Jason Miller and Richard Baskus are enjoying the thrill of racing a Porsche GT3 Cup car around the world-famous Mount Panorama circuit, and will start 26th on the grid in tomorrow’s first endurance race for the CUE Production Sports Endurance Super Series at the Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour.
Recently, Miller and Baskus have been racing a Mitsubishi Evo in the Australian Production Car Series, but the Evo was extensively damaged in a Round 1 crash at Sydney Motorsport Park.
However, the drivers have bounced back, and Miller is relishing the challenge of driving the exotic machine around the Mountain.
“It’s by far the fastest car I’ve driven at Bathurst, and I was thrown in the deep end in qualifying today,” he said.
“Because the practice session was red-flagged, I wasn’t able to do any laps, so in qualifying I had to learn my way around pretty quickly.
“My times were a bit slower than Richard’s, so I’ll be using his data as a reference point.”
Baskus said he had worked hard in the lead-up to the weekend.
“It’s a while since I’ve driven a Porsche, and I’m learning it again, but in the lead-up to this weekend, I studied the track thoroughly, and working on my fitness.
“I also spent some time with Barton Mawer, working on the driver fitness side of things.
“Our performance today was pretty good, considering the calibre of the competition – we’ve ended up fifth in our class, and we can race forward from there.”
The event also holds special significance for Jason’s father Jamie Miller, who last raced a V8 Supercar at Bathurst in 2002 with the late Ron Searle.
“It’s 15 years since I raced at Bathurst, and I’m very proud to see my son racing here,” he said.
The first one-hour endurance race commences tomorrow at 11:40am.
