Laurin Heinrich put on a furious charge that ended with a last-lap pass to win it for customer outfit JDC-Miller MotorSports at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
The 24-year-old German chased down Whelen Cadillac’s Earl Bamber and the two battled, with the race-winning sequence happening with a brave move in Turn 3 that kept them side-by-side before Heinrich secured the top spot in Turn 5 before going on to win, along with co-driver Tijmen van der Helm, by 0.758s over Bamber at the 11-turn, 2.238-mile natural terrain road course.
It marks Heinrich’s eighth career class win and third win at the track, having won the past two years in GTD Pro. It marks the third top class victory for JDC-Miller MotorSports, first in the GTP era.
Heinrich, who also co-drives most of the endurance rounds with Porsche Penske Motorsport, assumes the overall championship lead by 21 points over Aitken (1396-1375).
#65 Ford Racing: Christopher Mies, Frederic Vervisch
Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images
It marks the fourth consecutive podium result (three runner-ups) in as many races to start the 2026 IMSA season for Whelen Cadillac, who started on the front row with Jack Aitken. Marco Wittmann (BMW Team M WRT) took the final spot on the podium to finish third.
Frederic Vervisch, with co-driver Christopher Mies, took the GTD Pro class win for Ford Racing. The combination of Danny Formal and Trent Hindman claimed the GTD victory for Wayne Taylor Racing.
The Race
#40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing: Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
Pole-sitter Louis Deletraz ( #40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing) led the field to the green flag in a straightforward start into Turn 1 as the rest of the GTP runners settled in. Moments later, though, the #60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist was on the wrong end of contact and ended up off course in Turn 3, but was able to continue on.
Deletraz began catching the back of the GT field within the opening 10 minutes, with second-place man Aitken (Whelen Cadillac) carving through the backmarkers with him as the duo built up a 3s advantage over Nick Yelloly (Acura Meyer Shank Racing) in third.
#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian: Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun
Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images
Thirteen minutes in, Filipe Albuquerque, running in #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, ended up with a left-rear tire issue – due to potential contact with Gradient Racing’s #66 Ford Mustang GT3 of Jake Walker – and was forced to pit lane for service and sent back out, only to return moments later and go behind the wall with a suspected suspension issue.
Aitken continued to hound Deletraz for the lead as the two battled through traffic, with the latter holding serve through the opening 24 minutes despite the pressure.
The first lead change happened at the 25-minute mark as Aitken made an outside pass around Deletraz at the Andretti Hairpin, which also came with slight contact in the door as Deletraz slid up.
Aitken was able to quickly extend a gap of over 3s just a few minutes later.
#31 Cadillac Whelen: Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber
Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images
There was no change among the leaders of GTD Pro and GTD through the opening 40 minutes, by Jack Hawksworth (Vasser Sullivan) and Lorenzo Patrese (Conquest Racing), respectively.
Deletraz dove to pit lane from second and handed over his #40 Cadillac V-Series.R to Jordan Taylor after nearly 45 minutes in the opening stint.
#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport: Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre
Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images
Patrese pitted from the lead after 48 minutes in his #34 Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO and handed off to Albert Costa. As a result of the stop, Winward Racing’s Russell Ward elevated to the top spot temporarily before pitting and making a driver change to Philip Ellis, which put Costa back to the top spot in GTD.
However, a fire on the back of the exhaust of the Conquest Racing Ferrari brought Costa back into the pits from the lead, with the team needing to extinguish the fire and hold him on pit road to survey the issue. The issue vaulted the #45 Wayne Taylor Racing into the GTD lead, with Trent Hindman at the wheel of the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.
#9 Pfaff Motorsports: Andrea Caldarelli, Sandy Mitchell
Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images
Hawksworth pitted from the GTD Pro lead a few minutes later for service, but remained in the seat instead of handing off to Ben Barnicoat. Neil Verhagen (Paul Miller Racing) took over the class lead.
Aitken pitted from the overall lead and handed off to Earl Bamber after 58 minutes, which put the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor (BMW M Team WRT) to the overall race lead. Vanthoor pitted and handed off to Sheldon van der Linde, and was able to cycle back to the lead over Bamber courtesy of a shorter service stop.
The battle for the lead was under a blanket with 1hr34m to go as van der Linde led Bamber and Jordan Taylor were separated by 0.7s.
Laurin Heinrich (JDC-Miller MotorSports) was running fourth trying to chase the leaders but pressed too hard and went off course into the Andretti Hairpin moments later and dropped to fifth, with Acura Meyer Shank’s Colin Braun getting by.
