Jeff Mosing and Marc Miller co-drove to an eighth-place finish Sunday in their GT racing debuts in the No. 93 Mosing Motorcars Dodge Viper GT3-R in the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.The winning IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge drivers took the step up to the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship’s GT Daytona (GTD) division in preparation for Miller’s debut in next month’s 83rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the No. 53 ViperExchange.com/Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper GTS-R.Miller will make his first start in the Le Mans classic co-driving the No. 53 with Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen, second-year full-season teammates in IMSA TUDOR Championship GTD competition in the No. 33 ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper GT3-R.Both the 33 and 93 Vipers are prepared and run by Riley Motorsports, which is also fielding the Le Mans entry on behalf of Keating and ViperExchange.com. This past weekend’s race also provided Miller with the chance to experience working with Keating, Bleekemolen and the Riley team first hand in preparation for Le Mans. “This weekend was a huge confidence booster,” Miller said. “A lot of that is thanks to the team, Ben and Jeroen as teammates, and for the support of Bill and the entire engineering team and all of the crew guys at Riley Motorsports. Not once did they ever make me feel like I wasn’t living up to something.”Miller more than lived up to any real or imagined expectations in his debut. He and Mosing both quickly got up to speed in practice before Miller went out and promptly qualified the No. 93 on the outside of the GTD front row.The top qualifying effort was followed by an even more impressive performance in the race when Miller took the lead going into Turn 1 and led the first 14 laps, leading from the start in his first ever race in a GT category. “To put the car on the front row and then to dice it up with some GTLM cars in the opening lap and come out leading for a while was incredible,” Miller said. “I learned a lot when I lost those positions, what I had done to the car to grain the front tires and to lose time, and then I just settled back into a rhythm, listened to what they told me to do and followed orders. Having an hour and 40 minutes in a car made a big difference for me as far as confidence going into another round.”Mosing took over for the race’s final hour and ran as high as fifth in his first race in a GT category. He learned just as much as his Le Mans-bound teammate.“It was certainly a lot of fun,” Mosing said. “Hat’s off to Bill Riley and the whole crew. This is my first time with them running a car, it was really a great experience and it was really fun to share the car with my good friend Marc Miller who is really making me proud here this year.”
Mosing more than held his own throughout his stint, sharing the track with a strong field of world-class drivers the likes of which are usually battling for the win in the closing stints of every GTD race. “The car was great and really consistent,” Mosing said. “The biggest thing that I was trying to do was not get out in marbles while dealing with traffic. I got caught out one time and wasn't going to do it again after all the rubber stuck to the tires. It’s just a great car and I love running out here at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. For the most part, we had a great clean race and, again, I am just really proud of the team. Best of luck to them when they go to Le Mans.”The solid race result also kept the No. 93 entry atop the IMSA TUDOR GTD team championship standings, by two points over the nearest competitor, for at least the time being. The entry was originally scheduled to participate only in the four race Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup (NAEC) this year with sponsor TI Automotive but was pressed into service by the Riley Motorsports team for Mosing and Miller at Monterey. The No. 93 also leads the NAEC GTD standings, which resumes at Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta later in the season.
