Porsche customer Pfaff Motorsports earns overall win at Lime Rock

by Thomas Moore

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, GTD Pro Round 7, /GTD: Round 9

• Pfaff Motorsports earns first overall win of 2022 in all GT class race.

• Pfaff Porsche takes pole to checkered victory for third time.

• Late race hit drops Wright from GTD top-five finish.

Lakeville, Connecticut. Porsche customer team Pfaff Motorsports won overall at Saturday’s Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. The victory, the fourth for Porsche in the GTD Pro class and sixth total for the 911 GT3 R race car thus far in the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, came in the all-GT car feature event at the Lakeville, Connecticut race track. This is the first overall win for the German sports car manufacturer this year. Pfaff will have its next chance at the overall win when the second of two GT3-spec only races is run at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR), August 25 – 28.

Porsche holds a 204 point lead in the GTD Pro Manufacturer standings over Aston Martin, 208 ahead of Chevrolet with three races remaining in the season.

WeatherTech, GTD Pro Class.

Entering the final stages of the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Porsche customer team Pfaff Motorsports is again placing itself as the “one to beat” in the GTD Pro class. Having won the GTD class championship in 2021, the operation moved up into the newly created GTD Pro class which utilizes the same Porsche 911 GT3 R race car but with an all professional driver lineup. Porsche factory drivers Matt Campbell (Australia) and Mathieu Jaminet (France) have combined for three race wins thus far: Rolex 24 At Daytona joined by Felipe Nasr (Brazil), WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and now Lime Rock Park. The last three races they have raced to victory from pole position. They have finished on the podium in the last four races with a third-place finish in the Six Hours of The Glen.

Pfaff led 117 of 174 laps run on the 1.474-mile, seven turn track during the two-hour, 40-minute race. The tally included the first 42 and the last 75 laps. They won by a margin of 1.83-seconds.

Campbell/Jaminet sit atop the GTD Pro driver standings with 2441 points, 215 ahead of second-place. Pfaff leads the Team standings by the same margin over Corvette Racing.

Matt Campbell, Driver, No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

“Fantastic result. Another win and perfect for our championship. We have extended that lead which is really, really good. It wasn’t easy but a key part of our race was leading from the front. I couldn’t be happier.”

Mathieu Jaminet, Driver, No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

“The teamwork has been amazing. I am impressed in how the team has worked again today with strategy. We saw that everybody pitted early. This would have put pressure on us because we were the leader, and we would have been undercut. We just stuck to our plan, our strategy. Everyone stayed calm on the pit wall, and you don’t see this on many teams. This is one of our strengths and it has been like this all year long. The guys in the pits have done a faultless job now for the seventh round in a row. We are not always the quickest but so far maybe we are the ones making the least mistakes.”

WeatherTech, GTD Class.

The No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche driven by Ryan Hardwick (Atlanta, Georgia) and Jan Heylen (Belgium now living in Florida) was positioned for a strong finish. However, while fighting to move up and into the top-five in the closing stages, Heylen was struck hard from behind and pushed off the track. The 2021 Porsche Cup recipient returned to competition but had to settle for sixth-place in the GTD class.

The John Wright-led operation is currently second in the GTD Team standings, 40-points behind Team Korthhoff Motorsports. Heylen and Hardwick are in second-place of the GTD Driver standings, the same 40 markers behind Stevan McAleer. In the GTD Manufacturer rankings, Porsche is in fourth-place, a narrow 186 points behind leading BMW.

Next Up.

The GTD Pro and GTD class teams will rejoin the full WeatherTech SportsCar Championship roster for rounds eight (GTD Pro) and 10 (GTD) at Road America, August 4 – 7. The Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin track is the longest of the year, the opposite of this weekend’s Lime Rock facility which is the shortest on the calendar.

  • Image courtesy of Porsche.

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