Miller and Taylor charge back to win IMSA’s Canadian round

The #17 Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports Audi RS 3 LMS of Mikey Taylor and Chris Miller won the TCR class in the fifth round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge at the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario. 

Down 20 seconds halfway through the two-hour race, Taylor wasn’t sure he could claw back and win; but cagey strategy coupled with a bump-and-run pass for the lead on the penultimate lap took him and Miller to victory.

Miller started from pole and led the bulk of his stint, with Harry Gottsacker in the #33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai Elantra N hot on his heels the entire time. Gottsacker pitted from second position with an hour and 7 minutes to go, turning the car over to Robert Wickens. Miller stopped five minutes later but Taylor was staring at a 20-second deficit when he returned to the track; from there, the South African put on a calculated comeback as Wickens tried to conserve fuel in a gambit to make it to the finish.

“The team was just telling me what numbers to hit and what to do, and we were closing down on those guys,”Taylor said. “Save fuel, go fast, it’s a bit of a balance. It was just a management game the whole race.”

The leaders ran nose-to-tail late until Taylor dove inside Wickens into Moss Corner with under two minutes to go. The cars made contact, forcing Wickens wide and allowing Taylor to take the lead. Sensing damage to his Hyundai, Wickens made another pit stop for a splash of fuel and a quick check of the car. He returned nearly a lap down but still came home second, ahead of the sister #98 Hyundai shared by Mark Wilkins and Mason Filippi.

The win was the first for Miller and Taylor since Lime Rock Park last season and the first in the second generation of the Audi RS 3 LMS.

Despite losing out on the victory, Wickens and Gottsacker took sole possession of the TCR class lead by 20 points over Wilkins and Filippi and 30 up on Miller and Taylor.

The series will return into action for round 6 at Lime Rock in two-week time.

Bowmanville – Race

1. C. Miller/M. Taylor (JDC-Miller MotorSports, Audi RS 3 LMS), 84 laps

2. R. Wickens/H. Gottsacker (Bryan Herta Autosport, Hyundai Elantra N), 1 lap

3. M. Wilkins/M. Filippi (Bryan Herta Autosport, Hyundai Elantra N), 1 lap

Championship points

1. R. Wickens/H. Gottsacker, 1470 pts; 2. M. Wilkins/M. Filippi, 1450; 3. C. Miller/M. Taylor, 1140

Picture: IMSA/LAT Images