It is a bittersweet weekend for Pfaff Motorsports as they enter its swan-song race on Saturday, the ten-hour Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (MRRA).
The Canadian-based outfit has been a staple on the IMSA grid for several seasons, growing to become a constant contender in IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
This season alone, Pfaff has been able to collect two race wins and four podium finishes on their path towards their final race in the series, as the full-season drivers Andrea Calldarelli & Sandy Mitchell are soaking in the memories they’ve accomplished behind the wheel of the plaid No. 9 Lamborghini Temerario GT3.
“Honestly it’s been really fun in the preparation for the last race,” Mitchell said. “It was not easy for everyone to find out the news when it was announced that the team would be stopping at the end of this year. I feel like now everyone has had a bit of time to digest that and people have already got things sorted for next year.
“I feel like it has made the atmosphere even stronger going into this race because everyone wants to really work together and have a really good last race. It would be the best way to finish off this Pfaff Motorsports era for the moment. It is a really great group of people. A lot of the core group have stayed together for a very long time, and you can really feel that for me coming in very recently. You can really feel that the guys have been together a long time.
“Although it’s bittersweet, I would say it’s definitely the vibes are really high and everyone’s really motivated to make this a really good mass race.”
“I really, really enjoy working with them,” Caldarelli added. “I think it’s such a good group of people with such a good leadership from Steve (Bortolotti, Team General Manager) that there is such a nice atmosphere and that’s the reason why I really I made the switch from last year going from GTP to GT. It was a choice that I could have either stayed in GTP or moved to Pfaff and building something.
“I am really happy to have done that because I think we build, we build up some good stories and we had some good times. I learned a lot from them, especially racing in IMSA, so I’m really happy with the choice that I’ve done.”
While Lamborghini’s plans in IMSA for next season remain uncertain, Caldarelli & Mitchell hope to continue to be present on the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship grid.
“I’ve not had any kind of real conversations about next year yet,” Mitchell stated. “Personally, I would definitely like to continue if the Pro car is being taken on by a different team or whatever that looks like. I feel like it’s been a big learning curve and it would be nice to kind of build on that going into next year as well.”
“I would love to stay in IMSA to do a full season,” Caldarelli said. “That’s always been my clear target that I said to Lamborghini all the time. I really would like to do it. We don’t know yet what’s going to happen for next year. My target is to race in GTD Pro. We need to see who is going to take it over. If there’s going to be someone, hopefully yes. Lamborghini is working on it. If not, my wish would still be to run the full season in IMSA, but this has to be checked back home as well.”
Many eyes look ahead to what is next for Pfaff & Lamborghini’s future, but the championship fight is in the immediate vision for the program.
Trailing by only fifty-three points entering Saturday’s race, the team is motivated in their pursuit for a potential title to close out Pfaff’s chapter.
“I think it has made everyone even more motivated because we have something to fight for and we’re definitely in the mix points-wise going into this race,” Mitchell said. “So, if we have a great race and we can put ourselves in the fight for the championship, then that’s the dream at the end of this year. That has definitely helped. Everyone is super focused. Preparations have been good. Everyone is feeling good. So, we’re ready to go out there, fight and give it our all.”
