Hard-earned Accolades

AO Racing's No. 77 Porsche effort is offering a master class in how to win endurance racing events--and championships.

AO Racing's rise from upstart to IMSA class champion is one of sports car racing's best stories from the last several seasons.

The No. 77 Porsche GT3 R team compiled lessons--but no podiums--during its debut IMSA GTD Pro in 2023. Last year, two wins and three podiums in the first four races put the team atop the GTD Pro standings--a spot it never relinquished.

Led on track by Laurin Heinrich, the IMSA rookie who became lead driver when Sebastian Priaulx left AO mid-season as his Multimatic Motorsports commitments ramped up, the No. 77 battled its way to a class title, meeting several major challenges along the way.

This season, the defending GTD Pro champions set out to check off the one accomplishment that had eluded them: winning one of the IMSA's true endurance races. After a disappointing eighth place run at the 24 Hours of Daytona, the No. 77 team set its sights on Sebring--and won.

The statistics speak for themselves: four wins, five podiums, and one class title in the last two seasons--and this year still has eight races to go.

But even more impressive is how the No 77 team has achieved them.

Endurance races aren't usually won by rolling off the truck fast and simply out-running everyone all weekend. Podium finishes often signify a team's resilience just as much, if not more than, on-track performance. In recent years, no team has demonstrated this more than the No. 77 AO Racing squad.

2024's Stunning Run

Rewind to last year's stretch run.

Heading into the second-to-last race--the TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks at Indianapolis--the No. 77 was clinging to a 17-point lead in the GTD Pro standings. It seemed to grow when Heinrich nabbed the pole and accompanying points. But the car failed post-qualifying tech inspection due to a ride-height violation, meaning it would start at the back of the 56-car field.

Losing the qualifying points was bad enough; now Heinrich and co-driver Michael Christensen had to weave their way through the pack to have any shot at holding their points lead.

They did just that, moving up 20 spots in just 10 laps and taking the lead for the first time a little more than a third of the way through the race.

With an hour to go and the caution flag out, the 77 made what would prove to be its race-winning move, jumping the No. 64 Mulitmatic Motorsports Ford Mustang and No. 14 VasserSullivan Lexus on pit road to take the lead.

The Motul Petit LeMans season finale at Road Atlanta provided still more tests.

The No. 77 left Indianapolis with a 99-point lead and boosted it to 104 by out-qualifying the second-place challenger Heart of Racing Aston Martin No. 23 at Road Atlanta.

But the seemingly comfortable margin quickly vanished as electrical problems plagued the Porsche early on, leaving it stopped on track at one point. After several lengthy pit stops, the No. 77 was back on pace, but five laps behind.

Heinrich, Christensen and Julien Andlauer brought the No. 77 home eleventh in class. That was close enough to the third-place Aston Martin to nab the full season title--by 1 point.

"I think it was a proper test for me and my mind to withstand this, because it’s a pure nightmare." Heinrich told Daily Sportscar. "You’re just driving the car. You can do nothing."

An Encore At Sebring

Having 2024's big trophy in its display case hasn't softened AO Racing's determination.

After going "all in just for victory" at Daytona and coming up short, the team quickly shifted its focus to the 12 Hours of Sebring, AO Racing race engineer Chaz Cleland shared with IMSA Radio.

A two-day test in February went well, Cleland said, bolstering the team's confidence.

But come race week, things changed. The No. 77 Porsche struggled in practice, forcing Cleland and the team back to the drawing board.

"We had a lot of homework to do," Cleland said. "A lot of late nights studying data."

One of the rear-engined Porsche's tricky attributes is its front-mounted fuel tank. Setting up the car means accounting for full fuel loads over the front wheels early in stints and empty loads at the end. How well the car runs in between can make the difference between competing and just running laps.

"You've got to have a good balance in the middle of the stint," Cleland said. "At both ends of the stint, it normally moves one way or the other."

Sebring's 10:00 local time start and 12-hour length adds another race set-up wrinkle. While teams want to be quick all race, optimizing for night conditions sets cars up to be fastest at the end--not a bad strategy for winning.

With the relevant variables accounted for, Cleland and the AO team rolled the dice.

"We made some big changes for the race," he said.

It didn't take long to determine whether they were the right ones.

"As soon as Laurin gave me his feedback, from the first stint I knew that we were going to be in a good window when it came to the final four stints, which are the important ones at Sebring," Cleland said. "Sure enough, Laurin was absolutely on fire in those final two stints."

The No. 77, with Heinrich at the wheel, led the final 24 laps. The co-driving trio of Klaus Bachler, Alessio Picariello, and Heinrich led a race-high 89 of the 329 laps.

"Great job by the pit crew. Incredible job by all three drivers," Cleland said. "The homework paid off."

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References

'It was a proper test' -- https://www.dailysportscar.com/2024/10/18/imsa-gtd-pro-championship-represents-the-peak-of-fan-favourite-ao-racings-ascent.html