A regular in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge in the U.S., Miller was called up to join the Riley Motorsports-TI Auto when it was the first reserve team to be moved to the official entry list.

“The weird thing about this is I had no expectations,” Miller said. “As a driver who has yet to compete in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring or Petit Le Mans, the idea of having my first major endurance race at the largest one in the world was never on my radar. There’s no expectations or idea of what it should be for me. Bill Riley [team principal] and the other drivers have been very helpful in guiding me. I’ve done a fairly good job at taking it all in without letting it rule my emotions, because it would be so easy for someone like myself to lose sight of what we’re here to do: place the car in the right location every single lap for 24 hours. That’s been my focus.”

Miller joins former Le Mans winner Jeroen Bleekemolen and fellow American rookie Ben Keating behind the wheel of the No. 53 Riley Motorsports-TI Auto SRT Viper GTS-R. Viper has a celebrated history at Le Mans, but this is not a factory effort and the LM GTE Am field is packed with talent. Miller remains cautiously optimistic.

“Every time you try to explain who you’re driving for, whether they speak English or not, when you say the car, they’ll say ‘VIPER!’ he said. “This is a pretty storied car in Le Mans. They won three years in-a-row. The factory came back after a long absence in 2013 and both cars finished. The difference is, this is a one-car operation and it’s like the underdog, but we have everything in place to win this race. The car is capable and I think we have the ability to win the LM GTE Am class. It’s still a David versus Goliath situation though.”

Unsure where exactly they’ll stack up against the competition until qualifying, Miller knows it’s not about speed, but about preparation and completing each lap and each pit stop to the best of their ability.

“At this point, we all want to win, and we’re going to do everything to set that up,” he said. “There are things we can’t control, but everything that we can control, we’re looking at. I think that’s very important to actually finishing this race; to not get into the habit of racing for every corner, every lap, but keeping the big picture alive.”

No matter the outcome, when the checkered flag falls, Miller sees more Le Mans in his future and he would like to bring his new found knowledge back stateside for the famous U.S. races.

“It’s a great experience,” Miller says with a smile. “It just makes me want to do it again and again and again. Now I want to go back and do all the races I should have done before this even more just because this teaches you so much.”

Erin Cechal / ACO

PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), PLACE DE LA REPUBLIQUE, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, MONDAY 8 JUNE 2015, SCRUTINEERING. Marc Miller will race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the very first time.