Heinrich: “Stars Aligned” for Breakthrough JDC-Miller Win

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Laurin Heinrich said the “stars aligned” in the closing laps of Sunday’s StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship in order to deliver a breakthrough first win for JDC-Miller Motorsports in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP competition.

Heinrich made a last-lap pass on the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Earl Bamber following an impressive late-race charge from the 24-year-old newly minted Porsche factory driver to take the victory for he and co-driver Tijmen van der Helm.

“Fighting with Earl, I could see his tremendous amount of experience,” said Heinrich. “He’s a tough racer. But it was hard but still fair.

“I really enjoyed this battle that came down to the last lap.

“I could see where he had some strength and weaknesses. In the end, John let me know that we were going to hit traffic for the last two laps so I knew that was my opportunity.

“In the end, the stars aligned. We hit the traffic in the right way for us and exactly in the spots where we had our strength compared to him.

“There was some contact. If you look at the car, you can see some Michelin stickers on the left side, but that’s part of the game and that’s why we love IMSA racing.

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

Heinrich claimed his third WeatherTech Championship victory out of four races this season after being part of Porsche Penske Motorsport’s winning lineups in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

It has also vaulted him to to the top of the GTP points standings.

“This day today is incredible,” said Heinrich. “The team has given us, Tijmen and me, an extremely strong and well balanced car.

“I think our strength was on tires, which we could really make use of in the last four or five laps.

“The strategy also worked great. It was not a perfect race. For those who watched closely they saw my little excursion in Turn 2.

“That’s part of it. We were pushing flat out. That was all we had and mistakes happen.

“I’m so proud of the whole team to begin this chance to join the team late in the season and for myself to make more experience.

“To finally have all of this work pay off is incredible.

“I just want to thank Porsche Motorsport for giving me to the team and to the team for receiving me so well.

“I didn’t know at the time I was P3, so then John told me over the radio and I knew we had some pace in the car and I just needed to get past the other cars.

“We struggled quite a lot in dirty air and we had a well balanced car in the clean air and also a car that was good on tires.

“In the last 30 minutes, I would be lying if I didn’t think about it once when I was in the car, but that it happens on the last lap of the race, this was just the magic of the day.”

Church: Winning on Four-Year Anniversary of Program Start  An “Incredible Day”

Team owner John Church hailed the win, coming at the same track where the Minnesota-based team debuted its Porsche 963 in 2023, as a monumental achievement.

“This is an incredible day for the whole team, all the effort that has gone into this over the last four years,” he said.

“We started here four 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.

“It’s been great to have Laurin come along and help guide us in some direction and provide some pace as well.”

It marked JDC-Miller’s first overall win since the 2021 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring when the French trio of Sebastien Bourdais, Tristan Vautier and Loic Duval took top honors in the team’s Cadillac DPi-V.R.

“It hasn’t sunk in 100 percent yet but certainly it’s one of the bigger ones,” said Church today’s win with its 2025-spec Porsche 963. “We’ve been fighting an uphill battle for the last couple of years.

“To come away with a win today and a great performance again by the team, it’s really special.”

Church also gave credit to former driver Richard Westbrook, a past multi-time winner at Laguna Seca, who has served as a driver advisor for the team since retiring at the end of the 2024 season.

“He’s been a huge help to myself, just being able to liaise between the drivers and engineers and help the guys focus on the things that matter and forget about the things that don’t.

“From my standpoint, he’s a pleasure to have around. He also makes a good beer!”

Heinrich added: “I got to know Richard in Sebring at the test. I have to say I was surprised. He knows exactly what it feels like in this car.

“I’m amazing when he sees the live data. He knows exactly what’s going on inside the car and actually I can speak with him. He has a ton of experience.

“Two days ago, he told me something about the last corner. And it helped me today to set up the move to pass for the win.

“I always had a great run out of the last corners. I also have to give some credit to him.”

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