JDC-Miller MotorSports announces 2017 Rolex 24 Lineup. Swiss WEC and ELMS ace Mathias Beche will join JDC-Miller regulars Misha Goikhberg, Chris Miller and Stephen Simpson for the 2017 Rolex 24 hours of Daytona.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN. (December 27, 2016) JDC-Miller MotorSports today confirmed their driver lineup for the upcoming “Roar Before the Rolex 24” test and Rolex 24 at Daytona race in January with Swiss WEC and ELMS ace Mathias Beche joining JDC-Miller regulars Misha Goikhberg, Chris Miller and Stephen Simpson.
Goikhberg, Miller and Simpson were part of the lineup that secured the team’s 2016 Rolex 24 at Daytona win in the Prototype Challenge class. They reunite to campaign a new ORECA 07 Gibson LMP2 fulltime in the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech Championship.
Goikhberg and full season teammate Simpson also won the 2016 Long Beach Grand Prix and finished 3rd in the overall IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype Challenge class driver championship.
Minnesota native Chris Miller will again join the team for the four rounds of the Tequila Patron North American endurance cup, were he finished 3rd in the 2016 Prototype Challenge driver standings after winning the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona and finishing 3rd at the season final Petit LeMans race at Road Atlanta.
Goikhberg and Miller have competed under the JDC MotorSports banner for several years, having had success with the team in a variety of IMSA and open-wheel championships. Goikhberg won the first of three consecutive championships for JDC in IMSA Prototype Lites competition, while Miller has won a championship with the team in F2000 competition.
Simpson carries with him a wealth of experience across a number of categories. In additional to his success with JDC, he has represented South Africa as a driver for the country’s A1 Grand Prix team. He has also competed in the ELMS and in the ALMS in the LMP1 class.
The 4th JDC-Miller MotorSports driver for the Rolex 24 at Daytona lineup will be Swiss WEC and ELMS ace Mathias Beche.
Beche most recently raced for multiple ORECA teams in the 2016 WEC and ELMS. He won three out of six races in the 2016 ELMS LMP2 championship, finishing 2nd in the overall ELMS driver championship.
“Mathias Beche is a great addition for our Daytona line up and program. He has a lot of experience with ORECA and the car,” commented team principal John Church.
“With the team moving to a new class and car, we felt it was important to include someone like him in our testing and Rolex24 race program. When we found out Mathias was available to join us it was a no brainer from our end to add him to the lineup”, Church explained. “He will be a great help as we work to get up to speed with the new car”.
He has been part of the JDC-Miller’s pre-season testing and will also join the team for the “Roar Before the Rolex 24” test and Rolex 24 at Daytona race.
JDC-Miller MotorSports will run the full IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season with Misha Goikhberg already confirmed as one of their full season drivers in 2017. The team also confirmed that last year’s teammates Chris Miller and Stephen Simpson will rejoin the team as well but it has yet to be decided in which capacity they will run in the new prototype program in 2017.