A lesson in weekend domination from Indy TA2 winner Miller

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By: RACER Staff | 9 hours ago


One of the highest-quality TA2 Powered by AEM fields seen this season assembled for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway round of the Trans Am Presented by Pirelli series, but it proved to be no real hurdle for veteran Marc Miller, who gave a lesson in weekend domination.

Fastest in every practice session, fastest in qualifying, Miller’s white and black No. 40 Prefix-powered Stevens-Miller Racing Dodge Challenger easily bested 21 other hopefuls in Sunday’s long, hot, 42-lap TA2-class feature.

Losing his lead of nearly 20 seconds when an incident with just 6 laps remaining brought out the Safety Car, Miller got the jump at the restart, and beat Stewart-Miller teammate Dillon Machavern’s No. 77 Liqui-Moly/Prefix Ford Mustang to the line by 1.879s.

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“It all started in the shop,” Miller said. “The car was good on the first lap and good on the last lap. I said before I got here that I wanted a car that was good on a one-lap run and good after 30 laps, and that’s exactly what I got.”

 

Marc Miller Takes First Season Win at the Brickyard in TA2

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Published on Aug 4, 2019

Fastest all weekend, Marc Miller dominated the IMS circuit to take his first win of the season.

 

Miller edges Matos in fierce Indy TA2 qualifying battle

Image by Chris Clark


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By: Trans Am August 3, 2019 6:50 PM


Immediately following the TA/SGT/GT mixed-class feature at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it was the T2 powered by AEM group’s turn on the 2.43-mile road circuit on Saturday. Twenty-one Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli TA2 drivers rolled out eyeing the chance to take pole at the infamous Brickyard.

But, there can only be one pole starter, and Marc Miller in the No. 40 Prefix Dodge Challenger claimed the honors in the end, eclipsing Rafa Matos’ time by just 15 hundredths of a second with a fast lap time of 1m30.733s.

How tough was this qualifying battle? In the end, the top four drivers were separated by less than nine-tenths of a second.

“Everything is falling into place exactly how we wanted it,” said Miller. “A lot of work had to be done to the car after it went into the barrier at Detroit. We made some changes to the set up and did our homework on what we wanted to unload like.

“The Prefix hemi has been rock solid with a lot of torque,” Miller continued. “The Dodge body is pretty slippery in a straight line, and the car is awesome — the Stevens-Miller guys don’t miss a beat.”

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Miller took fastest time in the opening two laps, then parked in pit lane for the majority of the session — until Matos in the No. 88 3Dimensional Services Group Chevrolet Camaro bested Miller’s opener, reeling off a 1m30.883s.

Matos, who took pole position last year in Indy, knocked off one more lap, then called it quits for the day.

“Qualifying was a great effort by the team,” Matos said. “We’ve been suffering some engine issues and we thought we figured it out by qualifying, but there were still some lingering problems. I thought I had a great lap coming but the engine just gave up in the middle of the lap and unfortunately, we couldn’t get pole position. But, we are happy with P2.

“The guys are working extremely hard to find out what the issues, but we got everything we could from the car in qualifying. The car is consistent, and I think we will have a really good race tomorrow.”

With just a few minutes left in the session, Miller waited for a gap, then posted a 1m30.733s flyer in his Prefix-powered Dodge to take back pole position.

Scott Lagasse Jr. in the No. 92 SLR/Fields Racing/M1Racecars Chevrolet Camaro, clicked off a fast time of 1m31.480s and will start third in Sunday’s 100-mile feature.

“It was a good qualifying session for us,” Lagasse Jr. said. “Chevrolet is good at Indy. We are kind of working on things now. We spent all practice working on race trim, so to lay that kind of qualifying lap down is good. I hope tomorrow is hot and slick, because that is what we prepared for.”

Dillon Machavern in the No. Liqui-Moly / Prefix Ford Mustang will start fourth, while Tony Buffomante (No. 34 Mike Cope Racing Ford Mustang) will share Row 3 with sixty-nine-year-old Doug Peterson (No. 87 3Dimensional Services Group Ford Mustang).