#1 Paul Miller Racing: Neil Verhagen, Connor De Phillippi
Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images
The first caution of the race came out with 1h29m left after Matt Bell (13 Autosport) went off course and stopped in Turn 2. Bell climbed out and was left shaking his head at his stopped Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
The ensuing pit stops saw issues for the BMW, with the #25 being hindered by their teammate in the #24 sister car, while the #40 suffered an issue when the car was dropped while the left-rear wasn’t yet attached and needed to be raised back up. The blend of short stops and issues shook up the running order, with Felipe Nasr (#7 Porsche Penske Motorsport) cycling up to the lead, ahead of Renger van der Zande (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing) and Bamber. Laurens Vanthoor, in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport machine for Kevin Estre, was in fourth, with J.Taylor in fifth.
Nick Tandy (AO Racing) cycled to the top in GTD Pro, with Ben Barnicoat (Vasser Sullivan) now in for Hawksworth in second. Tom Gamble (Heart of Racing) led GTD, ahead of Robby Foley (Turner Motorsport) in second.
The restart came with just under 1hr15m remaining, with Nasr, not on new tires, jumping to a solid gap on van der Zande and Bamber, the first car on new tires.
The #40 Cadillac made its final pit stop with 1h1m remaining, electing for just energy replenishment and not a new set of tires.
#5 JDC-Miller MotorSports: Tijmen van der Helm, Laurin Heinrich
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
With 1h remaining, Nasr held a 0.6s lead over van der Zande, while Bamber was 1.4s behind in third. Tandy remained in the GTD Pro lead by 0.6s over Barnicoat, while Gamble held serve in GTD.
Bamber dove to pit lane with 54m left from third, taking a fuel fill and no tires.
Nasr continued to stay out, gapping to a 1.5s lead over van der Zande with 50m left. Bamber, running seventh, continued to claw the undercut gap, going from 33.5s to 31s behind and covering the delta for when the race leader would make its final pit stop. The #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing machine of van der Zande pitted from second, and took right side tires along with fuel replenishment.
Nasr’s continued push led to him going wide in Turn 1 and locking up briefly with 42m left, but also extended his delta advantage over Bamber, running fifth, to 32.4s.
Nasr was finally able to dive to pit lane with 40m to go, with a fresh set of tires and fuel, cycling out to sixth, but significantly behind Bamber, who cycled up to fourth.
The #25 BMW of Marco Wittman and #5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 of Heinrich cycled to the front temporarily before pitting moments later, but came out directly behind Bamber in third and fourth, respectively.
#23 ASTON MARTIN THOR Team: Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis
Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images
Blomqvist, who had yet to pit, assumed the race lead and was logging slower lap times trying to preserve fuel with 35m left.
Callum Ilotttook over the GTD class lead for Wright Motorsports by running blazing quick laps early in his stint, but was put into a fuel-save effort with 33m left while also holding a 13s advantage over van der Steur Racing’s Scott Andrews.
Blomqvist remained out front with 20m left, but in desperate need of a caution in order to make it to the end on energy, running at 14 percent. Bamber sat second with a strong 37 percent left.
The top four of GTD Pro, led by AO Racing’s Tandy, were all roughly four minutes short of fuel, with fifth-place runner Frederic Vervisch (Ford Racing) the first comfortable on fuel but 10s behind in class.
Ilott stayed out front in GTD, but also needed a caution with just enough fuel to make another six laps, roughly, with 18m to go.
#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian: Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun
Photo by: Brandon Badraoui / Lumen via Getty Images
Blomqvist pitted with just over 15m left, vaulting Bamber to the overall race lead. Ilott’s quest to save fuel came up short, pitting from the GTD lead with 11m left, handing the lead to Hindman of Wayne Taylor Racing.
Tandy led the way to the pits with 7m left for those top four in GTD Pro that were struggling for fuel, promoting Vervish to the top spot in class.
Heinrich, now running second, began clawing into Bamber’s lead, dropping it from 2.4 to 0.6s with 5m left. And was there on the rear wing with less than 3m to go and chomping for the lead.
With two laps to go, the two made contact while navigating traffic and Bamber was able to build a slight gap going through GT backmarkers.
Heinrich and Bamber ended up side-by-side, but Heinrich was able to finally get by between Turns 4 and 5 to secure the top spot and drive off to victory.
Vervisch secured it in GTD Pro, with Hindman coasting to the win in GTD.
RACE
All Stats
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
