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The Unitronic JDC-Miller MotorSports pairing of Mikey Taylor and Chris Miller continued their consistent run with a podium finish at round 4 of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Championship at the famed Watkins Glen International circuit in upstate New York.
As the saying goes “preparation is key”, and the preparation done by the crew of the #17 entry prior to this event paid off as they unloaded an extremely quick car off the trailer, topping the opening practice session on Thursday afternoon.
Kicking off the busy Friday schedule the team made more positive gains, again topping the charts around the 3.4mile iconic road course that has played host to some of the most famous races in North America. Friday afternoon brought mixed weather conditions with rain in the vicinity and periodic showers covering the circuit. Past Watkins Glen 6 hour overall winner, Chris Miller took to the circuit and after a few warm up laps to get the Michelin tires to the right temperature was able to lay down his best time of the weekend and qualify the Audi RS3 LMS in second position, 2.1 seconds faster than the next closest Audi competitor.
As was the case on Friday, heading into race day the experienced team knew that weather would be a factor, however, nobody anticipated the amount of rain that hit the Watkins Glen circuit only minutes the two hour event was due to fly the green flag.
Starting the race on rain tires with a wet setup and battling the mixed conditions, Miller did a great job staying in touch with the pack and keeping the car in a good condition. With the track quickly drying, team engineer Cole Scrogham made the decision to pit for slick tires at the perfect crossover point. Unfortunately a lengthy pit stop caused by a stuck wheel nut dropped the team down the order to the back of the 13 car TCR field.
Only moments after the pit stop for dry tires, the safety car was released to bring the field under control for a broken down car on the back straight. At this point the minimum drive time of 40 minutes had passed and the team decided to pit for a driver change for South African Mikey Taylor, as did the rest of the TCR field swapping to their finishing drivers.
Restarting at the back of the pack, and knowing that the car would not be able to make the end of the race without stopping for more VP Race Fuel, Taylor was facing a massive task. As the green flag flew, Taylor buckled down and started to hunt down the TCR field in front of him. Having to lift and coast into the corners to save fuel, he had to balance how much he would attack and how much he would save. Fortunately for him another safety car period was initiated pretty quickly for an incident in the lower end of the track with three GS competitors. This allowed the #17 team to save even more fuel, and when the next green flag flew, he was able to immediately jump a number of TCR competitors.
Slowly, but surely he battled his way through the experienced TCR field of drivers, some taking more time than others due to aggressive blocking and driving. With 15 minutes to go, Taylor found himself in 4th place ahead of all their major championship rivals. However, having come from the back of the field he radioed to the team that his job was not done yet and with only minutes left on the close was able to battle his was past two more competitors to bring the #17 Audi RS3 LMS TCR home in 2nd position!
The podium finish moves the Unitronic JDC-Miller MotorSports entry up to 3rd position in the championship, within striking distance of the leaders with 6 rounds remaining.
The next stage of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge takes the team north of the border to the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on July 7-8th. 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 on getunitronic.com/motorsports! Tune into the UNITRONIC social media channels or IMSA.TV for race coverage of all ten championship events!
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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