The TA2 powered by AEM 100-mile/42-lap (or 70 minutes, whichever comes first) feature starts on Sunday at 2:45 p.m. ET. For full results, video updates and photos visit GoTransAm.com.

 

Miller holds off Machavern in Indy TA2 closing-laps shootout

Images by Chris Clark


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By: Trans Am | August 4, 2019 5:06 PM


In what turned out to be a four-lap shootout to the checkered, TA2 powered by AEM points leader Marc Miller fended off a hard-charging Dillon Machavern to claim his first Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli TA2 class win of the 2019 season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Fastest in every session, Miller’s No. 40 Prefix/Stevens-Miller Racing Dodge Challenger bested 21 other hopefuls, crossing the iconic yard of bricks just under two seconds clear of Machavern’s No. 77 Liqui-Moly/Prefix Ford Mustang.

It was young Machavern’s third runner-up result of the season and it gave Stevens-Miller Racing its first 1-2 finish of the year.

Tony Buffomante (No. 34 Mike Cope Racing Ford Mustang) completed the podium, finishing third.

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“It all started in the shop,” Miller said. “The car was good on the first lap and good on the last lap. I said before I got here that I wanted a car that was good on a one-lap run and good after 30 laps, and that’s exactly what I got.

“Dillon (Machavern) is wily,” Miller continued. “He’s a fast kid. I was worried on the restart. I thought he would have something at the end because we were both saving tires. It wasn’t until the third lap of the run that I finally relaxed and thought, ‘I got this.’”



Miller started on the pole for the 100-mile, 42-lap TA2 feature and immediately pulled away from defending TA2 champion Rafa Matos (No. 88 3Dimensional Services Group Chevrolet Camaro) and second-row starters Scott Lagasse Jr. (No. 92 SLR/Fields Racing/ M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro) and Machavern. Not putting a wheel off all weekend, no one had an answer for Miller at the Brickyard as he sailed away to an 18-second lead.

The race ended prematurely for frontrunners Matos and Lagasse Jr., though, both retiring from the race early with mechanical issues.

Clicking away positions as top contenders faded, Machavern took second place.

With six laps to go, Keith Prociuk (No. 9 HP Tuners Chevrolet Camaro) and Curt Vogt (Cobra Automotive Ford Mustang) tangled heading into Turn 2, triggering the first and only full-course caution which bunched the field.

Suddenly the huge advantage Miller had built was gone. But he handled the restart with poise, and outpaced Machavern to the finish line.

“The No. 77 Liqui-Moly/Prefix Ford Mustang started to come together there at the end, but by that time, Marc had such a large lead I couldn’t do anything about it,” said Machavern. “We saved some tires and brakes for the end of race, and I’m glad we did. The restart gave us a chance to get back in the race. But Marc was just dialed in this weekend.”

Buffomante drove a near perfect race, storming from a fifth-place start to finish third.

“Thought we could get two consecutive wins here at Indy, but the car just wasn’t there,” Buffomante said. “There will be seven Mike Cope Racing cars at Mid-Ohio and they’ll be coming for these guys. I won’t make Mid-Ohio, but I will see everyone back at Road America.”

Lawless Alan in the No. 52 AutoParkIT Ford Mustang claimed his best result of the season, finishing fourth, while the drive of the race was from series newcomer Max Nufer (No. 59 Manufacturing News Chevrolet Camaro) who finished fifth after working his way up from an 11th-place start.

The drive from near the back to his first top five earned Nufer the Cool Shirts Cool Move of the race.

“It’s a privilege and an honor to race with Trans Am,” he said. “I wouldn’t be here without my team and my parents.”

Charging from 20th to finish the race in 12th, Tim Gray in the No. 60 Ryan Companies Ford Mustang won the TA2 Masters Class.

“That was one hot race,” said Gray of the nearly 100-degree weather. “There’s so much history here in Indy and I’m glad we could add to it.”