Christopher Mies
Dubai, Sepang, Bathurst – 2016 has seen Christopher Mies contest three endurance races to date in a year that is still young. But that was only the beginning: This season the 26-year-old will be competing in no less than three racing series and two iconic endurance races. The Australian GT Championship now kicked off this mammoth programme.
Three and a half months after Christopher Mies took the champion’s trophy in the Australian GT Championship the professional racer from Heiligenhaus, Germany, started to the new season with his proven team, JAMEC PEM Racing. And it was a sensational start: In qualifying for the three-heat opening weekend in Adelaide Mies Mies set a new qualifying lap record. It took Mies in his Audi R8 LMS 1m 20.2039s to complete a lap on the 3.219-kilometre city street circuit, which made him four tenths faster than his closest rival. In the third heat of the weekend, the current champion, at 1m 20.3217s, even set a new race lap record. In between though, there were a few ups and downs.
“We definitely had the speed this weekend, as the timesheets show, but, unfortunately, we didn’t convert them into good enough results,” Mies, who shares his Audi with Australian local hero Geoff Emery, said in summing up the event. In the first race, start driver Emery, on cold tyres, lost a few positions. The safety car, plus the long compulsory pit stop time prescribed by the regulations for the driver pairing due to its high rating, ultimately permitted no more than tenth place. With a strong recovery Mies captured the lead during race two. But due to an incident in the battle for the top spot that involved contact and sent their rival into a spin, Mies/Emery received a retroactive time penalty which caused them to drop to position 18. “The penalty is acceptable because I touched him. However, he did close the door on me and there was no room for me to get around him on the inside because that’s where the track barrier was,” said Mies. Due to the loss in positions the die was cast for the third heat as well, as races two and three in the GT Championship are started in the order of the results from the previous race. Consequently, more than position 15 was not possible — in spite of the new lap record.
“We have a superb package. The team perfectly prepared the Audi. The car is really strong on the brakes and quick in both slow and fast turns. That means we can also compensate for our long compulsory pit stop times. You could particularly see that in the second race. The safety car and, obviously, our penalty have deprived us of the reward for our work this time,” said Mies. Irrespective of his result in the season opener, he had not been aiming to defend the title in Australia though. “That would be unrealistic because I have to skip a few rounds due to overlaps on my racing schedule. Therefore, my goal is to celebrate on the podium as often as possible — preferably on the top step.”
In addition to the Australian GT Championship, Mies is again contesting the Blancpain GT Sprint Cup and the ADAC GT Masters in 2016. Between the beginning of April and the beginning of October the European tour of the Blancpain GT Sprint Cup will be taking Mies to Misano (I), Brands Hatch (GB), the Nürburgring (D), Budapest (H) and Barcelona (E) where Mies is going to share an Audi R8 LMS from Belgian Audi Club Team WRT with Enzo Ide. “Last year I was able to contribute to WRT winning the teams’ title with a few good results, including second place in the season finale. I’d like to continue these performances with my partner this season.”
In the ADAC GT Masters Mies has set himself even higher aims. “Here I’d clearly like to be in contention for the title,” the driver from Heiligenhaus says, announcing his intention to battle. At the seven events comprising a total of 14 races Mies will be sharing his work in the cockpit with the quick American Connor De Phillippi. They will be driving an Audi R8 LMS from Land Motorsport.
Compared with last year, which had been packed with races as well, Mies has identified an advantage that may prove crucial: “All three series are using identical tyres from Pirelli this year. As I race on many tracks with continually changing set-ups I’ll be able to contribute important experience factors to the set-up work.”
Mies has set himself high aims for the two iconic 24-hour races at the Nürburgring and at Spa as well. “At the Nürburbring I’m determined to defend my title and at Spa I’d like to finish on podium two steps higher than before,” says Mies. He will be contesting the German endurance race together with Pierre Kaffer and his co-winners of last year’s event, Nico Müller and Laurens Vanthoor, in the Audi R8 LMS from WRT. At Spa Mies is going to drive a Phoenix with the two former Spa winners Frank Stippler and Markus Winkelhock as his teammates.
The next race is coming up for Mies weekend after next when the next three-heat event in the Australian GT Championship will be held as part of the supporting programme for the Formula One season opener at Melbourne. “I’m going to stay in Australia and complete a fitness programme here,” says Mies, who has rented an apartment in Australia where, among other things, he keeps a racing bicycle.
Leave a comment