Laurin Heinrich passed Earl Bamber on the inside of Turn 5 on the final lap of the StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship and gave JDC-Miller MotorSports its first victory since Sebring 2021. The result at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca put Heinrich at the top of the IMSA GTP championship, 21 points ahead of Jack Aitken and 146 above Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer.

Heinrich first attacked Philipp Eng with 14 minutes remaining, passing the BMW M Hybrid V8 No. 25 in Turn 10 to move into second. On the final lap, he went to the outside of Bamber through Turns 3 and 4, then tucked the Porsche 963 inside at Turn 5 and finished 0.758 seconds ahead of the Cadillac V-Series.R No. 31. Marco Wittmann and Eng finished third, 3.343 seconds back.

Photo By IMSA

Privateer team defeats the giants

JDC-Miller MotorSports is a privateer team competing against the factory programs of Cadillac, Porsche Penske, BMW, Acura, and Aston Martin in GTP. Their last victory had been at Sebring 2021 with a Cadillac DPi-V.R in DPi specification. Sunday's win is the team's first in the GTP era and its fifth overall in the WeatherTech Championship.

"We started here four years ago without any idea of what we were doing with this car and we have slowly been building and gaining pace," said John Church, team owner. "We've been fighting uphill for the last two years, so this is really special."

Heinrich shared the car with Tijmen van der Helm. Church added that adding Heinrich, a Porsche factory driver, has given the program an extra boost. Richard Westbrook, who previously drove the JDC-Miller Porsche 963 and now works as a team advisor, gave Heinrich information about the final corner that helped him prepare the winning pass on Bamber.

Photo By IMSA

Heinrich's double duty

Heinrich races the endurance rounds of the Michelin Endurance Cup with Porsche Penske Motorsport in the No. 7, where he won at Daytona and Sebring. For the 2026 sprint races, he was moved to JDC-Miller, where he runs all the short races plus the endurance round at Road America. This was his second race with the team: he finished sixth at Long Beach.

IMSA's points system means Heinrich accumulates points in the overall GTP drivers' championship with his JDC-Miller results, which moved him ahead of Nasr and Andlauer, his teammates in the No. 7 Porsche Penske car. The two finished seventh at Laguna Seca.

It is the third consecutive time Heinrich has won at this circuit. In 2024 and 2025 he did so in the GTD PRO class with AO Racing, both times in a Porsche 911 GT3 R (Rexy). This was his first GTP race at Laguna Seca.

"This place works for me and I love it, to be honest," said Heinrich. "Every morning I arrive and see this track, I feel something special. The team gave us an extremely well-balanced car. I think our advantage was on the tires, which we were able to exploit in the last four or five laps."

Split strategy in GTP

Tom Blomqvist led most of the race in the Acura ARX-06 No. 60 of Meyer Shank Racing, but pitted with 15 minutes remaining. A 36-second pit stop with only a 27.8-second advantage dropped him from first to fourth. Bamber, who had made his final stop earlier, took the lead until Heinrich caught him.

Photo By IMSA

The Whelen Cadillac No. 31 scored its fourth top‑three finish in four races in 2026, including three runner‑up results. "With about ten laps to go, the No. 5 showed up and when I heard he was gaining half a second a lap, I knew it was going to be tough to hold him off," said Bamber. "I raced hard and clean, but he got by. It is what it is. Another great top‑three finish and it was great to race with Laurin."

Blomqvist and Colin Braun finished fourth in the Acura No. 60. Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly were fifth in the other Meyer Shank Acura, the No. 93 that had won at Long Beach. Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre finished sixth in the Porsche Penske No. 6.

Ford wins GTD PRO

Frederic Vervisch and Christopher Mies won the GTD PRO class in the Ford Mustang GT3 No. 65 of Ford Racing. The four cars that led most of the race — the AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R No. 77 with Nick Tandy, the Corvette Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R No. 3 with Alexander Sims, the Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 No. 14 with Ben Barnicoat, and the Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO No. 1 with Connor De Phillippi — all had to make final fuel stops with less than ten minutes to go.

Photo By IMSA

Vervisch had pitted with one hour remaining, had enough fuel, and took the lead. Nicky Catsburg pressured him in the Corvette No. 4 but could not get past. Vervisch won by 1.277 seconds. Tommy Milner shared second place with Catsburg. Tandy and Harry King were third in the AO Racing Porsche.

"We knew they were hoping for a yellow. With about 70 minutes to go, we knew they would have to pit for fuel," said Vervisch. "But they kept running. We had to wait to see if they would come in, they did, so it was a good feeling."

Ford Racing entered 2026 with an evo update on the Mustang GT3, a new team name (formerly Ford Multimatic Motorsports), and new full‑season drivers in the No. 64: Ben Barker and Dennis Olsen. "We brought our evo package this year and it finally paid off," said Mies. "The previous year they lapped us here on pure pace."
Catsburg and Milner scored their second top‑three finish in three races and unofficially lead the GTD PRO championship. The No. 4 leads De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen by 51 points, King and Tandy by 63, and Vervisch and Mies by 74.

Wayne Taylor Racing in GTD

Danny Formal and Trent Hindman won in GTD with the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 No. 45 of Wayne Taylor Racing. The car started second, led 40 of the 111 laps, and finished on its own lap because the overall winning Porsche 963 got between the Lamborghini and the rest of the GTD field.

