Olsen’s Late-Race Pass Gives Pfaff First GTD Win

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Pfaff Motorsports has claimed a breakthrough first victory in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition following a late-race pass for the GT Daytona class win by Dennis Olsen in Saturday’s Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park.

The Porsche Young Professional got around Mario Farnbacher for the lead with less than three minutes to go in the caution-free two-hour and 40-minute GT-only contest after the German got caught up in traffic.

Farnbacher, in the GTD points-leading No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo, fought back and nearly got back around the Norwegian on the final lap, finishing just 0.010 seconds behind the plaid-liveried Porsche 911 GT3 R at the checkered flag in a near photo finish.

It marked Olsen and co-driver Zach Robichon’s first WeatherTech Championship class victories, in only Olsen’s second start with the Canadian team, which shuffled its driver lineup prior to this weekend.

A three-way battle developed in the second hour between Farnbacher, Olsen and the No. 33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 following the first round of pit stops after a dominant opening stint by class pole-sitter Trent Hindman.

Farnbacher assumed the class lead on Lap 110, moving from third to first in a matter of a few corners and extending his margin over Olsen until the late-race charge.

Despite finishing second, the MSR duo of Farnbacher and Hindman have extended their championship lead, due to gearbox issues for the No. 12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Townsend Bell and Frankie Montecalvo, which entered the weekend second in points but finished 14 laps behind.

The No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley completed the GTD podium in third following a late spin by Bleekemolen, who was battling with Auberlen for the final podium position.

Bleekemolen was then forced to make an unscheduled stop, dropping he and Ben Keating to a 9th place class finish.

Patrick Long and Marco Seefried came home fourth in class while Matt Campbell made it three Porsches in the top-five in his No. 91 Wright Motorsports entry that he shared with WeatherTech Championship debutant Anthony Imperato.

RESULTS: Northeast Grand Prix

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