- Heinrich, Andlauer and Picariello earn Stuttgart’s first Summer Endurance Race win since 1994
- Li seals IGTC Independent Cup crown with third win of the season
- Team WRT, LM Corsa and Runup claim event’s class victories
- Suzuka 1000km Result
AO by Absolute Racing gave Porsche its first Suzuka 1000km victory in more than 30 years as its crew of Julien Andlauer, Alessio Picariello and Laurin Heinrich charged to victory in the 50th Summer Endurance Race and penultimate round of this year’s Intercontinental GT Challenge.
‘Bushi Rex’ took the lead at half distance thanks to a breathtaking performance from Heinrich, who passed the PONOS Ferrari, his Absolute team-mate Dorian Boccolacci, Nicky Catsburg's JMR Corvette and then Chris Mies' Miedecke by Team MPC Ford Mustang within a 45-minute spell. The AO/Absolute crew then remained out front as darkness fell before ultimately taking the chequered flag 51 seconds clear of the Mustang.
It marked Porsche's ninth IGTC win – and the second in succession following Lionspeed's victory at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa – as well as the brand's 12th at this event, albeit first since SRO Motorsports Group’s maiden appearance with BPR in 1994. Andlauer, Picariello, Heinrich and the team also became first-time outright race winners in IGTC.
The pole-starting Miedecke/MPC Mustang shared by Mies, Dennis Olsen and Frederic Vervisch handed Ford its best-ever IGTC result, while Absolute’s other 911 of new lap record holder Ayhancan Güven, Dorian Boccolacci and Alessandro Ghiretti finished third to move Porsche within touching distance of Intercontinental’s manufacturers’ crown. Only a refuelling issue prevented a possible one-two finish.
Team WRT survived a late penalty to claim Bronze class victory in seventh overall. Dan Harper was penalised for contact, but the BMW he shared with Anthony Mcintosh and Parker Thompson was sufficiently clear of the opposition to hold on to its victory.
One spot back on the overall order and runner-up in Bronze went to High Class Racing's Porsche that featured Joel Sturm, Anders Fjordbach and Li Kerong whose third IGTC Independent Cup win in four starts sealed the title for the Chinese driver with a race to spare.
LM Corsa’s Ferrari of Kei Nakanishi, Shigekazu Wakisaka and Giancarlo Fisichella took Pro-Am honours in 10th, while the sole Am entry of Masaaki Nishikawa, Atsushi Tanaka and Tetsuya Tanaka fully deserved its class victory just for finishing following Runup Sports’ rebuild on Saturday and Sunday morning.
The race began with Olsen converting pole into an early lead from Güven who passed PONOS’s front row starting Ferrari on the opening lap. The top two remained unchanged until the pitstops where Absolute’s swift work helped Ghiretti emerge ahead before Olsen re-passed the Porsche on the run to turn one a few laps later.
Just one Safety Car period punctuated the race but it provided the catalyst for AO/Absolute’s ascent with four hours to go. Heinrich was fifth at that stage but quickly dispatched the PONOS Ferrari just after the restart before taking full advantage of Boccolacci and Nicky Catsburg’s battle and then passing the Corvette approaching 130R.
Mies led by 10 seconds at that stage but was reeled in at a rapid rate of knots by the Porsche, which then sat on the Mustang’s tail for several laps before darting around the outside and into the lead through the Esses. Bushi Rex was never headed thereafter as Picariello and Andlauer both kept the #8 911 at the head of the field.
Instead, attention turned to who would join them on the podium. The Ford dropped back into the clutches of Absolute’s other Porsche and JMR’s Corvette, which circulated together until the penultimate round of pitstops where Güven lost 13 seconds due to a refuelling issue. Clearly frustrated, the Turk channelled his anger into breaking the lap record and two-minute barrier in his of pursuit of Scott McLaughlin whom he eventually passed at the hairpin.
The same problem forced him to re-take the Corvette after the final stops but even he couldn’t catch the Mustang which finished eight seconds up the road.
JMR’s McLaughlin, Catsburg and Alexander Sims – who’d brought the Z06 GT3.R back into podium contention during his mid-race stint – finished fourth and last of the runners on the lead lap.
Mercedes-AMG, meanwhile, endured a fast but frustrating day that ultimately resulted in Craft-Bamboo’s Maxime Martin, Luca Stolz and Kaku Ohta completing the top five despite them starting 28th. The trio were sixth after two hours but only picked up one further place when PONOS’ Ferrari briefly stopped on the run to 130R.
Stolz and Martin therefore remain seven and eight points respectively behind Mercedes-AMG stablemate Maro Engel with one round remaining.
The PONOS Ferrari that qualified second ultimately came home sixth in the hands of Seita Nonaka, Takuro Shinohara and Tadasuke Makino who were also the first Japanese crew to take the chequered flag.
WRT’s Bronze class-winning BMW and High Class Racing’s Porsche completed the overall top eight ahead of K-tunes’ Lexus and the LM Corsa Ferrari that claimed Pro-Am victory.
There’s now a four-week before Indianapolis stages Intercontinental’s 2026 showdown on October 8-10.