JDC-Miller MotorSports Takes Upset Victory at Laguna Seca with Last-Lap Overtake

Credit: Lumen Digital Agency

The No.5 JDC-Miller MotorSport Porsche — driven by Laurin Heinrich and Tijmen van der Helm — has taken an upset victory at Laguna Seca with Heinrich making a last-lap pass in the team's 2025-specification 963.

Starting from pole position, the No.40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac quickly secured the lead with a good start from Louis Delétraz, over Jack Aitken in the No.31 Whelen Cadillac. It wasn't so smooth sailing for the No.60 Meyer Shank Acura. Contact with The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie on the exit of turn 3 saw the Acura spear off the track into the outside wall. They were able to continue but found themselves well down the GTP order.

Within minutes of the race start, the No.19 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin was shown a mechanical black flag — for a loose rear deck caused by early contact — with Scott Andrews behind the wheel. A new rear window was attached as the field sped by but a penalty was added to the team's troubles for a pit stop violation.

While two Cadillac's led the race, the No.10 Wayne Taylor Racing team wasn't so lucky, with Filipe Albuquerque picking up a puncture early-on. They returned to the race track but retired later in the race.

It wasn't long before the lead battle kicked off between Delétraz and Aitken, as the pair of Cadillacs scythed their way through traffic. With just under 2 hours and 15 minutes to go, Aitken made a robust move around the outside of the Andretti Hairpin to take the overall race lead.

The No.65 Ford Mustang was forced to make a pit stop with just under 2 hours and 10 minutes to go — with Christopher Mies behind the wheel — having picked up a puncture caused by contact with the No.7 Porsche Penske Motorsport car driven at the time by Julien Andlauer, leaving the former with a substantial mark on its right front.

To add to the No.65's woes, Ford Racing was deemed responsible for the incident and hit with a drive through penalty.

The first major pit stop cycle began with around 2 hours to go, with the second-placed No.40 among the runners to come in for fuel, tyres, and a driver change, with Jordan Taylor installed in the seat. With 1 hour and 51 minutes to go and having led the GTD class from the drop of the green flag, the No.34 Ferrari made its pit stop, with Lorenzo Patrese swapping out for Albert Costa. Emerging from the pit lane having lost only a single class position, things were looking good for the Ferrari team. However, minutes later, disaster struck for the No.34, suffering a dramatic mechanical failure. With flames spitting from the Ferrari's right-hand exhaust, Costa limped back to the pit lane, but it was race over for the team that had dominated its class early on. Following the drama for the No.34 and a slew of GTD pitstops, the No.45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán of Trent Hindman, found itself in the class lead.

At the front of the field, the No.24 BMW of Sheldon van der Linde emerged from the pit cycle leading GTP, with WRT having elected to short fill, resulting in a shorter pit stop compared to the two Cadillacs that had previously run first and second.

Matthew Bell's No.13 Corvette came to a grinding halt with its rear axle locked and the safety car was deployed with 1 hour and 30 minutes to go, marking a pivotal turning point in the race.

Following a round of GTP pit stops, the No.7 Penske Porsche of Felipe Nasr emerged in the lead having short filled, followed by the No.93 Meyer Shank Acura of Renger van der Zande, and the No.31 Whelen Cadillac of Earl Bamber.

A problematic pit stop for the No.40 compromised what had been a strong race for the best-placed Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.

The No.77 AO Racing Porsche of Nick Tandy led GTD Pro after the pit stops while the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin of Tom Gamble took the lead of GTD.

However, it wasn't until after the final round of pit stops — which started with about 1 hour to go — did the true net running order become apparent.

Many of the leading cars in GTD Pro were short on fuel and were forced to make late-race pit stops, meaning the No.65 Ford Mustang that had suffered a puncture earlier in the race — driven at this point by Frédéric Vervisch — cycled back to the front of its class.

They hadn't secured the race yet through, with the fast-charging No.4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg in hot pursuit.

In GTD, having managed their race strategy, Hindman's No.45 Lamborghini found itself in the lead of its class in a similar fashion.

Credit: Lumen Digital Agency

However, the biggest story of the race was unfolding in GTP, as the non-factory No.5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche had quietly made its way to the front.

Having overtaken the No.60 Acura of Tom Blomqvist and the No.25 BMW of Marco Wittmann, Laurin Heinrich chased down the No.31 Cadillac of Earl Bamber.

On the final lap of the race, Heinrich passed Bamber for the lead, and brough the JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche home for a historic win a previous-specification car.

In GTD Pro, the No.65 Ford Mustang of Christopher Mies and Frédéric Vervisch held off the Corvette challenger to take the win.

Also taking victory in a older-spec car — with the Lamborghini Temerario having recently replaced the Huracán GT3 Evo 2 — the No.45 Wayne Taylor Racing team took the GTD class win with Trent Hindman and Danny Formal.

The IMSA SportsCar Championship returns on May 30th on the streets of Detroit.