Multimatic Motorsports / Miller Racing heading to Daytona for season opener

The Multimatic Motorsports/Miller Racing team, based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, will be at Florida’s world-famous Daytona International Speedway this week for the season-opening race of the 2014 International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC).

The new team, which combines the resources of Canada’s renowned, championship-winning Multimatic Motorsports with the Salt Lake City-based Miller Racing, founded in 2011 by the late Roger Miller, will field two Ford Mustang Boss 302R entries in the 2.5-hour race that will take the green flag at 1:45 pm ET on Friday, January 24.

The team will compete in the CTSCC’s Grand Sports (GS) class, which has 29 entries including competition from Aston Martin, BMW, Chevrolet, Nissan, Porsche and Subaru. On track simultaneously will be 35 smaller sport/compact cars from the Street Tuner class, which will make negotiating traffic safely a high priority for the team’s drivers.

Driving the No. 158 entry will be Ian James, Roger Miller’s longtime co-driver, and Billy Johnson, who comes to the team after a long partnership with Ford and Roush Racing. The sister No. 15 will be co-driven by Multimatic veterans Scott Maxwell and Jade Buford. The team’s commercial partners are Ford Racing, Total Care Auto, Prestige Financial and ViON.

The team heads to Daytona on the heels of a successful three-day test at the “Speedway By The Sea” held January 3-5. Both cars ran extremely well, with the No. 158 posting the second-fastest time in two of the six practice sessions, and the team has high expectations for this Friday’s race.

“I couldn’t be happier with the way the three-day Daytona test went,” said Larry Holt, team principal for Multimatic Motorsports. “Considering that the team only got their hands on the cars a few weeks ago, the performance was outstanding. But more than the speed and technical performance, the thing that made me most pleased was the way the new driver line-up gelled with the engineering staff and each other; it felt like everybody had been together for years rather than days. This all bodes well for our 2014 season.”

“I am really looking forward to Daytona and teaming with Billy,” said James. “We have already developed a great working relationship together, and I am excited about the possibilities that will come from the combination of Multimatic Motorsports and Miller Racing. We have a great team, fast and reliable cars, outstanding commercial partners and strong drivers. We anticipate not only delivering good results for Ford Racing, Total Care Auto, Prestige Financial and ViON, but to continue the Miller Racing legacy started by Roger Miller.”

“I'm really looking forward to the 2014 season opener at Daytona,” said Johnson. “I’m excited to be driving for the Multimatic Motorsports/Miller Racing team and co-driving with Ian. We are going to some great venues this year, with new teams and strong driver pairings throughout the field. It’s going to be an tremendous season, with some undoubtedly epic battles on the horizon, but we have the team, resources, cars, drivers and commercial partners to run up front and hopefully win our share.”

“First of all, I’m excited to be back with Ford Racing once again,” said Maxwell. “Multimatic and Miller Racing have put together a great team, and they know these cars inside-out. And what a driver line-up! Ian and I have raced with and against each other for years, and having two young stars of the future in Jade and Billy should make us a factor at every race.”

“I couldn’t be happier to be back with Multimatic Motorsports and Ford Racing for 2014,” said Buford. “I'm really excited to be back in a car with Scott, and I’m looking forward to working with Ian and Billy during what I know will be a tremendous season.”

The team will take to the 3.56-mile combined oval/road course on Wednesday, January 22, for two one-hour practice sessions. Another half-hour practice session and a 15-minute qualifying session are scheduled for Thursday, and then another half-hour practice on Friday morning before the CTSCC race takes the green flag that afternoon.

The race will be broadcast on a same-day, tape-delayed basis at 6:00 pm ET on Fox Sports 2. Live timing and scoring will be available at www.IMSA.com. IMSA offers mobile apps for both iPhone and Android platforms, available at Google Play and the App Store, respectively, which also provide live timing and scoring among other features.