Laurin Heinrich and Tijmen van der Helm lead JDC-Miller Porsche to a historic GTP win at Laguna Seca, topping factory rivals during IMSA’s throwback weekend.

With an almighty run on the final lap, Laurin Heinrich gave himself and teammate Tijmen van der Helm their first overall victory in IMSA. The victory also gave the JDC Miller Motorsports team their first win in the modern GTP era, ending a five year wait since their last win.
 
Laguna Seca’s finish provided the positive storyline that IMSA needed. After all, who wouldn’t applaud a privateer team slaying all the factory efforts? Despite the handicap of running last year’s spec Porsche 963, solid pitwork and the sheer determination of one hell of a hotshoe racer would overcome all shortcomings for the highest prize.
 
Moving from worst to first is not a bad turnaround of fortune considering Laurin first raced for JDC only two weeks prior at the sprint race at Long Beach. Laurin has now secured three Laguna Seca wins in three years, having delivered AO Racing and Rexy’s first career victory in ’24, and defending it with the Roxy car in ’25.

The Rampage from the Rear

The first clue I had that something special was about to go down was seeing the #5 JDC-Miller Porsche pass the Aston Martin Valkyrie for sixth place. There was a little over an hour left in the race, and truth be told, much of the race so far had been very processional.
 
But seeing the JDC car savage the Aston down the straight was a bit odd. That was the car that qualified last in GTP, more than a full second off pole position. But there I was, watching it absolutely fly past at the Turn 11 exit. By the time I got back into the media center with 45 minutes left in the race, sixth place became fourth. I remarked to my buddy that “Hey, Heinrich is on a rampage!”

Executing the “Heinrich Maneuver”

 
With less than half an hour the stage was set for a proper street fight between the JDC car and the car in first position: the #31 Cadillac Whelen of Earl Bamber. Bamber and co-driver Jack Aitken held the point the longest at 61 laps. The red Cadillac pitted for fuel 17 minutes earlier than Heinrich in the Porsche, and was set to manage the gap to the #60 Acura and #25 BMW whom the team considered the main threat to winning.
 
Then, Bamber recounts, “The 5 [car] appeared out of nowhere and then when I heard the rate it was coming at… half a second a lap, I knew it was going to be tough to hold him off.” With six minutes left in the race, the broadcast showed the #31 leading the #5 by only a few car lengths. It was the fairest and cleanest of duels.
 
Bamber would place the car defensively into the corner, leaving the door shut for any lunge by Heinrich. All the while, they’d be weaving in and out of lapped traffic. The decisive moment would happen exiting Turn 4. Heinrich found way more straight-line speed and eased past to the right of Bamber who had no moves left in defense. It has been dubbed the “Heinrich Maneuver” by the press pool. From the run up to the Corkscrew all the way down the hill to the finish line, the #5 Porsche would pull away, winning the race by almost eight tenths of a second.

Voices from the Paddock

 
Winning co-driver van der Helm provided some reflection, saying “We started here four years ago. This was our first race and now…we were back at Laguna and we win… Great to be here and hopefully be here more often.” Team boss John Church was ecstatic on JDC’s third overall win, saying “Oh, this is absolutely incredible. What a day, what a day! I mean, this kid is incredible. I mean the drive he put on and did everything right. So couldn’t be happier for the whole team.”
 
On the relentless march to the front on the very unforgiving Laguna Seca track, Laurin Heinrich closed with this thought, saying “I’ve been in IMSA for three years, I know that anything is possible… the stars aligned today. You don’t get to go from last to first every day but if the opportunity is there, you have to grab it with both hands!”

Championship Stakes and Heritage Honors

 
Laurin Heinrich now commands a solo lead on the driver’s championship, having already won the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours this season with the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports crew. While a claim to the title might still require some rescheduling of commitments, his 2027 assignment is already clear: a full-time drive with Penske for IMSA. In GTD Pro, the Ford Racing Mustang of Frederic Vervisch and Christopher Mies won over the #4 Corvette, while Danny Formal and Trent Hindman claimed the regular GTD win in their Lamborghini Huracán.

Aside from the battle for the win, Laguna Seca also celebrated IMSA’s first throwback weekend with several teams joining the fun with retro paint schemes: the #16 Myers Riley Motorsports Ford Mustang, the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4, the #3 and #4 Corvettes from Pratt Miller, the #6 and #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports, and AO Racing’s “Sketchy” Porsche, a livery that lore states started as a sketch on a napkin. Yet, for all the nostalgia, the weekend belonged to the modern grit of JDC-Miller. Just as Heinrich proved his mettle in the years of Rexy and Roxy, his last-lap charge from the back of the grid demonstrated that the “hotshoe” determination required to win at Laguna Seca remains as timeless as the track itself.