12H Sebring : JDC/Miller Motorsports will take the time to learn

the United SportsCar Championship yesterday during the first practice sessions of the annual 12 Hours of Sebring. Having raced in single-seater for a long time, then in Prototype Lites, John Church’s team is entering an ORECA-FLM09 in Prototype Challenge this year. And the team wishes to take the time to discover that new series.

Though JDC/Miller Motorsports skipped the 24 Hours of Daytona, the team will be present on all the remaining rounds. The Minnesota-based squad will open a new chapter of its history in Sebring. « We have raced a lot in single-seater, with titles in Star Mazda as well as in F2000, and we added the Prototype Lites to our program in 2011. We are trying to extend our expertise in prototypes and, with a nice and well-proven car to drive, the Prototype Challenge suits our expectations » explains John Church. « The PC class has everything we wanted. However, we just did not want to start out with a 24-hour race. »   

Facing some of the class leaders, JDC/Miller Motorsports will discover and take up that challenge with humility. « First of all, we want to establish the team in prototypes, then we will compete at the front later in the season. We have a lot to learn about the car as well as about the championship… Everything is new for us. We will be aiming for the title next year. We are considering putting up a program with several cars in Prototype Challenge. It will depend on our budgets. »   

JDC/Miller Motorsports does not rule out to eventually aim for higher goals, as John Church confirms : « Why not considering LM P2 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but not before a couple of years. There’s a long way to go before Le Mans but one must aim for high goals in order to progress.»