Vanthoor Explains Run-In With Bamber Under Safety Car

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Laurens Vanthoor has explained his run-in with Earl Bamber while under a full-course caution during the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring that sent the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R limping into the pits for bodywork repairs.

The two former IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship-winning co-drivers and friends, known collectively as ‘BamThor’, collided while under the race’s second full course caution in the third hour, when Bamber’s Cadillac was hit from behind from Vanthoor’s No. 6 Penske Porsche 963.

The incident, which saw the pole-sitting Cadillac sustain damage to the left-rear of the car and require a new engine cover and rear deck, was reviewed by race control but was declared “inconclusive” with no penalty issued.

When asked by Sportscar365 post-race about the incident, Vanthoor joked that it was “payback” from a couple of years. “No, I’m kidding,” he said.

He added: “It was just an unfortunate situation I think. I just started to get heat in the brakes, so they were cold. At the moment I accelerated, they all checked up a lot.

“I had no time. I couldn’t slow down. I tried to avoid. He was also avoiding. We just touched.

“But I spoke to say sorry about what happened. There were no hard feelings. It was my bad, but I think it was just a very unfortunate situation coming together.

“It shouldn’t happen. Yeah, luckily for both of us, there were no big consequences.”

Bamber, meanwhile, was left surprised that no penalty was given for the incident that also resulted in damage to the nose of the No. 6 Porsche.

“The Porsche took us out under the safety car,” he said during the race. “We were just warming tires, and he just smashed the back of us.

“[The] guys did a really good job to change everything, and we sort of got back through…

“I don’t know if we had damage from our impact earlier in the race. We got torn up, no penalties accessed from race control which was surprising and that was about it.”

Bamber and co-drivers Fred Vesti and Jack Aitken rebounded to finish the race in fourth and were promoted to third post-race following a camber-related tire pressure infraction for the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.

Heinrich Impresses Again in Drive to Front in No. 7 Porsche

Vanthoor’s Porsche Penske Motorsport teammate, Laurin Heinrich, who won the race alongside Julien Andlauer and Felipe Nasr in controversial fashion, had another standout drive in only his third race at the wheel of the Porsche 963.

The 24-year-old German, who set the race’s second fastest lap, charged through the field during his first stint after the No. 7 Porsche was shuffled back the running order after Nasr was served a drive-through penalty for contact with the JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche of Kaylen Frederick.

“We got shuffled back,” said Henrich. “We took the opportunity to top off fuel. So I knew I would restart from dead last.

“It was still early in the race, so I wanted to take it easy.

“Relatively soon, basically already exiting the last corner when I overtook the first car, I realized I’ve got some grip, I have a good car.

“The tires were in the window from the restart onwards. I could really use it to my advantage.

“In the end, I could cycle to the front. It was amazing to bring us back after this first little setback which we had in the first quarter of the race.

“From that moment on, we just maintained the lead. It worked out pretty well.

“For sure in this time of the race, you don’t take the risks that you would take at the end of the race. But I think it was pretty controlled.

“Also it wasn’t easy. In the heat of the day, this moment we were still double stinting the tires. You have to think really far ahead how you treat the tires so you have some juice left in the second stint.

“For me this is still pretty new. I’m tiptoeing, still building that experience, especially in these kind of scenarios.”

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