Laurin Heinrich enters the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta facing a steep path to the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) title, but the 2024 GTD Pro champion is focusing on the ultimate objective: winning Motul Petit Le Mans overall.
Returning to the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 alongside Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer, Heinrich trails points leader Jack Aitken (#31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R) by 147 points heading into Saturday’s 10-hour endurance showcase. Across the anticipated 11-car GTP field, a maximum of 385 points are up for grabs (350 for the win, 35 for pole), while 11th-place points in both sessions yield a minimum of 220 points (20 for qualifying, 200 for the race).
With a maximum differential of 165 points on the table, Aitken’s absolute scoring floor is 2,972 points, meaning a finish of ninth or better guarantees him the Driver Championship. For Heinrich to reach his potential ceiling of 2,990 points and steal the title, it starts by not being 150 points back after qualifying before needing to win while Aitken suffers a finish of 10th or lower.
Despite the long odds, Heinrich is refusing to let outside scenarios distract from his primary goal at Road Atlanta.
“Yeah, there is a chance, and this race can be so chaotic, so you never know,” Heinrich said. “For me, the goal is pretty clear. I need to win the race. I want to win Petit Le Mans overall. It’s one of my career goals.
“And it’s pretty straightforward in terms of the things that I can influence, which is just to try to win the race. But obviously, then to win the championship, there needs to be other factors at play, which are not in my control. Which means #31 has to finish 10th or lower or 9th or lower. So, yeah, even if we win the race, we’re still depending on outside factors, which we cannot influence. It’s a fact which is there, but it’s not something which I will think too much about it, because for me, I better spend my resources up here thinking about what I can influence.”
Realizing the Title Opportunity and Factory Growth
Heinrich’s path to the top of the GTP standings gained momentum following a victory – while driving for privateer JDC-Miller MotorSports’ #5 entry – at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, which sparked discussions on prioritizing his IMSA championship run over international scheduling conflicts.
“When I got out of the car in Laguna, someone told me, ‘You’re now leading the championship,’” Heinrich recalled. “And, there was something I never looked at before. So, there was the first wakeup where I thought, hey, well, that’s crazy. I’m leading in the driver standings alone, because obviously I was swapping cars already. Then as soon as the discussion started, what are we going to do with the Watkins Glen clash? Are we prioritizing the IMSA title fight? And once the decision was taken, it was game on and I was trying to focus as much as I could on that championship.”
#5 JDC-Miller MotorSports: Laurin Heinrich
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Lumen via Getty Images
Heinrich, who also co-drove in the #6 PPM Porsche 963 – and got a much-needed podium – in the last round at Indianapolis, added that the decision required a complete shift in focus after originally preparing for European endurance commitments at Spa-Francorchamps.
“Yeah, because in the end, I was already at Spa doing the official test, the Prologue, with the team (Schumacher CLRT) that I was meant to do the race,” Heinrich said. “As you can tell, the things were decided pretty late. And I also did not want to let my team down for Spa. Being somewhere else and just thinking about IMSA. Once the decision was taken, I was also shifting my focus.”
The Qualifying Equation and Seeking Petit Le Mans Glory
Qualifying on Friday presents a crucial early hurdle. With valuable qualifying points, it could mathematically eliminate or prolong Heinrich’s title hopes before the green flag even drops on Saturday. Heinrich noted that bonus points earned during qualifying at Road Atlanta in 2024 provided the exact margin he needed to clinch his GTD Pro title.
“Yeah, I don’t know myself, yet who will qualify, and if I knew, I think I couldn’t tell right now,” Heinrich said.
“Qualifying in IMSA is something which many people forget about. There are not many points at play, but these points can make a difference in the end throughout the whole year. We do nine qualifying, which is 10 percent points of the race. So, there’s nearly one race that we are doing on top of the race results. It can make a big difference.
“Unfortunately, qualifying has not been our strong part this year, but I don’t see any reason why we cannot turn that one around. And I can speak from experience because in 2024, the pole that I did was exactly the point we needed to be able to finish one spot lower, end of the race to still clinch the title, and that was the spot we needed at the end. So, it can make a difference and for sure, we are mindful of that. But at the same time, come Friday night, we know already if we’re fighting for the championship still or just a race win.”
#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Laurin Heinrich, Kevin Estre
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images
When asked if he would petition PPM to take qualifying duties into his own hands, Heinrich emphasized a team-first mindset, also putting in perspective the manufacturer’s championship which Cadillac leads Porsche by 136 points.
“I think it’s not a very easy situation,” Heinrich stated. “Because in the end, we’re all in a team, and you don’t want to be the guy who runs into the team and just puts his ego in the first place everywhere because in the end, there’s still a big win at stake. So, I will follow the team’s approach.
“It’s Team Penske (Porsche Penske Motorsport), they know what they’re doing. They respect my driver’s championship title as you’ve seen, with me racing on the #6 in Indy, and I fully trust the team that they will give me and also us the best chances at winning both the (manufacturer’s) title and the Driver’s Championship, as well as the race win.”
Regardless of how the points are calculated by Saturday morning, Heinrich knows the entire PPM squad is hungry to claim an overall victory at Petit Le Mans.
“I can feel it in the team, they want to win Petit Le Mans,” Heinrich said. “That’s the one which is missing, and it’s great to see that motivation in the team.
“The team has proven multiple times throughout the program what they’re capable of, and I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be capable of winning Petit Le Mans. I think the year just hasn’t come yet, and the opportunity. But I’m very confident that we’ll go all out for the race win, and it’s great to feel that motivation within every team member. They want to prove that us, as Porsche, we can win this race.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Team
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
