JDC-Miller MotorSports has announced its driver line-up for the 28th annual Motul Petit Le Mans, featuring two new additions to the team. Tijmen van der Helm will be joined in the No. 85 ‘Banana Boat’ Porsche 963 by 2016 FIA World Endurance champion Neel Jani and IMSA GTP rookie Max Esterson.
Porsche factory driver Nico Müller, who’d been previously announced for the final two races of the season – including the upcoming IMSA finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta – will not drive for JDC-Miller at Petit.
Jani, a former Porsche works driver, won the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours and the World Endurance drivers’ championship during his time with the German manufacturer. The 41-year-old is a two-time, back-to-back overall winner of the Petit Le Mans in 2012 and 2013; in 2023, he drove Proton Competition’s then-new Porsche 963 to its first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship podium at Petit Le Mans. In that same race, JDC-Miller finished fifth, their best result of the season in their first year with the 963.