Daytona Debut for JDC-Miller Porsche 963 ‘In Question’

Photo: Porsche

The debut race for JDC-Miller Motorsports’ Porsche 963 is currently ‘in question’ according to Porsche Motorsport North America President and CEO Volker Holzmeyer, who has indicated that customer cars will only be rolled out when they are ready.

JDC-Miller was announced Saturday as the first customer worldwide of the German manufacturer’s new-for-2023 LMDh prototype, although it’s understood that current supply chain issues could force the customer teams to debut later in the season.

Porsche has allocated four customer cars for 2023, split evenly between the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“We have to figure it out,” Holzmeyer said on the customer cars’ debut. “The car is still under development and we have to be honest. We all agreed that we will bring out the customer cars when it’s ready.

“It makes no sense for both parties — if we are not ready in Daytona then we will not force it. If it’s not Daytona, then maybe it’s Sebring or a race later.

“But this has to be proven by the next weeks and months in finalizing engineering and homologation.

“Once the homologation is delayed, then the supply chain is more stressed. We have to figure it out and we can’t tell you today what’s the first race of [the customer] car.”

When asked by Sportscar365 on the current chances of it making its debut in the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, Holzmeyer said: “I would question Daytona.”

“Our target is of course to bring it to Daytona but pressure doesn’t solve engineering topics. We have to just see when it’s working and get the parts together and make it right.

“If the lead engineer of the LMDh factory team would sit here, he would say, ‘I gather all possible resources to make one car fast. The second one is already a headache and a customer car is more [of a] headache because you need more qualified resources to operate it at the same level.’

“That’s why it’s important that we made the decision that we do that and that’s how we set up the whole team.

“We’re setting up a totally new support team to support the customer cars that are not affected by the workload on the factory side.

“You have to divide it at one point to not have to shift around resources. We did that and we’re properly prepared. That’s why I’m comfortable we can deliver a very good quality.

“But of course more cars, more questions stresses the organization.”

With a Daytona debut not yet officially ruled out, JDC-Miller team co-owner John Church said they will assess the situation as it becomes more clear.

He did, however, rule out asking IMSA to allow the team to run its current Cadillac DPi-V.R grandfathered into the GTP class, stating that it’s “not realistic.”

“I think we’ll probably adjust our planning and thought process as we evolve here,” Church said. “We’re certainly hopeful and we’ll stay on top of Volker.

“That’s definitely the potential and if that were to be the case, then yeah we have to look at ’23 as a development year and getting going.

“It’s like anything else in life, you’ve got to take those challenges in stride, figure it out and come up with a solution.”

Holzmeyer confirmed the cost of the car at $2.9 million, which includes customer support at a comparable level to the previous RS Spyder program.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John