Heinrich Joins JDC-Miller in 28-Car Long Beach Entry List

Photo: Porsche

Laurin Heinrich will continue his run at the wheel of a Porsche 963 next weekend at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, having been confirmed in JDC-Miller Motorsports’ entry for the GTP and GTD-only street race.

Revealed in the release of the 28-car entry list for the April 18 event, the Porsche factory driver, who is currently tied for the GTP class lead with Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer, will make his debut with the Minnesota-based team.

The 24-year-old German will team up with Tijmen van der Helm, having been confirmed for all of the sprint rounds in the privateer entry according to team principal John Church.

Nico Pino was initially understood to have been a full season driver but now scales back to a Michelin Endurance Cup-only role.

It is the only notable change to the 11-car GTP entry, other than the previously confirmed placement of Fred Vesti in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R in place of the FIA World Endurance Championship-bound Earl Bamber.

A total of 17 entries are set to do battle in GTD, including an entry from both Vasser Sullivan Racing, which will join GTD Pro entrants AO Racing and Pfaff Motorsports also on the grid.

Van der Steur Racing will have Rory van der Steur and Valentin Hasse Clot as drivers of its Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, having not yet officially announced its full season lineup.

The 100-minute race, of note, will mark Robert Wickens’ first WeatherTech Championship start of the year, reprising his role as a sprint-race only driver in the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3,R.

As expected, entries from AF Corse, Triarsi Competizione, RS1, Lone Star Racing and Manthey are not present in Long Beach, as all five are entered for the Michelin Endurance Cup-only rounds.

Track action kicks off with practice and qualifying on Fri. April 17, with the third round of the season set to start on Sat. April 18 at 1 p.m. PST (4 p.m. EST) with live coverage on network NBC, and for international viewers on IMSA’s You Tube channel.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John