Heinrich evokes memories of Zanardi with his last-lap magic in Monterey

Did Laurin Heinrich’s driving at Laguna Seca on Sunday remind you of someone?

The decisive overtake at WeatherTech Laguna Seca Raceway didn’t come at its famous Corkscrew corner complex. But on a weekend when memories of Alex Zanardi were on the minds of everyone at the famous circuit, Heinrich’s drive to give Porsche privateer JDC-Miller MotorSports an improbable win in IMSA GTP felt reminiscent of the legend that the world lost on Friday, and "The Pass" that was one of the many defining moments of Zanardi’s incomparable sporting life.

Coming back from 11th and last on the GTP grid, and 10th when Heinrich’s stint at the wheel of the No. 5 Porsche 963 began? Zanardi led a similar drive from deep in the field to win the 1998 Grand Prix of Long Beach, coming back from a lap down to win.

And at the same venue as "The Pass" that Zanardi made on Bryan Herta, it was capped off by Heinrich’s last-lap overtake on veteran Earl Bamber – though this one came through Laguna Seca’s tricky infield section.

“The guys, they made it hard for us, a lot of contact – but I knew that Laguna is one of my best tracks,” the young German said in victory lane. “I always love coming here – actually, I’ve won every race I’ve done here. It’s incredible! I was not expecting that we could continue the streak.

“Every time I come here in the morning and see this track, I feel something special. And you know, today, it’s incredible.”

With AO Racing, Heinrich helped give the famous "Rexy" Porsche 911 GT3 R its first IMSA win at Laguna Seca in 2024, on the way to a GTD Pro championship in his rookie season, then repeated as class winner last year in Laguna, also with AO Racing.

Called up to the factory Porsche Penske Motorsport team in GTP as a full-fledged Porsche works driver, Heinrich was only promised three races at Daytona, Sebring and Road Atlanta to start. But not long after winning the first two legs of IMSA’s Michelin Endurance Cup, a deal was struck to put Heinrich in JDC-Miller’s customer car – a 2025-spec Porsche 963 which, as of this writing, is the last true privateer entry remaining between IMSA GTP and Hypercar in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Only two races into this partnership, it’s been paid off with a memorable victory, the first for a privateer GTP car in IMSA since the current era began in 2023. Fittingly, JDC-Miller MotorSports’ first race with the Porsche 963, in JDC’s all-yellow "Banana Boat" livery, was the 2023 race at Laguna Seca.

The race might not have been won in the Corkscrew, but the vibe of The Pass was in the air. Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

“I think that’s a good anniversary,” said Tijmen van der Helm, who’s driven that Porsche since the first race at Laguna Seca, and became an unlikely first-time winner on Sunday. “Today, we just tried to be really good on the strategy, kept it on the track, and I think the team overall and Laurin did the best of it.”

Sunday’s victory was also JDC-Miller MotorSports’ first IMSA win since 2021, when its Cadillac DPi-V.R won the Twelve Hours of Sebring

JDC’s co-founder and managing partner John Church has seen his team win its fair share of races and championships in both single-seaters and sports cars. But given all that JDC-Miller has gone through as GTP’s last independent team, running on a budget a fraction of the size of its factory counterparts at Porsche Penske, it may be the most satisfying that he and his team have achieved.

“This is an incredible day for the whole team,” Church said. “We started here three years ago and didn’t have any idea what we were doing with this car, and have slowly been building and picking up the pace.

“And it’s been great to have Laurin come along and help guide us in some direction, and provide some pace as well. What a day – I mean, incredible.

“We get a tremendous amount of help from them (Porsche). They’ve been stepping up each year, and I think this year, being the only privateer running, that’s been a game-changer as well. Definitely more support than there has been in the past.

“It hasn’t sunk in 100 percent yet, but it’s certainly one of the bigger ones. We’ve been fighting an uphill battle here for the last few years, and to come away with a win today, it’s really special.”

Heinrich’s race wasn’t perfect. He slid off-line at the Andretti Hairpin and lost a position which could have stunted his momentum. On JDC-Miller’s final pit stop, a slight hesitation leaving the pits kept Heinrich from jumping ahead of the second-place BMW of Marco Wittmann who he’d been battling for several laps.

With 15 minutes to go, Heinrich overtook Wittmann with a wheel-to-wheel lunge up the inside of Turn 10. At that point, the black and gold No. 5 Porsche was in position for its best-ever GTP finish in second. But the 2025-spec Porsche had been kind to its Michelin tires, giving Heinrich the confidence he needed to erase a three-second gap to Bamber and make a play for the win.

“Fighting with Earl, I could see his tremendous amount of experience, and he’s a tough racer, you know? It was hard, but it was fair,” Heinrich related. “And I really enjoyed this battle. It came down to the last lap: I could see where he had some strengths and where he had some weaknesses.”

With two laps left, Heinrich made contact with the left rear of Bamber’s red No. 31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R, causing the tire to rub against the body panels. Seconds later, a risky overtake under the bridge into Turn 6, where Bamber cleared two lapped GT cars in one move, seemingly put enough separation between him and Heinrich to decide the win. But that dense traffic swung back Heinrich’s way on the last lap, allowing Heinrich to draw along the outside of Bamber into Turn 3, cut back to the inside at Turn 4, and then pull ahead as they entered Turn 5.

“In the end, John let me know that we were going to hit traffic for the last two laps. I know that was my opportunity – and in the end, the stars aligned," Heinrich said. "We hit the traffic in a right way for us, and exactly in the spots where we had our strength compared to him.”

“There was some contact; I mean, if you look at the car, you can see some Michelin stickers on the left side! But that’s part of the game. That’s why we love IMSA racing.

“It was an honor for me to go wheel-to-wheel with him. It was one of the best fights in my career.”

And from one legend and champion of Porsche’s racing past to one of its immediate future, Bamber gave Heinrich his due respect at the end of an incredible battle to cap off a race of the year contender. “It’s great to race against him,” said the two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner. “I’ve seen him come up through the ranks with Porsche, and now to get this GTP win with the No. 5 is, I think, something special for that team – and overall, great for the series.”

Heinrich and van der Helm apply some especially memorable win stickers. Michael Levitt/Lumen for Getty Images

Incredibly, the 24-year-old German who’d only been promised three races at the start of 2026 has taken the lead in the GTP drivers’ championship after four rounds. Assuming a deal is finalized to put him in a car for Road America in August, the only thing standing between Heinrich and a potential run at the title for two teams is a clash between the Spa 24 Hours and the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen in June.

“Being due to miss a race puts us a little bit into a weird spot,” Heinrich admitted, “and then also leading the championship solo as well. But there’s some smart people who will figure it out, I’m sure.”

At 24, Heinrich has proven to be spectacular to watch in his first year of GTP racing. His few detractors would say he’s a loose cannon whose aggression can be costly, but that was often said of Zanardi in his day as well.

On Sunday, the very best of Heinrich’s speed and skill were on display at Laguna Seca. Those bold moves, capped off by a memorable battle and last-lap overtake, produced one of the bigger upsets in recent sports car racing history, and a popular win for prototype sports car racing’s last privateer left standing.

And somewhere, Zanardi would have been looking from above with pride at what Heinrich accomplished.