| After Falling Just Shy in ’23, Drivers Miller and Taylor Led Determined Effort in ‘24 October 23, 2024By David PhillipsIMSA Wire Service |
| DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – By almost any measure, the Unitronic/JDC-Miller Motorsports IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge campaign last year was a success. Which means this season’s championship-winning effort in the Touring Car (TCR) class must be ranked as the ultimate triumph. After a slow start to the 2023 season, drivers Chris Miller and Mikey Taylor steered the No. 17 Audi RS3 LMS TCR to a trio of victories and a pair of runner-up finishes. The only thing missing was the TCR championship itself. A mechanical issue coming to the green flag at the season finale ended the title bid and left the team with unfinished business to attend in 2024. |
| Suffice to say, Miller, Taylor and the JDC-Miller crew took care of that business this season, and then some. They captured four wins and two more podiums in the 10 races and, thanks to a dash of ironic mechanical mayhem, clinched the driver and team titles by simply taking the green flag at the Fox Factory 120 on Oct. 11, almost a year to the day after the ’23 championship hardware slipped through their fingers. “Given what happened last year, going to the last race with a chance of winning and being able to control our own destiny, that was disappointing,” said JDC-Miller founder John Church. “But everybody rallied. We worked hard in the off-season to clean up some things like pit stops so they wouldn’t be part of the equation, and that worked out well for us.” But it wasn’t quite as simple or easy as the statistics might suggest. For openers, JDC-Miller again campaigned a lone Audi against a veritable armada of Hyundai Elantra N TCRs, no fewer than four fielded by Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian in a bid to claim its sixth consecutive driver and team crowns. There was also another perennial contender, the No. 5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR, as well as emerging potential winners like the No. 93 Montreal Motorsport Group Honda Civic FL5 TCR and No. 99 Victor Gonzales Racing Team Hyundai. Relishing the status as giant killer, the No. 17 Audi opened the season with four wins and a third place to open a massive 220-point championship lead halfway through the season. The competition never quit, however. Defending TCR champions Robert Wickens and Harry Gottsacker won in the No. 33 Herta Hyundai at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Tim Lewis and William Tally guided the No. 5 KMW Alfa Romeo to victory at Road America. Dai Yoshihara and Karl Wittmer did the same in the No. 93 MMG Honda at VIRginia International Raceway, even as Miller and Taylor rebounded from an early “off” to finish seventh in the No. 17 Audi. |
| Still, when Mark Wilkins and Mason Filippi coaxed their fuel-efficient No. 98 BHA Hyundai to the win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway just clear of teammates Wickens and Gottsacker, JDC-Miller headed to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for the finale with a 150-point lead looking to close the deal. Miller, though, crashed the No. 17 in qualifying, and when the BHA Hyundais qualified 1-2-3, JDC-Miller still had work to do, beginning with repairing the car. Needing only to finish 11th or better in class in the race, that was all but assured when the No. 73 Racers Edge Motorsports Honda Civic FK7 TCR withdrew after a mechanical issue in qualifying. It meant the No. 17 Audi needed only to be on the starting grid for Miller and Taylor to earn the drivers’ title and Unitronic/JDC-Miller to claim the team championship. This time, there would be no issues on the pace lap and Miller and Taylor duly came home a conservative but jubilant sixth in the race. “Our guys started the season well and capitalized when they could,” Church said. “We had a couple of tough races through the year, but in the end, they did what they needed to do to finish out the year and championship. It was a whole team effort where everybody contributed, and I’m super proud of the effort everybody put in.” All of which is not to say there was no drama in the season finale. After leading most of the last half of the two-hour race, Tyler Gonzalez was forced to bring the No. 99 Victor Gonzalez Hyundai to the pits for a splash of fuel as he was about to take the white flag. Thus, Wilkins, Filippi and the No. 98 BHA Hyundai took their second straight win to clinch the runner-up spots in the driver and team championships by just 10 points over Wickens, Gottsacker and the No. 33 Hyundai. It also put an exclamation point on Hyundai’s unprecedented fifth straight TCR manufacturer championship. “A fifth manufacturers championship in a row here in IMSA,” Filippi said. “It just shows how hard Bryan Herta Autosport works and our Hyundai is really good at this championship, a really good car and reliability. We have a lot challengers here and it’s fun to compete in TCR, so it’s a big accomplishment.” |
