A few minutes later, about four hours before qualifying at Laguna Seca, I sat down with 26-year-old Heinrich, who had already placed first at the 24 Hours of Daytona, first at the 12 Hours of Sebring, and sixth at the Grand Prix of Long Beach this season. This year is his debut in the 963, having competed in 911 GT3 Rs in the previous two years (he was top of the GTD Pro class in 2024 and came fifth in 2025), though he did participate in some test days last year and one race in the WEC series.
“I felt quite well prepared heading into Daytona,” Heinrich said, “the good thing is I’ve raced in IMSA so I know already all the tracks and circuits we race on, so for me I could really put all my focus on just adapting to the car and not learning new tracks, which is obviously quite difficult.” His first two races this season were with the Porsche Penske factory team before moving to JDC-Miller, and he said that was “great because the team is so experienced and they really helped me with both hands to bring me up to speed and teach me as much as possible in the short amount of time because the cars are so complicated, so complex. For the driver there’s so many tools and so much stuff to learn and to work with, and you really want to make use of that, so the more adaptive you are, the better.”
Jumping from a lowly GT3 sports car to the 963 prototype is a big leap in terms of performance and speed, but also car size, which means Heinrich has to drive differently than he has in the past. “It’s a prototype, so generally you can take much less curves, which is also a big topic here at Laguna,” he said, “I try to prepare myself pretty well before the weekends to know what to expect, because in the end, in a race weekend like this you only get as many laps as you do, there is not much time to try out stuff. I really focus on learning from onboards from previous years, seeing what works and what not, trying to understand the dynamic of the race.” The prototype is lighter and has much more power, so it’ll arrive quicker to the corners, which means Heinrich has to adapt his braking and turn-in points.
Daniel Golson/Jalopnik
“I knew Laguna Seca already from the simulator before coming here in 2024 for the first time, and I knew I liked the track and I liked the layout. But coming here in real life, first of all you experience California, racing on the west coast, which is already a great atmosphere here with all the nature around. This, obviously, I didn’t know from the simulator,” he said with a laugh. “Once you hit the track for the first time, experience all these elevation changes, going down the corkscrew, what it does to your stomach, the feeling and impressions you get driving a race car around here — that made me really fall in love.” The cherry on top of the cake, he said, was to win at Laguna twice, with one of those wins being both his first IMSA victory and Rexy’s first. “I would be lying if I said this wasn’t my favorite place on the IMSA calendar. I don’t like generic tracks that are quite repetitive, which we have some in Europe unfortunately, but a track like Laguna, I mean, there’s nothing to compare to that layout. I think that’s why IMSA racing is so special, because all the tracks have their own character and corners they’re known for.”
We spoke about Laguna Seca’s elevation changes and off-kilter corners, how it’s way more intense in person than it even seems in video games or on TV. “It’s certainly a track that you need experience on. You need to understand the corners, where you can push harder than others, and also how the track changes — having all this sand around the track, this weekend especially being quite windy, it’s similar to what I know from Zandvoort in Europe, racing on the beach. The longer you drive, the more dusty it gets off line, and the tighter the lines get,” Heinrich said. “Experience really pays off around a place like here, and in these prototypes we’re already quite busy with just handling the car. There’s no proper straight, you’re always turning and you need to make a lot of adjustments on the steering wheel.”
“There’s a lot of sports car racing fans around here, there’s so much history, and the people really embrace it. IMSA having a throwback weekend I think really suits this place,” Heinrich said.” He mentioned watching the Porsche owner’s parade lap, and how every car he saw was different. “It’s amazing for us drivers to see how people appreciate the brand and the history of the track.” But one particular Porsche is directly tied to Laguna Seca in Heinrich’s memories. “If you think of Laguna Seca, the first picture that comes to my mind is the RS Spyder going down the corkscrew,” he said. “Now driving a prototype for me, for the first time, is also something special — even if it’s not an RS Spyder, but it’s a nice experience.” I said Porsche does enough historic events at Laguna Seca that maybe he’ll be able to do that one day, to which Heinrich replied, “I would love to, I wouldn’t say no.” Get on that, Porsche!
