Pfaff Motorsports was quick to think on its feet throughout the Northeast Grand Prix weekend, finishing third at Lime Rock Park for the team’s fifth podium of the season.

Saturday’s GT-only race – the first of two this season – began as precariously as the prior day’s qualifying session for the No. 9 Driveway Porsche 911 GT3 R. A mechanical issue moments before the short Friday session sent the team searching for a quick solution; the No. 9 was lucky to start fifth in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD Pro field.

Patrick Pilet made a rare start in the Plaid Porsche. On the opening lap, he endured rear-end contact from a GTD competitor while also making a pass to get ahead in GTD Pro. Later, when the first pit stops were in progress, a full-course yellow cycled the Plaid Porsche to the overall lead before Pilet handed over the car to Klaus Bachler, a newcomer to the short track.

Bachler ran in the top-four and during the final round of pit stops, the team reacted to other competitors’ strategies to capitalize on an overcut opportunity. Bachler stayed on-track while the leaders came in for adjustments, allowing the Porsche to jump to third following the Austrian’s quick in-lap and the team’s subsequent fast work in pit lane.

Another lengthy full-course yellow limited the team’s options to advance further, but the top-four GTD Pro leaders ran nose-to-tail for the final half hour of green flag action. All maintained their positions, with Pfaff finishing third. UPDATED POINT STANDINGS

The next round at Road America during the IMSA SportsCar Weekend has a morning start time of 10:10 a.m. ET on Sunday, August 6. The five WeatherTech Championship classes – GTP, LMP2, LMP3, GTD Pro and GTD – will reunite at the longest track on the IMSA calendar, with the race airing on NBC Network in the United States and on REV.tv in Canada.

For high-resolution imagery and video from Lime Rock Park and throughout the 2023 season, please click here with credit to Pfaff Motorsports/Lenssen Photo. Updates from Pfaff Motorsports can be followed on the team’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.

Team Quotes:

Klaus Bachler: “In the end, it was just difficult to pass. I was not really in the position to do something. We had one corner where we were faster than the others, but we were always a bit behind them because of what we lost in acceleration. Coming from P5 to finish P3 is, obviously, better than P5, but it’s not what we want. After last year, the team was winning here, so we had a big hope that we had a chance to win. But we didn’t have a chance today, but we hope for next time that we get more help to fight the others because at the moment, it’s still very tricky.”

Patrick Pilet: “It was a pretty intense first lap for me – I got touched by a GTD Mercedes from behind, and then I got a great move on the other Mercedes in GTD Pro to catch P4. Then, I had really good pace and I could actually follow the others and just try to save fuel. I could see the others started to struggle with tires, so I just tried to keep the pressure on them. In the pits, we had really good strategy and I think it was the right one. We got a bit unlucky with the yellow after that, because our advantage would have been bigger and bigger over the stint because we would’ve had better tires towards the end.

“It’s still a great result. I think we’re still missing a bit of performance especially to race the others. But the team did great. It was perfect execution and we have no regrets. Klaus did a good job at the end also and tried everything, but we never really got an opportunity because nobody was making a mistake in front. Just a good result.”

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.