How JDC-Miller is embracing the Porsche 963 learning curve

When JDC-Miller MotorSports, the first GTP customer team in the iMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, took delivery of its Porsche 963 just prior to the race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in May, the team knew it had an uphill battle. Every other team had factory support and had been testing their cars for months, and by May had as much as 37 hours of racing under their belts.

Actually, their battle began almost as soon as the program was announced the previous July. Even then, Porsche suspected supply chain issues, and the need to produce four cars for Porsche Penske Motorsport – two each for both IMSA and WEC competition – meant JDC-Miller wouldn’t have its 963 until after the start of the season, and the team would start 2023 at the Rolex 24 at Daytona with an LMP3 car.

Predictably, the team was well off the pace in its first race with the Porsche at Laguna Seca. But the gains came quickly. A second off the next slowest car in qualifying and finishing seventh at Laguna turned into something closer to the pace in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen. Tijmen van der Helm and Mike Rockenfeller finished fourth, and the highest-placed Porsche, after the No. 6 PPM 963 was penalized.

“The growth in knowledge is huge since Laguna,” said team principal John Church as the squad prepared for the final race of the season, Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. “I think the first laps we did, we were all holding our breath and scared to death and waiting for the first big bomb to go off. Now we kind of understand how everything works and how it should work and the expectations are different. I think as a group, everybody’s done a great job.”

Church says some things have been a bit harder than anticipated with the new hybrid 963 LMDh car, but others have been less difficult than predicted as the team adjusted from its previous Cadillac DPi-V.R.

“I think our expectation coming in was, it was going be a lot more complicated,” he said.

“And some areas are not as complicated as we thought; some areas are maybe more so. But the workload isn’t as great as we thought it was going to be. A lot of systems work a lot better. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but we have not had the issues with them that we were anticipating. So I’m very happy with where we are, and where the team’s at, and the car. It’s a great car and we’re really still scratching the surface on some things, and some things we’ve I think we’ve got a pretty good handle on.”

Rockenfeller notes that even Porsche is still learning about the 963, its capabilities and what it likes – just like every other manufacturer – so it’s no surprise that a customer team has its ups and downs. However, he notes, the factory-supported teams are sometimes experiencing the same fluctuations.