Heinrich Hoping for “Similar Picture” to Indy in Bathurst Debut

Photo: Porsche

Laurin Heinrich said he’s hoping to be able to fight for overall honors at the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour as a GT3 Pro-Am entry, in similar fashion to last year’s Intercontinental GT Challenge season finale.

The reigning IMSA GTD Pro champion will make his debut at Mt. Panorama in Manthey EMA’s Porsche 911 GT3 R alongside Yasser and Sam Shahin and fellow debutant Morris Schuring.

It is one of two Porsches entered for the IGTC season opener, the other being a Pro class entry for defending race winners Matt Campbell, Ayhancan Guven as well as Alessio Picariello.

“I got the call early enough,” Heinrich told Sportscar365 prior to last weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. “Obviously now I’m on a pretty long trip.

“We were testing in Dubai for Asian Le Mans, then more or less straight to Daytona, the Roar and the race, then to Bathurst.

“There was some time to prepare. I even visited Manthey’s headquarters. We had a sim session there in their simulator, which was positive and was good to work with the engineers for the first time.

“Actually, I’ve never driven a Manthey-run car. So this will be a first for me, so I’m looking forward to that.

“We had a pre-event call [while in Daytona]. It’s running well, the preparation. It’s a bit mixed with Daytona here and there

“Because the regs are completely, I’m trying to keep my mind fully free now, focusing on Daytona, and then in the plane in Bathurst, I will go through everything once again, just to refresh it.”

The 23-year-old German had a starring drive in the closing stages of October’s Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS, nearly pulling off the outright victory in Wright Motorsports’ Porsche that featured two Silver-rated drivers.

However, the Wright car was assessed a five-second penalty for a pit procedure infringement, handing the overall win to a Team WRT BMW M4 GT3.

“The last IGTC race, we also were not in the IGTC Pro class and we were still fighting for the overall win until basically we crossed the finish line,” recalled Heinrich.

“I think it will hopefully be a similar picture. For sure the focus is on winning our class. That’s definitely the main priority.

“But also with the two Shahin brothers and also with Morris, we have a strong driver lineup.

“With how the regulations are, maybe we’ll find ourselves at the end with a shot for winning. Then I’d be lying if I said we wouldn’t try.

“I also like the approach of Porsche in IGTC that they focus on the local teams. For me it was an opportunity to work with Wright for the first time.

“Now I’m working with EMA for the first time. For me as a driver, it’s great to know all these people and teams. They’re all on a super high level so I think it works pretty well.”

Despite being in only his third season of GT3 racing, Heinrich, an avid sim racer, said he’s been dreaming of making his Bathurst debut.

“I’ve looked every year,” he said. “My GT3 career has not been so long. Last year I looked at it, and would have liked to do it, but it didn’t work out.

“But this year to be in one of the two Porsches is great.

“I think also see it as a bit of a debut year. For sure the track is not easy; you cannot practice there, so you need to get every lap you can for the race, for the future, in preparation to learn the track. So that will be very valuable for me in my career.

“I’ve done the 12 Hours of Bathurst in iRacing plenty of times! I think I won, I was definitely on pole one time, so that’s a good sign.”