Rave reviews for Miller Motorsports Park

It is hard to find anyone in the American Le Mans Series paddock who isn’t enamored with Miller Motorsports Park. From the appearance of the facility and scenery to the 3,500-foot straightaway and 24-turn, 4.5-mile circuit, praises have been flowing in advance of this year’s Utah Grand Prix for the Series’ second visit to Miller following a terrific inaugural showing last year. What do drivers like best about the track and what’s the best way to attack it? Here are their answers.

Bill Auberlen, Panoz Team PTG
“The high altitude is tricky because your motor makes a lot less horsepower. The key thing is to dyno the motor at altitude. Make the setup stiffer. It’s a road course. It’s flat and fast. We’ll change the setup and aerodynamic balance."

Allan McNish, Audi Sport North America
“The circuit I found to be fantastic. The facility was top-notch. It was as good as any facility, not just in North America, but in the world. The corners are varied and there are a lot of them. So it’s tricky to get a rhythm and a feel."

Butch Leitzinger, Dyson Racing
“The Salt Lake circuit was one of my favorites. When I looked at it on a track map, I wasn’t very enthused. But once I got on it, it’s fantastic. It has every kind of turn that you can imagine: fast and slow turns, banked turns and off-camber turns. It’s a real drivers track and lends itself to good racing."

Johnny O’Connell, Corvette Racing
“I loved it. It was one of the best tracks in the country. It’s so smooth and so fast. There is a great combination of corners and great overtaking areas. Of all the races we go to, it’s one of the ones I’m looking forward to going back to the most."

Andy Wallace, Dyson Racing
“The first thing to realize is that it’s a very long lap. The first three turns all flow one into the others, and they’re all fourth gear corners or maybe even fifth gear for Turn 2. All drivers like high-speed corners. It’s very dusty if you go off the road but in terms of the layout, it’s perfect for racing with the long straight and quick corners. It’s a real favorite of mine."

Stefan Johansson, Highcroft Racing
“The track is going to be awesome. It’s a high downforce track, which will suit our car very well. The layout of the track will be very, very challenging and pretty hard work in one of these cars."

Timo Bernhard, Penske Motorsports
“Salt Lake City is one of the best race tracks in the US. When you go there, you’re impressed by how big the facility is. I really like a track that gives you 24 corners. For European drivers, it really reminds you of the tracks back there. You have a lot of space, quick corners and an infield that is quite tricky."

Dindo Capello, Audi Sport North America
“It’s a really great race track. It’s so long and there are so many corners that we thought it would have been very, very difficult to learn the track. But after the first session, we felt very confident because our car fits very well to the race track. It’s one of the nicest tracks on the American Le Mans Series schedule."

The next round of the American Le Mans Series is the Utah Grand Prix, set for 5:05 p.m. MT on Saturday, May 19 from Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City. It will air live on XM Satellite Radio’s Sports Nation channel. CBS Sports will air the race at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 20. MotorsTV in Europe, SPEED Latin America and 7TV in Russia also will provide international coverage. American Le Mans Radio and IMSA’s Live Timing and Scoring will be available at americanlemans.com.