How a ‘dinosaur driver’ got to be Porsche’s fastest-rising young star
Advertisement
Laurin Heinrich is the youngest driver to race a works Porsche 963, and after that one-off in Bahrain last year, he’s earned a call-up to Porsche Penske Motorsport for the endurance races in 2026 alongside Julien Andlauer and Felipe Nasr.
It caps off a rapid ascension and an absolutely amazing journey for the German. He didn’t kart competitively until his teens, and his first year in cars in 2017 came after his used-car dealer father bought an F4 car to do the German championship, but had no engineer and only karting mechanics to go up against the likes of Prema and Van Amersfoort.
He spent 2018 on the sidelines before switching to Carrera Cup Germany in 2019 for his third year of cars – Andlauer, just two years older, was a Carrera Cup France champion already and won the German title that year!
The cut and thrust of Porsche Carrera Cup proved an ideal training ground for Heinrich. Lars Baron/Getty Images
A chance switch to do some one-off Carrera Cup North America races in 2021 was the first stepping stone which led to Heinrich’s eventual hiring as the driver of “Rexy” for 2024, AO Racing’s Porsche which races in the GTD PRO category in IMSA. He’d win the title at the first attempt that year.
I’d called the team principal of AO, Gunnar Jeannette, about a different topic but the first question gave a fitting and connected answer. I asked about having signed arguably the driver with the greatest sports car resume of all time, Nick Tandy, for 2026, and before he could answer, a solemn Jeannette elected to first praise Heinrich.
“We wanted to do everything we could to keep Laurin onboard, but at the same time, totally understand the opp ortunity on his end to join Penske,” said Jeannette. “Anybody who paid attention to what he did in his first outing in Bahrain, certainly we don’t have any doubt of what he’s going to be capable of over there and in the Penske program.”
Heinrich’s lived through the somewhat unusual phenomenon that driving Rexy creates.
“For once, as a driver, your car is more popular than yourself, which is quite an uncommon situation, which I had to get used to!” says Heinrich. “The beginn ing of 2025 or end of 2024, people started to connect my name with Rexy, which was so cool, because for them, I was always the Rexy driver, or the dinosaur driver, and people started to recognize me. It made me really proud.”
He says both he and AO “got their profits” from the relationship. Rexy and AO have grown into a commercial juggernaut now arguably more famous for LEGO, Hot Wheels and Halloween than IMSA, and Heinrich hasn’t quite had the same reputational boost. But those in the paddock know how he led that team to its 2024 title and was incredible at times in a more tricky 2025 campaign where some misfortune certainly played a part.
He was once recognized by a passport control officer in the U.S., though, who “went crazy” when he realized who Heinrich was, which must have made the people in the line behind think they were standing behind a rock star or Oscar winner.
Heinrich cut his teeth in IMSA with AO Racing’s Rexy, where he was happy to become known as “the dinosaur driver.” Brandon Badraoui/Lumen via Getty Images
Those in IMSA know Heinrich’s driving has earned this GTP opportunity, but that’s not always enough to convince Porsche, and to put a driver as young as him in. So our story switches to how he achieved this, with a test at Road Atlanta in October.
Advertisement
“The message is clear – you don’t get to drive this car just for your personal enjoyment,” says Heinrich. “There’s always a reason behind it, so I knew it was a great chance.”
There were a few small issues to deal with, though. First, Heinrich had never driven a prototype car before. Second, it was a development test where new parts were switched on and off the car, altering its behavior and limiting Heinrich’s feedback because he didn’t have any experience of the car. Plus, you can’t go off track and break them as there are no spares and that would be irreparable reputational damage.
And then, the fact it was at Road Atlanta, admittedly one of his favorite tracks and the first he raced on in the States creating a full-circle moment, but hardly a forgiving track to make your first laps of this type of car in.
“In the end, I got my first laps at the end of the day, and in the last few runs,” Heinrich relates, “and that was so cool that we could squeeze that in to allow me to get this experience. It went well.
“I think it’s always been my strength to adapt quickly to new situations. I think I learned that in the Porsche one-make series, in the Porsche Supercup where you barely have any driving time racing together with Formula 1. So I could use that skill that I learned there pretty well.”
Heinrich is a poster boy for Porsche system, but his young age shows that he really is special to have reached this position, given so much of his career has not gone to plan or what you’d expect, looking at the resume of any other prodigious talent at this level.
Advertisement
Part of why he was able to impress was his really precise and somewhat delicate driving style which really suits needing to keep the 963 as level as possible at all times to make the most of the aero platform on the car.
Clearly, in those laps either something very special happened, or it confirmed to Porsche what it already knew, and just a month later he was racing in the World Endurance Championship for the top factory team. Quite the leap.
Heinrich embraced the challenge of being thrown in the “cold water” with Porsche’s 963, and it paid off big time. James Moy Photography/Getty Images
Porsche is the only top-level sports car team with customer cars, so it could have easily worked to place him at Proton for that WEC race, or in IMSA next year, but clearly didn’t feel the need for that stepping stone. Chuck him in the “cold water,” to use Heinrich’s expression.
It’s also worth noting that Porsche has ended its WEC program for next year, so it has more drivers than spaces in cars to fit them. So to have promoted a new driver into the team must have been less than optimal for the manufacturer, but for Heinrich it found a way to get him involved.
He’s already been chatting to his new teammates. Nasr messaged him immediately to offer any help and support, while Heinrich joked that he didn’t want to make Nasr feel old but it was crazy to him that he watched Felipe race for Sauber in F1 when he was a kid!
Advertisement
It’s easy to see why Heinrich was so successful in the personality-driven team that is AO. He’s fun, charismatic, and clearly has all the tools to do what is required behind the wheel. And he is the absolute epitome of what Porsche is trying to create with its global “cup car” feeder system. His feedback when you ask him about the car shows how analytical he can be, too.
You start to wonder if Heinrich could end up being one of Porsche’s longest-serving drivers ever, although there’s plenty still to achieve and prove yet, as Heinrich well knows.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
