A storming drive through the field has enabled Jason Miller to score a pair of top-three race finishes in the two Sunday Mazda RX8 Cup races at The Bend Motorsport Park.
Miller started Race 3 in 13th position after his Race 2 indiscretion, but said some overnight adjustments to his RX8 Cup car transformed the handling.
“On Saturday night, I wasn’t happy with my performance, and I went over some in-car footage with my engineer, Dave Kelly,” Miller said.
“We worked out that I was overdriving the car and overheating the front tyres, which was causing understeer. We made a change to the car, and I also worked on my driving technique.”
The benefits of Miller’s approach were on display for everyone to see in Race 3, where he charged from 13th on the grid to third at the finish.
“The car was definitely improved and I adapted my driving style accordingly, but there was no doubt I also got a bit lucky with a few incidents involving other drivers, which allowed me to make up some places,” a modest Miller said afterwards.
Miller saved his best performance for the fourth and final race of the weekend, where he engaged in a door-to-door battle with championship contenders Aaron Prosser and Will Harris.
“We raced hard for the entire duration, but it was also clean and fair,” Miller said.
“We each had strengths and weaknesses in different parts of the track; my car was good under brakes, especially at Turn 6, but they were stronger in the final sector of the lap.”
Miller ultimately defeated both Prosser and Harris to take a second-place finish behind defending champion Ric Shaw; his results across the four races placed him fourth for the weekend.
“Overall, I enjoyed racing in a one-make series for the first time – I’ve been used to doing endurance races, so competing in sprint races has been different, but it’s been good experience.
“A big thank you to Sam Silvestro for preparing a great car, Dave Kelly for his help over the weekend and Ric Shaw and the rest of the category for their hospitality.
