Best finish of the season for Pfaff Motorsports

COMING OFF A SIXTH PLACE FINISH AT WATKINS GLEN, PFAFF MOTORSPORTS PLACED ONE BETTER IN FRONT OF HOME CROWD

It was pleasing to see the support this Toronto team is getting as many fans were seen walking around Canadian Tire Motorsport Park wearing the plaid colours all throughout the weekend.

“The response this weekend has been absolutely incredible,” Bortolotti said of the attendees. “We’re so happy to be racing at home, and to see the support we are getting is a huge nod to the effort and passion this team has put into this season.” 

The Pfaff team arrived at their home track just a week after an impressive comeback performance at Watkins Glen, opening the weekend with a strong P5 in qualifying at the Bowmanville, Ontario circuit, which team manager Steve Bortolotti said left “plenty of room” to improve upon ahead of Sunday’s race. 

When the green flag waved at the start of the two-hour and 40-minute sprint race, driver Zach Robichon wasted no time pushing the plaid-liveried car up the field, jumping two places and into third by just lap two. By lap 10, the Canadian was pushing on the leaders, showing the impressive pace the team was able to extract from the 911 GT3 R. 

Robichon put in an extra three laps prior to the first round of pit stops, where he jumped into second position before handing the car over to countryman Scott Hargrove, but an incident on lap 42 of 113 pushed the car down the field, leaving Hargrove to battle back from as low as 10^th place after serving a drive-through penalty with just over half the race remaining. 

From there, the Canadian drove decisively, slicing through the competition with the help of expertly-executed pit stops by the pit crew. Climbing two places on lap 75, Hargrove put the plaid Porsche into sixth on lap 91, and had regained the team’s P5 starting position by lap 110, which he held through to the checkered flag. 

“It was a battle out there for sure,” team engineer Andrew Marangoni said. “We had a few hurdles to overcome this weekend, but for [Sunday] our car was there, and our overall performance as a team was very well executed. We had all of our bases covered, so it’s too bad that one incident cost us so dearly in the race. But the team did a great job and can be proud of the work we put in here at home.” 

This team is coming along well after some bad luck in the first couple of rounds. They have come back strong in the last couple of races. A podium, at least is near, that’s for sure!

The next event for Pfaff Motorsports will be at Lime Rock Park on July 19-20.

Image: Pfaff Motorsports / Lenssens Photo

Excerpts from Pfaff Motorsports press release