JDC-Miller Motorsports has announced that former Porsche factory driver, Mike Rockenfeller, will be joining the team for the 2023 IMSA GTP season. Rockenfeller, who previously set a distance record on his way to winning the Le Mans 24 Hours race in 2010, will be racing the newly-delivered Porsche 963 from the Laguna Seca round onwards. The 39-year-old will be sharing the car with 19-year-old Dutchman, Tijmen van der Helm, who finished fourth in the LMP2 class on his Le Mans debut in 2022.
Expectations for the Season
Rockenfeller expressed his excitement to be a part of the JDC-Miller Motorsports team and the Porsche 963 project. He will be racing at Le Mans this year as part of the Garage 56 NASCAR initiative with a Hendrick Motorsports-run Chevrolet Camaro. Rockenfeller believes that starting their GTP season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the fourth round of the season will be a challenge. However, he is confident that the JDC-Miller Motorsports team is on a very steep learning curve and will compete with the GTP teams very quickly.
Van der Helm stated that he believes JDC-Miller Motorsports can maximise every opportunity they will get, and it does not really matter that they start a bit later in the season. He believes that going to the Laguna race with a brand-new car will be tough, but he has no doubt that they will be competitive as a team. Team boss John Church added that the line-up represents a balance of youth and experience and features a tremendous amount of on-track success. This pairing, combined with the Porsche 963, will allow them to compete for wins in IMSA.
Porsche achieved its first win with the Porsche 963 last time out at Long Beach with Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet’s factory Penske-run machine. The third driver for the remaining endurance races at Watkins Glen and Petit Le Mans will be announced at a later date.
Leave a Reply