Pfaff Motorsports Drove Away With The GTD PRO Win At Laguna Seca
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE FROM THE PLAID PORSCHE TEAM WHO REGAINS THE CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD
From the first practice session, Pfaff Motorsports looked like their Driveway Porsche was at its best. Finishing FP1 in third place just over four tenths off the leading GTD PRO car, they bettered their time by a full second in FP2 to give them the second fastest time in that session and only one tenth off the fastest time.
Then came qualifying with Mathieu Jaminet at the wheel. Waiting for the later part of qualifying to get his lap time, Jaminet got pole on his fifth of six laps.
Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell controlled Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race from flag to flag en route to the team’s second victory of the season, and its second victory at Laguna Seca in consecutive years.
“I think it’s been a perfect day, a perfect weekend,” said Jaminet. “We just improved over the weekend with the pole position and had a clean run today. Mega car from the Pfaff guys, and the second win of the season, so we’re back in the championship and fully confident now that we have the break before Watkins Glen. It’s good to finish on a high for the first part of this season.”
Jaminet – in his IMSA debut at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – pulled the Driveway Porsche ahead of the GTD Pro class before handing over the car to Campbell with an hour remaining. Together, the drivers led all but five laps of the race. Their performance was aided by Pfaff Motorsports’ strategy – particularly with tire degradation – which was executed to precision, as well as perfect pit stops from the crew.
“First of all, big congrats to Driveway, our title sponsor and their first ever win in motorsport. It was a really nice day for them and it’s also their home race, so that really tops it off. I must say, the team did a fantastic job. An absolutely flawless race once again, especially in the pit stops. It might have looked easy, but trying to manage the tire life around here is difficult at times – and I think it helped in the last stint with the cars behind battling. That made it look even easier. Today was a really great day for Driveway and Pfaff Motorsports,” commented Matt Campbell.
As a result, the team and drivers have regained the GTD Pro championship lead after four races, with a margin of 50 points, and enter the class’s six-week racing hiatus on a high note.
General Manager Steve Bortolotti couldn’t be happier with how the weekend unfolded: “The race was absolutely incredible. It was a textbook effort from the team, and we led pretty much every lap aside from when the pit stop cycles were going. I didn’t think that it would go this way; we came into the weekend just wanting a podium and to get ourselves back on track after a couple bad races in a row. But Mathieu and Matt did an unbelievable job, and the guys in the pits were absolutely perfect. We called a great race and the car was in the perfect window for the long run, so it was perfect execution by the Pfaff crew and we couldn’t be happier.”
The next round for the GTD PRO class will be in June for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on June 23-26. For that event, Felipe Nasr will be rejoining his Rolex 24 at Daytona teammates for the endurance race.
Race result here.
Championship standings here.
Content partly from Pfaff Motorsports media release
Image: Pfaff Motorsports / Lenssen Photo
