Miller Looks to Wrap Up Season With ST Title

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 26, 2009) - Christian Miller wasn’t sure how much he was going to run this season in the Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge.

Following a solid performance in the 2008 Street Tuner (ST) class, Miller was expected to compete sparingly with Compass360 Racing, one of the top teams in the series, in a Honda Civic Si. He would start off in January’s season-opening Fresh From Florida 200 at Daytona International Speedway, and go from there.

Yet, when the opportunity came for the San Jose, Calif., driver to drive with veteran Randy Pobst, he jumped at it. The pair finished 12th at Daytona, but jumped to the top of the point standings with a victory in March’s Fan Appreciation Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The pair also won at New Jersey Motorsports Park, and Miller has never looked back.

Now, in this Sunday’s season-ending Bosch Engineering Octoberfest at Virginia International Raceway, Miller will try to complete his championship run and earn his first-ever Grand-Am championship. He owns a 31-point advantage (286-255) over Andrew Aquilante and Kristian Skavnes, who also entered last year’s season finale at VIR second in the points.

With 35 points available for the victory, and Miller holding the victory tiebreaker to Aquilante and Skavnes, Miller would need only to finish 27th.

It doesn’t seem likely that Miller would finish that low. Aside from that 12th-place result at Daytona, he has finished no lower than seventh since. His aforementioned victories are a part of five podium finishes and seven top-10 finishes this season.

They haven’t all come with Pobst, however, who is third in the standings, only 20 points behind Skavnes and Aquilante. Pobst had other commitments running against two of the KONI Challenge ST races, therefore giving Miller an edge over his veteran co-driver.

Miller and Pobst will drive Compass360 Racing’s #74 Skunk2/034 Motorsport Honda Civic Si at VIR, while Skavnes and Aquilante drive the No. 111 Subaru of America Subaru Legacy.

If Miller goes onto win the championship, the No. 74 would also give Compass360 its first-ever KONI Challenge team crown. Team owner Karl Thomson and Billy Johnson were second in driver points two seasons ago in the No. 74 Acura TSX, while Adam Burrows was second in 2008. It would also give Canada its second consecutive team owner championship. Last season, Georgian Bay Motorsports won with Canadian driver Jamie Holtom. Ironically, Holtom will be driving Compass360’s #75 for the VIR event.

Despite such a strong season, Miller and VIR have never completely warmed up to each other. Miller’s best finish in three VIR starts is 13th. Meanwhile, Pobst have four starts, with a GS II class victory with TPC Racing in 2003.

The championship race became twofold following the race Sept. 18 at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. In that race, Ian Baas and Josh Hurley finished second, which was enough for them to grab second in the points. However, officials ruled unauthorized engine modifications on their No. 171 APR/Gunther VW Volkswagen GTI, as well as the team’s No. 181 APR/BBS Volkswagen GTI, were carried out, and neither car nor driver earned championship points. However, APR Motorsport kept its victory, and will be shooting for its fifth victory of 2009. The No. 181, driven by Dion von Moltke and Mike Sweeney, has a season-high three wins, while Baas and Hurley won once in the No. 171.

Pobst and Miller join von Moltke and Sweeney as the only other drivers with multiple victories this season in the ST class.

Practice for the event begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, with qualifying at 3 p.m. The four-hour race is scheduled to start at noon Sunday.

Courtesy Grand-Am.