Pfaff Planning Full-Season Comeback in 2021

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

Pfaff Motorsports has reaffirmed a full-time return to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next year in what will likely result in a restructured crew according to team manager Steve Bortolotti.

The Canadian squad, which missed the majority of the season this year due to complications surrounding quarantine rules amid the coronavirus pandemic, made a one-off appearance in last weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans.

The Motul-sponsored No. 9 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Dennis Olsen, Zach Robichon and Lars Kern finished fifth in the GT Daytona class, in their first WeatherTech Championship race since January’s season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona.

“IMSA did a great job of getting us an exemption with the Department of [Homeland] Security coming in,” Bortolotti told Sportscar365.

“Going home is still a bit of a question mark. Some of my staff — because they’re licensed mechanics — they’re considered essential.

“So they’re technically allowed to not quarantine when they get home, but in the climate in Ontario right now, the socially-responsible thing for us to do is to quarantine for two weeks and stay away from the dealerships.”

While having stayed busy in Canada with a program in the Canadian Touring Car Championship, as well as track days and sales of the Porsche 911 GT2 RS and Cayman 718 GT4 Clubsport models, Bortolotti said he’s working on a way to return to a full-time presence in the WeatherTech Championship, even if the current travel restrictions remain in place next year.

“We’re going to transition ourselves towards more U.S-based employees and more non-dealership-based employees,” he explained.

“The reason for that is that we can’t cripple our core business.

“Having dedicated motorsports employees who are Canadian will be fine, and then having dedicated people south of the border will be OK too.

“A lot of the people that are really good and doing that are probably already employed. So we’ll make it through this year and then start practicing for 2021.”

Robichon and reigning Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli champion Dennis Olsen, a Porsche-blessed driver, had been tabbed as full-season drivers for this year’s curtained campaign.

Bortolotti said they plan to submit a full-season entry, which would not currently include the round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, an event that will count only towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup next year.

“We don’t have driver lineups done yet, but our plan is to be back for the full year,” he said.

“The Sprint Cup race at CTMP made it a little challenging because that’s our home race and super important for our company.

“We’ve never really wanted to do the Sprint Cup stuff, so we’ve got to ride in the full-season championship and that will be interesting.

“Obviously the business climate will dictate if we do an additional race just for our home market.”

Ryan Myrehn contributed to this report

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