuning
NEXT RACE
The next stage of the 2024 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season takes the team down to Sebring, FL for the Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 on March 13-16. Stay up to date on all our activities, learn more about the team, our pro drivers, the #17 RS 3 LMS TCR race car, our tremendous sponsors and shop for team merch HERE. Tune into the UNITRONIC social media channels or IMSA.TV for race coverage of all ten championship events!
Photos by Sideline Sports Photography LLC
About UNITRONIC®
UNITRONIC® engineers industry-leading aftermarket performance enhancing software and hardware for Audi®, Volkswagen®, Seat®, and Skoda® cars worldwide. Best known for its performance software engine and transmission calibrations, Unitronic enhances vehicle performance while maintaining complete OEM-like reliability and drivability. Unitronic’s UniCONNECT+ Programming and Diagnostic Interface empowers Unitronic Clients to safely reprogram their engine and transmission control modules from the comfort of home, anywhere in the world. Learn more about Unitronic's competitive advantage at www.getunitronic.com
About JDC-MILLER MOTORSPORTS
JDC-MILLER MOTORSPORTS is a world-class multiple championship winning sportscar racing team, with a total of 18 championships, 60 wins, 57 pole positions, and 195 podiums, most of which coming by way of their Prototype class programs running in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship. Highlights include an Overall Win at the Six Hours at Watkins Glen in 2018, 2017 Winner Extreme Spirit Award, and 2017 Winner Jim Trueman Award, providing the team an automatic entry into the 2018 24 Hours of LeMans. Learn more at www.jdcmotorsport.com
About LIQUI MOLY USA – Canada
LIQUI MOLY USA – Canada is a subsidiary of LIQUI MOLY GmbH, a global motor oil and additive company based in Germany selling products in more than 150 countries. LIQUI MOLY offers more than 4,000 items globally covering automotive, powersports, commercial vehicles, boats and watercraft and more. LIQUI MOLY USA - Canada is actively involved in motorsports in numerous capacities highlighted by teams in IMSA USA and IMSA Canada, TC America and Trans AM. Learn more at www.liqui-moly.com
About OUT THERE BRANDS
Out There Brands was founded by professional racing driver Mikey Taylor. He saw a need for a company that offers extreme personalization and customer service in the branding industry and founded OTB in order to fill it. Producing custom-made displays and apparel to bring attention to our customers. Using his experience in the motorsport industry, Mikey focused on working with suppliers and forming partnerships to utilize only the best materials and products from around the world to deliver durable, cost-effective and stand out products! Learn more at www.OutThereBrands.com
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