DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Both the Grand Touring Prototype and Grand Touring Daytona Pro classes see new points leaders after the StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship, as the calendar has shifted to May in the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
What could be termed “the Heinrich maneuver” – Laurin Heinrich’s daring last-lap pass of Earl Bamber to win at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 – has netted the German the GTP points lead for the first time.
Heinrich has three GTP wins in four races across two cars, the first two as part of the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 at the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and now in the JDC-Miller Porsche in Monterey.
He’s 21 points ahead of Jack Aitken, Bamber’s full-season teammate in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R. Aitken has four podiums in four races but no wins.
Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer, the prior championship leaders, now sit third in the No. 7 Porsche at 73 behind. All others from fourth on back are more than 140 points behind.
Porsche and Cadillac are similarly close in the manufacturer’s championship, with Porsche 52 points ahead of Cadillac. Long Beach winners Acura are third, 120 back, ahead of BMW and Aston Martin.
Like their Cadillac General Motors brethren in GTP, Chevrolet has been consistent in terms of podiums but no wins – yet – in GTD PRO. Nonetheless three top-fives and two podiums in three races have placed Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg atop GTD PRO in their No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
The pairing holds a 51-point lead over Rolex 24 winners Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen, the all-American lineup in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO. AO Racing sits third with Harry King and Nick Tandy in their No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) 63 back, and Monterey winners Ford Racing up to fourth with Frederic Vervisch and Christopher Mies in their No. 65 Ford Mustang GT3 74 points back.
Chevrolet leads Porsche by 16, BMW by 41 and Ford by 67 in the manufacturer’s championship.
After a tough Long Beach, Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello expanded his lead in Monterey with his third podium in four races aboard the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. Barrichello and Tom Gamble finished second in Monterey and coupled with some of the other rivals having issues, Barrichello now leads by 140 points.
Turner Motorsport is second with Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley in their No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO and Long Beach winners Aaron Telitz and Benjamin Pedersen are third in their No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3. Two-time defending GTD champions Winward Racing sit fourth with Russell Ward and Philip Ellis exactly 200 points off the lead in their No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Ferrari, by dint of its Sebring win with Af Corse USA and podiums from Conquest Racing and Inception Racing the last two races, has ascended to the lead of the GTD manufacturer’s championship by three points over Aston Martin. Mercedes-AMG is third, 93 behind.
