The 2007 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series GT championship team will be reunited this week as Bryce Miller of Hoboken, N.J., returns to Farnbacher Loles Racing. He will drive the No. 87 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car with Dirk Werner of Kissenbrück, Germany, for the rest of the 2008 season, starting with the series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, on Saturday. The pair drove the No. 87 Porsche to the series GT team title last year and Werner won the class driver championship. Miller has driven with both Farnbacher Loles and TRG this season.
"Obviously we’re very happy to have Bryce back. He is a talented driver and he and Dirk have really great chemistry together. Last year’s championship showed their potential as a driving team," Farnbacher Loles Racing owner Gregory Loles said. "This year, however, has been a challenging one for the Porsche teams as the rules and new tire package have been better suited to other manufacturers in the series. [TRG owner] Kevin Buckler and I have been working with the series and our engineers to get Porsche back on an equal footing with the Pontiacs and Mazdas. We have both experienced success in the Grand-Am series and we expect to get Porsche back on top before long.”
sharing the ride
Eric Lux of Jacksonville, Fla., will travel to Ohio early this week to visit young patients in the Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus. He and Leh Keen of Charleston, S.C., drive the No. 86 Porsche in Rolex Series GT competition. Lux will welcome the children as honorary co-drivers for this weekend's race.
"Leh and I are very fortunate to be able to drive race cars and it means a lot to us to be able to share that with kids who aren't seeing the best side of life right now," Lux said. "They have their role models and action figures, so if we can include them in our racing, maybe it will give them something to smile about. I'm glad we have the opportunity to spend some of our time with them and just give them a brighter day."
teamwork
Steve Johnson of Bristol, Va., and Dave Lacey of Toronto have earned strong results in their last two races, with a seventh-place finish in Monterey, Calif., and a hard-earned 10th in the six-hour endurance race at Watkins Glen International. Their crew chief, Scott Lopez, expects another good run this week, with the team gelling and a series rule change that allows a lower ride-height for the Porsche.
"Lowering the car is a step in the right direction, for sure. It makes the platform feel more stable," Lopez noted. "After two good races with Steve Johnson and Dave Lacey, and the rules change for the Porsche, I expect to be able to have another solid run and at least back up what we've done in the two previous races. Now that we've established a relationship between the team and the drivers, we're beginning to strategically come together with more focus and better team attitudes, which equals better results. We're now pulling together as a team, we're starting to mesh and all the gears are working together."
