Promising weekend results in fourth for Pfaff Motorsports at Indianapolis
September 18, 2023
Indianapolis, IN – The tenth and penultimate round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship brought much promise for Pfaff Motorsports, and gives the team strong hopes heading into the season finale next month.
The No. 9 Driveway Porsche 911 GT3 R topped the charts in Practice 2 on Saturday, and carried the momentum into qualifying by scoring the Motul Pole Award to start first in the GTD Pro class for the second time this season.
However, on Sunday, coming to the green flag on the front straight, polesitter Klaus Bachler was eager to battle in-class and shuffled lanes too soon, resulting in a drive-through penalty. The team arranged multiple strategy options to attempt a comeback, but opportunities were sparse.
Co-driver Patrick Pilet took over after nearly an hour of racing and in the closing minutes, made a quick, clean pass on a competitor – with whom he had a minor collision during practice earlier in the weekend – to finish fourth at the checkered flag.
The position gained means Pfaff now sits fourth in the GTD Pro standings – and brought the team closer to the fight for second place in the championship. The season finale – Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, where Pfaff has finished on the podium the last two seasons – will see a three-way battle for the runner-up spot.
Team Quotes:
Klaus Bachler: “I have to apologize to the team. At the start, I made a mistake and I went too early to the right side. I just wanted to fight with P2 in our class. I got a drive through and we tried to fight back, but we were not one hundred percent lucky with the yellows. There was only a chance to catch the Corvette before the end. It’s sad because we had really good pace today. Definitely a victory was possible, but that’s how it is. We cannot change it anymore, it happened, and we have to look forward to the last race at Petit.”
Patrick Pilet: “A small mistake had a big consequence and we didn’t have a lot of yellows to help us come back today. But I’m proud of the engineers and the guys on the box because the car was great. The car was very nice to drive and I had a lot of fun. I had a shot at the end to drive flat out and try to catch the Corvette. I managed to do it without any issues like in practice. It’s not what we expected and we had the car to win today, maybe for the first time this season. It’s good to be back in a competitive car and our team just showed how quick we are and how quick we can be. Now I’m ready and looking forward to Petit. I have some victories there and I’d like to add one.”
About Pfaff Motorsports
Pfaff Motorsports has established itself as one of the most successful sportscar racing programs in North America over the past decade. A professional team in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), it has established long-term partnerships with premium brands such as Lithia & Driveway, Motul, the Automotive Owned Brands of Canadian Tire Corporation, and Hagerty, and is one of the top-performing Porsche customer racing teams in the sport.
Pfaff Motorsports’ competition résumé includes historic victories and championships across multiple series. Since joining the top-tier IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2019, the team has won the prestigious 24 Hours of Daytona and twice at the 12 Hours of Sebring, in addition to being crowned the 2022 WeatherTech Championship GTD Pro class and 2021 GTD class champions. It has also won the 2018 GT World Challenge America championship and is a three-time Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada champion. For more information, please visit www.pfaffmotorsports.com.
Pfaff Motorsports Contact: Jennifer Klein // jklein@pfaffmotorsports.com