Pfaff’s Mitchell, Caldarelli Take Commanding Win at VIR

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Pfaff Motorsports gave the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 its second consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory in Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway.

Sandy Mitchell took the No. 9 Lamborghini to a 1.517-second win over the No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Ben Barker to deliver a controlling win for the new-for-2026 GT3 car, only one race after its first victory in global competition at Road America.

Pole-sitter Andrea Caldarelli stretched into an early lead following a first-lap full-course caution for a violent accident from the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Alexander Sims, whose GTD Pro entry was nearly overturned after a heavy impact with the tire barriers.

While Sims climbed from the car under his own power and was released from the trackside medical center, the final 2 hours and 20 minutes of the two-hour and 40-minute contest ran caution-free.

It marked back-to-back victories for the Canadian squad, with Caldarelli and Mitchell jumping into third place in the GTD Pro championship standings, just 56 points out of the lead with two races to go.

Ford Racing scored its first double podium finish of the season with the No. 65 entry of Christopher Mies and Fred Vervisch coming home third.

It came after a late-race stop for Nikita Johnson, who was running third in the No. 59 Team RLL McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, but on an alternative fuel strategy. Johnson and Max Esterson finished eighth in class.

It promoted the No. 68 YRB Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Valentin Haase-Clot and Marco Sorensen to fourth, with class points leader Connor De Phillippi completing the top-five in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Tommy Milner took the No. 4 Corvette to a sixth place result after having a delayed initial stop due to a door issue, followed by a refueling issue on the car’s second stop, which forced Milner to stretch the car’s energy to the end.

The No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo led after running long and pitting with 1 hour and 28 minutes to go, although dropped out of contention when Nick Tandy was forced to make a final stop with 53 minutes remaining.

A drive-through penalty for incident responsibility with the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Ben Barnicoat, which resulted in Barnicoat having an 0ff-course excursion and later needing to stop on track to clear grass from the car’s grille, put the Englishman behind all of the remaining GTD Pro runners.

Ellis, Ward Win GTD After Late-Race Drama With Gamble

Philip Ellis and Russell Ward claimed their third consecutive GTD win and have taken over the class points lead following a dramatic late-race battle with the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Tom Gamble.

Gamble came together with Ellis’ No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo while battling for the class lead, resulting in a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility for the Englishman with less than five minutes to go.

It handed the class win to Ellis, who finished 6.413 seconds ahead of the second-placed No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher.

Frederik Schandorff and Brendan Iribe took a surprise podium finish in their No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo after the No. 34 Conquest Ferrari of Albert Costa was forced into the pits for a splash of energy on the final lap.

The penalty for Gamble dropped he and former class championship leader Eduardo Barrichello to fourth at the checkered flag, with Danny Formal completing the top-five in the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

Formal was assessed a drive-through penalty for “moving in reaction without racing room” with Ellis while battling for second in class following the final pit stop sequence.

The Lamborghini Young Professional and co-driver Trent Hindman paced the opening stages of the race but the Costa Rican ran wide in Turn 2 on his out lap following the car’s final stop, which gave Gamble the class lead at the time.

RESULTS: Michelin GT Challenge

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John