Porsche driver Laurin Heinrich rejects blame for three-car Macau crash

Heinrich insists he was not to blame for the incident on the opening lap of the Macau GT race

Laurin Heinrich has defended himself after the FIA GT World Cup main race in Macau, rejecting claims he sent his Schumacher-CLRT team-mate Ayhancan Guven into the Lisboa Bend tyre wall.

Heinrich instead pointed to Joel Eriksson as the root cause of the incident, without naming him directly.

Starting from eighth on the grid, Heinrich found himself in a six-car battle behind eventual race winner Antonio Fuoco and Raffaele Marciello for third place.

Only three of them would make it through Lisboa Bend. Guven, Luca Engstler and Dorian Boccolacci were all eliminated when Guven's Schumacher-CLRT Porsche was struck by Heinrich and fired into the tyre barrier. The other two cars piled in moments later.

Together with Alessio Picariello, who had already spun at Reservoir Bend, three Porsches were eliminated within a single sector.

“I was quite okay with losing a position yesterday to start on the right side today, because through turn one, that's a bit better, especially when you're in the middle of the field,” Heinrich said after the race.

“That worked pretty well. I got side by side with the Audi at the exit of Turn 1. Actually he squeezed me in the wall, so I touched the wall on the right and the Audi on the left.”

As he turned into Mandarin Bend, he wasn’t even sure whether the car was still intact: "But in the end you have to go for it, because there's also the whole field behind you, so you cannot slow down too much. I had a great run through Mandarin."

In fact, Heinrich got such a good run through Mandarin that he was even able to push his team-mate Guven down the straight using bump-drafting, as he explained: “I saw Ayhancan on the very right also gaining positions. I came with huge overspeed, actually I had to lift the throttle a bit not to bump draft him too hard, so I gave him a little bump draft, so that put him ahead of the others.”

The Schumacher CLRT team had a strategy for Lisboa Bend, according to Heinrich.

“Coming to the braking point, both of us made a clear plan before the race, that we worked together there, and we were in the best position on the inside of turn 3.

But the plan fell apart.

“Under braking, I unfortunately got hit from behind and locked the rear axle," he explained. "I knew that now was the time to push the brake pedal as hard as you can and that's what I did.

“But unfortunately, I got pushed into my team-mate and he ended up in the wall, so that's very unfortunate.

“Obviously, despite finishing on the podium for the first time, I feel quite bad for him, because he would have deserved it as much as I do. I hope he will get over it, and I'm sure someday he will come back here and also have great success.”

A fan video supports Heinrich’s version. It shows the German braking earlier than the DTM champion, only to be pushed by Eriksson for around 100 metres. That shove results in the contact that sends Guven into the barriers.

The stewards also sided with Heinrich in their post-race investigation, handing Eriksson a 10-second time penalty which dropped the latter to fifth in the final order.

No chance against BMW power

For the rest of the race, Heinrich sat behind Marciello’s Rowe BMW. An attack was never realistic because the BMW M4 GT3 Evo held a clear straight-line advantage — and the Guia Circuit’s only real overtaking point is located at the end of the long straight.

“I ran a bit out of tools in my toolbox to try and make a move. In the end, I still tried to keep the pressure up to not fall in the hands of the Audi behind me. I knew it would be [difficult], he would need to make a big mistake for me to profit from that," he continued.

“It got a bit frustrating. I tried everything I could in the end to exit the hairpin as close as I can. But you always have this accordion effect. But still, it's great to race around this legendary place. And I'm hoping to come back soon."