Earl Bamber Takes No Issues With Late-Race Contact From Heinrich

Coming off the stellar late-race battle when he and Laurin Heinrich locked horns at Laguna Seca with just about five minutes to go, Earl Bamber took no issues with the contact that ensued on the back of his Cadillac when Heinrich clipped the left rear when attempting a pass going into turn 3. 

The contact occurred on the second-to-last lap of the race, leaving Bamber to nurse the rubbing tire while also having to navigate batches of GT traffic, opening the door for Heinrich to make the final pass on the white flag lap heading through turn 4.

Post-race, Bamber had no issues with the tough racing that resulted in the slight damage on his No. 31, chalking it up the end result as of Heinrich coming on like a speed demon flying out of hell equipped with healthier tires in the closing minutes.  

"With about 10 laps to go, the (No.) 5 just appeared out of nowhere and when I heard it was coming at half of a second a lap, I knew it was going to be tough to hold him off,” said Bamber. “I got a couple of good runs through traffic on the last second-to-last lap, but then he just had much more grip than us at the end of the race."

“I raced him hard and fair, but he just got through. It is what it is – another great podium and it was great to race with Laurin. I’ve seen him come up through the ranks with Porsche, and to see him get this win with the No. 5 team is something special.” 

Throughout this era of GTP and Hypercar battles, the Porsche 963 has proven time and again to be extraordinarily light on its tire ware across all tracks and race conditions. When things matter most, the 963 always seems to stretch out the health of its tires, and it was exactly the case again as Heinrich hunted down Bamber on Sunday.

There was a slight almost guilty nature to fully enjoying the race win for Heinrich and JDC-Miller because true race fans want to see battles like this stay on the right side of sportsmanship without spilling over into reckless abandon. It wasn't egregious contact by any means, but it was the result of Bamber's bodywork/tire being damaged that soured what could have been an utterly stunning final lap of action as the car struggled to maintain its race pace. Once the Cadillac was compromised with half a lap to go it was essentially curtains from that point.

But again, if Bamber doesn't have a problem with the matter and he was the guy in the arena dealing with the circumstances then it's hard to do the same as a fan.