Heinrich Credits “Well-Balanced” Car for Come-From-Behind Third

Laurin Heinrich has credited the “well balanced” JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 for him to be able to mount a come-from-behind podium finish in Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

The Porsche factory claimed his fourth IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship podium of the season, despite the car having suffered a left-rear tire issue and having to take emergency service.

Heinrich qualified the No. 5 Porsche tha the shared with Tijmen van der Helm and Kaylen Frederick and finished the six-hour Michelin Endurance Cup round.

Frederick was behind the wheel with three hours and 30 minutes remaining when his tire came loose and brought out a full-course caution.

Frederick then had to pit for emergency service, putting the lone privateer GTP entry one lap down. A timely caution later allowed the car to get back on the lead lap and contend for the podium.

“I think the key was to never give up because when I saw what happened, we were a lap down,” Heinrich told Sportscar365. “We had to take an emergency pit stop, we had some damage on the car, so I thought the day would be over.

“But the team never gave up, so that was the key today. And the racing gods were also on our side in the end.

“I have to say to recover the lap, which was very important, but from there on we went from last, had a good car, had some good battles.”

Heinrich passed the No. 24 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Sheldon van der Linde with less than ten minutes to go. He was also challenging Nick Yelloly in the No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 before Christopher Mies brought out the race-ending yellow on the final lap.

“I was strong in the low speed part, and there were like three low speed corners coming up just before the yellow,” explained Heinrich. “So maybe I would have had a shot, but in the end I also wanted to bring the podium home.”

The team elected to take four fresh Michelin tires on the final pit stop cycle, which dropped him to seventh at the time.

Heinrich said he was originally skeptical of the decision, but trusted his equipment to handle the 113-degree Fahrenheit track temperature by the race’s end.

“Our JDC Mustang Sampling Porsche performed very well in the heat of the day, especially on tire deg towards the end of the stint,” he said. “We could really make a difference, which was clear, so I’m happy with the performance.

“I have to say, I thought it was the wrong decision, because we lost out on the out lap. I just had significantly less grip than the others, but then once the tires came in, I had really the car underneath me to manage the tires.

“It was very well balanced, and I think that was key that at the end of the race I had this kind of pace. But overall, a great day, a roller coaster day.”

Heinrich extended his gap over his fellow Porsche teammates Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer for second in the GTP driver’s championship, although lost some ground on points leader Jack Aitken, who took his second victory of the season on Sunday in a dominant run in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.

The German said the Watkins Glen weekend helped cement the reality of his unique championship fight.

“I would say this was the first time that [Felipe, Julien and I] were fighting toe to toe on track,” said Heinrich. “So it was definitely a fun experience, I really enjoyed it.

“I hope the others also enjoyed it, but I take a race by race approach.

“As you know, I was not even meant to do the full season, so it’s a very specific and special scenario right now. I’m still new to this category, and I try to learn as much as possible.

“It feels great. I’m just chipping away at everything I can, trying to learn bit by bit, and in exactly these battles against the best sports car drivers in the world I can learn the most. So I’m incredibly happy to be here.”