“Perfect Day” for Pfaff in GTD Pro Win, Retaking Points Lead

Photo: Rick Dole/IMSA

Mathieu Jaminet has hailed Pfaff Motorsports’ run in Sunday’s Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship as a “perfect day” with he and Matt Campbell taking a dominant win in GTD Pro.

The Porsche factory drivers controlled the two-hour and 40-minute race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, with Campbell crossing the line with an 30-plus second advantage to the second-placed No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat.

The win for the Canadian squad came after a pole run on Saturday, which completed the weekend sweep, just three weeks after a freak pit lane incident that took its Porsche 911 GT3 R out of the race at Long Beach.

“It’s been a perfect day and a perfect weekend,” Jaminet said. “We just improved over the weekend, did pole position and had a clean run today.

“It was a mega car from the Pfaff guys and second win of the season.

“We’re back in the championship [lead]. I’m fully confident now.

“We’ve got a break before Watkins so it’s good to finish on a high for this first part of the season.”

Jaminet said co-driver Campbell was able to stretch out into a comfortable lead in the final hour as the other GTD Pro entries fought for the remaining podium positions.

“They were battling behind, especially in the last hour, so it definitely helped us to pull away and make a gap,” he said.

“We just seemed quite strong and were really good on tire degradation today so that played a big role going in.”

Jaminet and Campbell, who scored their second class win of the season, have retaken the points lead and provisionally hold a 50-point advantage over the Corvette Racing pairing of Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia, who finished fourth on Sunday.

Lexus’ Hawksworth and Barnicoat, who finished second in the race, sit a further 30 points behind the Porsche duo.

“The team did a fantastic job,” Campbell added. “It was an absolute flawless race once again, especially in the pit stops.

“It might have looked easy but trying to manage the tire life is difficult around here is difficult at times.

“I think it helped in the last stint with the cars behind battling. It made it look even easier but really great day for Driveway and Pfaff Motorsports.”

Heylen: Laguna “One of the Better” Porsche Tracks

GTD class winner Jan Heylen credited the track for helping deliver a double Porsche class victory on Sunday.

Heylen and Wright Motorsports co-driver Ryan Hardwick regained the GTD points lead with their second win of the season as well, thanks to the Belgian’s late-race pass on the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Bill Auberlen.

“All weekend we had a good car,” Heylen said. “This is one of the better Porsche tracks so I think we were all looking forward to coming here after Long Beach.

“It was such a great team effort. I think really understanding the track and the tire deg is important here. I think that’s what gave us the speed in the end.

“I constantly had to tell myself to be patient and to keep [taking care of] the tires.

“This was the perfect race for us as far as the yellows. If a yellow comes in the middle of a stint I think you’d see a very different race.

“The fact that we were out there the whole stint, being able to look after the tires, I think that’s what made us come out on top.”

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