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The streets of Detroit served up plenty of drama and ultimately another victory for the No.77 Porsche driven by Seb Priaulx and Laurin Heinrich.
They were running in third in their GTD Pro class when the leading No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus and No. 4 Corvette made contact on turn three.
Back to back wins for REXY and @AORacingUSA! #IMSA | @detroitgp pic.twitter.com/VTh6n6u5Ob
— IMSA (@IMSA) June 1, 2024
Heinrich, who’d taken over from Priaulx, hit Catsburg on the rebound with nowhere to go and damaged his front splitter.
A subsequent traffic jam at Turn 1 following a separate incident between two Grand Touring Prototype cars caused a third full-course caution and left the damaged Heinrich and Barnicoat cars limping but still running 1-2.
There were further full-course cautions to follow on the new 1.645-mile, nine-turn street course, but ultimately the AO Racing team came home with a 2.885s lead.
Priaulx said: “Our job was to keep the car nice and clean for Laurin and leave it for him to fight. I couldn’t have done it without the team. Double win! Really happy for the whole team.”
???????? BACK-TO-BACK! Rexy, @SebPriaulx, @laurinheinrich_, and team take the victory at @detroitgp, and leave still the GTD PRO points leaders!
— AO Racing ???? (@AORacingUSA) June 1, 2024
What do you think? Another gold tooth? pic.twitter.com/jGIWfBzt13
It was the second career and second straight WeatherTech Championship win for Heinrich, Priaulx and AO Racing.
“It was super difficult and I had to adapt my driving style,” said Heinrich, who added that the Porsche’s vibration was ‘horrendous’ and forced him to adjust his driving.
“I had to enter really slow in the corner. Every restart it got more difficult. I couldn’t have done it without [Priaulx]. That’s the key to win in IMSA.”
Unofficially, the pairing extended its GTD PRO championship lead to 84 points over Ben Barnicoat and co-driver Jack Hawksworth in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 Barnicoat.
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