Ex-pat Kiwi Tim Miles considers Highlands Motorsport Park to be his home track and he would dearly love to clinch the Australian Endurance Championship at the Cromwell circuit this weekend.
Originally from Ashburton, along with co-driver Jaxon Evans, Miles is now based in Sydney but has a house in Arrowtown, hence his connection to Highlands. They head into the final round, Sunday’s 501km race, with a comfortable lead over their nearest rivals.
"To win the championship at Highlands would be incredibly special," Miles said.
"We’ve done the maths and worked out where we need to finish to win the championship. There are points for qualifying as well but we reckon if we finish fourth or higher, that should be enough to win the title."
The duo will share the drive of Miles’ Audi R8 LMS, which they piloted to second place at the penultimate AEC round at Hampton Downs 500 two weeks ago.
Miles has a long history in New Zealand motorsport while Evans (21), who is based on the Gold Coast, is being touted as an exciting young talent in Australia.
Miles headed to the United Kingdom in his early 20s to pursue his dream of racing at the top level but he soon realised he did not have the raw speed or the budget to keep up with his rivals. He was employed as a dogsbody for one of the leading British teams and worked his way up to the role of team manager.
"I think I learned more about motorsport from racing in New Zealand than I did working overseas. You’ve got to work smarter in New Zealand.
"You’ve got to improvise more because you’re not racing with the same budget as the teams in Europe. That’s why Kiwis who go to Europe tend to rise through the ranks quickly because we’re good at coming up with solutions," he said.
Miles moved to Australia in 1993 where he was a co-owner of V8 Supercars team Tasman Motorsport and a shareholder in Triple Eight Racing, the team behind the Red Bull Racing outfit.
Being involved in the business side of motorsport led to an opportunity to drive a race car for the first time in 25 years in 2012.
Miles competed in the Aussie Racing Cars for a couple of seasons before graduating to racing Porsches. He won the GT3 Cup Challenge Elite Class in 2016 with support from McElrea Racing, with whom Evans was serving his apprenticeship as a workshop assistant, while learning to be a race car driver.
"The class win in the Porsche was very satisfying but this Australian Endurance Championship is on another level. It’s also a bonus to be part of a programme that is helping put Jaxon on the road to success because I think he is going to be a very special talent," Miles said.
Highlands owner Tony Quinn thought every car would need to make three pit stops in the 501km race — but the German cars in the field have a much better fuel efficiency so they can get away with two pit stops, he said.
"If I had to pick a winner it would be championship leaders, Tim Miles and Jaxon Evans in the Audi. They are favourites going into the weekend. They’ve a much better pit stop strategy and therefore a huge advantage over the other cars.
"Tim and Jaxon have had a great year and they’re a couple of good ol’ South Island boys so it would be a fitting way to farewell the Australian GTs if they were able to wrap up the championship here this weekend."
