Sunday afternoon was the best of times for Pfaff Motorsports. Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell claimed the team’s first class victory since the 2023 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring at Road America. It also marked the first North American victory for the new Lamborghini Temerario GT3.
However, this victory is more the beginning of the end than anything else. According to multiple sources, team members were informed last week that the No. 9 team will not return to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2027.
Team owner Steve Pfaff is part of the new ownership of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park led by venture capitalist Peter Thomson that took over the facility late last year. As a result, Pfaff’s focus is shifting to helping to make CTMP as good as it can be. Specifically, he wants CTMP to be a 12-month a year facility, no easy feat for a place in Canada.
Pfaff Motorsports will continue to exist, but it will exist as a vehicle to develop Canadian talent. It will be around to help go-kart racers along and try to bring in new talent to the upper levels of the sport. That is something that the team has done in the past. They have given drivers such as Scott Hargrove, Zachary Vanier and Zacharie Robichon their first starts in GT3 equipment.
That said, the move out of WeatherTech may not be permanent. They could return to the series as soon as 2028 once various initiatives at CTMP are instituted. In addition, it is theoretically possible that they could return in one-make series as well.
As of now, Pfaff Motorsports is the only team running the new Temerario GT3 in North America (Wayne Taylor Racing is still running the Huracan as of now). If a replacement team is not found, WTR (which will get a Temerario for 2027) would be the only team running the car in WeatherTech competition next year.
Pfaff Motorsports has competed in WeatherTech since 2019. As a Canadian-based team, they were forced to drop to part-time in 2020 due to COVID-19 and a general inability to cross the border into the United States.
In eight seasons, the team has two championships; 2021 in GTD with Robichon and Laurens Vanthoor and 2022 in GTD Pro with Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet. Both titles came while fielding a Porsche 911 GT3 R. They also have 13 class victories.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the Frontstretch Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.