Mies: Second for Mustang GT3 on Suzuka Debut “Like a Win”

Christopher Mies has said second place for the Ford Mustang GT3 EVO on its Suzuka 1000km debut “feels like a win” after securing the runner-up spot for Miedecke Motorsport/Team MPC in a race dominated on pure pace by Porsche.

Starting from pole, Mies and his co-drivers in the No. 64 Mustang, Dennis Olsen and Frederic Vervisch, ended up 51 seconds down on the No. 8 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Laurin Heinrich, Alessio Picariello and Julien Andlauer.

That was after Mies was passed for the lead at Turn 7 by Heinrich just past the halfway point of the six-and-a-half hour Intercontinental GT Challenge fixture.

The German driver said he had no reason to be unhappy with the outcome given that both the Mustang and the all-Australian Miedecke/MPC outfit were new to Suzuka, and that the car had not turned a wheel before Friday practice.

“The car came out of the container on Monday, having never done a roll-out before, and the boys from MPC did a great job preparing the car,” Mies told Sportscar365. “We had no technical issues, which has always been the car’s strength.

“After securing pole yesterday, we were already very proud, and finishing second feels like a win considering it’s the first time for the car and for the team.

“Hopefully they (MPC) will have a lot of fun with this car.”

Mies had been leading by around ten seconds after the safety car period that launched the No. 8 Porsche into contention, and saw his margin over Heinrich evaporate in a matter of laps once the ‘Bushi Rex’-liveried car was up to second place.

Recalling the battle for the lead with Heinrich, Mies said he didn’t see any sense losing time in the battle for second by trying to hang on against a faster car.

“I knew the gap was decreasing, and I even told the team over the radio that once he is on my bumper, I will just let him go,” he said. “I actually wanted to let him by on the back straight into Spoon Curve, but he was too far away.

“There was no point in racing him. The plan was always to let him go. When you have a car that is a second quicker than you, there’s no need to fight, because you only lose time. I was happy to sit behind him in second.”

For his part, MPC co-owner Troy Russell said he felt that despite the comfortable leads enjoyed by both Olsen and Mies in the first half of the race, there was nothing the squad could have done about the speed shown by Porsche and Heinrich.

“Second is pretty good,” Russell told Sportscar365. “A lot of work has gone in behind the scenes to get where we got to. The car was faultless, and every pit stop was perfect.

“There were no issues the whole day, which is all you can ask for as a team.

“I don’t think we were ever in command; I think Porsche just put their gun steerer (Heinrich) in and he set sail into the sunset. It was as simple as that. Porsche had the faster race car today and we didn’t have the pace to match them.

“That’s BoP racing sometimes. I’m not complaining about it; I’ve been on both sides of it. It’s just how it goes. Nobody can say we did anything wrong.

“Sometimes you lead a big race and afterwards you reflect on it, and there are always ‘what-ifs’. Today there was no ‘what-if’. We were just beaten by a faster car.”