Paul Miller Racing has put its GT Daytona (GTD) spec Audi R8 LMS through its paces at the pre-season TUDOR United SportsCar Championship test at Sebring thanks to a star Audi driver.
Joining regular Bryce Miller behind the wheel was none other than Le Mans 24 Hour winner Benoit Tréluyer who was sent by the factory in Ingolstadt to help the once Porsche team to get to grips with its four ringed beast.
The team, based in Atlanta, had only taken delivery of the car a week before the test was due to begin leading to a few sleepless nights as the car was shipped over to the Florida airstrip.
“We have had fantastic support from Audi from the very onset of this racing program,” Paul Miller said. “The mechanics and engineers are great, they are there full time with our guys working right alongside, and have got right into sync with the team. And to have a driver the caliber of Benoît Tréluyer sent to help us get started is incredibly helpful, and an indication of Audi’s great support that we sincerely appreciate.”
Indeed Tréluyer was just as ecstatic about getting behind the wheel of the machine, which was first drive in a GT car of any kind:“I received a call two weeks ago with the offer to come here and test the R8,”
“I have never tested the R8 before, and when I had the opportunity to come here with the Paul Miller Racing team, an American team, on this circuit Sebring, which I really like, I was really looking forward to testing the GT car here.”
Whilst Bryce Miller doesn’t have a co-driver for the season as of yet, he is not letting that distract from learning a distinctly different car: “To be able to work with them beyond motorsports, at the dealership level, it is beneficial to our program that we have relationships there, and that we have a history there of success. That’s a good platform to build a motorsport program on and just makes it easier to stand it up and push it forward.”