Formal and Hindman had lost a possible top‑three finish at Long Beach due to mechanical issues when starting second. "Our fuel gamble was lucky last year, but today everyone was flawless," said Hindman. "It wasn't a fluke." Eduardo Barrichello and Tom Gamble finished second in the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo No. 27 of Heart of Racing Team, their third top‑three in four races. Frederik Schandorff and Brendan Iribe were third in the Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO No. 70 of Inception Racing.

Barrichello unofficially leads the GTD championship with a 140‑point margin over Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher of Turner Motorsport. The next round of the WeatherTech Championship is the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic on May 29‑30, a 100‑minute street race for the GTP and GTD PRO classes.

StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship 2026 

Pos	Pos. Class	Class	#	drivers	team	brand	car	laps	Gap
1	1	GTP	#5	Tijmen van der Helm Laurin Heinrich	JDC-Miller MotorSports	Porsche	Porsche 963	119	-
2	2	GTP	#31	Jack Aitken Earl Bamber	Cadillac Whelen	Cadillac	Cadillac V-Series.R	119	+0.758
3	3	GTP	#25	Philipp Eng Marco Wittmann	BMW M Team WRT	BMW	BMW M Hybrid V8	119	+3.343
4	4	GTP	#60	Tom Blomqvist Colin Braun	Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian	Acura	Acura ARX-06	119	+4.108
5	5	GTP	#93	Renger van der Zande Nick Yelloly	Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian	Acura	Acura ARX-06	119	+6.688
6	6	GTP	#6	Laurens Vanthoor Kevin Estre	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Porsche	Porsche 963	119	+7.194
7	7	GTP	#7	Felipe Nasr Julien Andlauer	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Porsche	Porsche 963	119	+7.645
8	8	GTP	#23	Ross Gunn Roman De Angelis	ASTON MARTIN THOR Team	Aston Martin	Aston Martin Valkyrie	119	+8.010
9	9	GTP	#24	Sheldon van der Linde Dries Vanthoor	BMW M Team WRT	BMW	BMW M Hybrid V8	119	+23.102
10	10	GTP	#40	Jordan Taylor Louis Deletraz	Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing	Cadillac	Cadillac V-Series.R	119	+1:07.604
11	1	GTDPRO	#65	Christopher Mies Frederic Vervisch	Ford Racing	Ford	Ford Mustang GT3	111	8 Laps
12	2	GTDPRO	#4	Tommy Milner Nicky Catsburg	Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports	Chevrolet	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	111	8 Laps
13	3	GTDPRO	#77	Nick Tandy Harry King	AO Racing	Porsche	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	111	8 Laps
14	4	GTDPRO	#3	Antonio Garcia Alexander Sims	Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports	Chevrolet	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	111	8 Laps
15	5	GTDPRO	#9	Andrea Caldarelli Sandy Mitchell	Pfaff Motorsports	Lamborghini	Lamborghini Temerario GT3	111	8 Laps
16	6	GTDPRO	#64	Ben Barker Dennis Olsen	Ford Racing	Ford	Ford Mustang GT3	111	8 Laps
17	7	GTDPRO	#59	Max Esterson Nikita Johnson	RLL Team McLaren	McLaren	McLaren 720S GT3 EVO	111	8 Laps
18	1	GTD	#45	Danny Formal Trent Hindman	Wayne Taylor Racing	Lamborghini	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	111	8 Laps
19	8	GTDPRO	#1	Neil Verhagen Connor De Phillippi	Paul Miller Racing	BMW	BMW M4 GT3 EVO	110	9 Laps
20	2	GTD	#27	Dudu Barrichello Tom Gamble	Heart of Racing Team	Aston Martin	Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo	110	9 Laps
21	3	GTD	#70	Brendan Iribe Frederik Schandorff	Inception Racing	Ferrari	Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO	110	9 Laps
22	4	GTD	#120	Adam Adelson Callum Ilott	Wright Motorsports	Porsche	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	110	9 Laps
23	5	GTD	#57	Russell Ward Philip Ellis	WINWARD RACING	Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG GT3	110	9 Laps
24	6	GTD	#12	Aaron Telitz Benjamin Pedersen	Vasser Sullivan Racing	Lexus	Lexus RC F GT3	110	9 Laps
25	7	GTD	#96	Patrick Gallagher Robby Foley	Turner Motorsport	BMW	BMW M4 GT3 EVO	110	9 Laps
26	9	GTDPRO	#14	Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat	Vasser Sullivan Racing	Lexus	Lexus RC F GT3	110	9 Laps
27	8	GTD	#16	Sheena Monk Felipe Fraga	Myers Riley Motorsports	Ford	Ford Mustang GT3	110	9 Laps
28	9	GTD	#66	Jake Walker Corey Lewis	Gradient Racing	Ford	Ford Mustang GT3	110	9 Laps
29	10	GTD	#19	Rory van der Steur Scott Andrews	van der Steur Racing	Aston Martin	Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo	110	9 Laps
30	11	GTD	#81	Henrik Hedman Giacomo Altoè	DragonSpeed	Chevrolet	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	109	10 Laps