ORBIT / Paul Miller Racing Mid-Ohio front row

ORBIT / Paul Miller Racing earned its second American Le Mans Series GTC class front-row starting position in three races, just missing the class pole position by 0.3 seconds. Bryce Miller of Summit, N.J., qualified the No. 48 Marquis Jet / GPR Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car second in class with a fast lap of one minute 25.260 seconds on the 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The start matches his qualifying effort at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, in June. He and his co-driver, Luke Hines of Essex, England, went on to lead the GTC class in Utah and set a class race lap record.

At Mid-Ohio on Friday, Miller took the provisional GTC pole position on his second qualifying lap, but relinquished it as he encountered traffic on what should have been his fastest lap, when the tires were up to temperature. Hines and Miller have been strong all week, holding a close second place in class through testing and practice sessions. Miller said that bodes well for the race.
 
"The car was good in qualifying, but we had traffic," he said. "On our first flying lap we had a clear track, but when the tires were perfect, we had traffic. We held back at the start to get a hole and we got the fast lap on the clean lap. On the next lap, I encountered traffic – one of the GT2 Corvettes was checking up, trying to find a hole for himself – so it was just a throw-away lap, unfortunately. That's a little bit frustrating, but I think everyone is still really happy with the performance of the car and the lap times. We should have a good race car."

Hines will drive the first stint in the two-hour 45-minute race on Saturday, followed by Miller.


details

The two-hour 45-minute American Le Mans Series race is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 7, from 3 pm to 5:45 pm EDT on the 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The race will be broadcast live on radiolemans.com and on Sirius XM satellite radio. Live streaming and timing/scoring will be available at imsaracing.net. A feature show will be telecast on CBS Sports on Sunday, Aug. 15, from 12:30 pm to 2 pm EDT.


partners

Bryce Miller and Luke Hines compete with the support of four international sponsors. Marquis Jet is the recognized leader in private jet cards because it's the only program that offers exclusive access to NetJets – the gold standard in private aviation – 25 hours at a time. Grand Prix Racewear is a respected supplier of motorsport protective clothing and driver accessories, based at Silverstone Circuit in England. The company offers worldwide delivery of 15,000 product lines. IPC Information Systems is a leading provider of mission-critical communications solutions to financial services firms. TOTAL Lubricants is the world's fourth-largest publicly traded integrated international oil and gas company.


- Sylvia Proudfoot-