Pfaff Replaces Porsche Chassis After Rolex 24 Damage

Photo: Pfaff Motorsports

Pfaff Motorsports has replaced the chassis on its Porsche 911 GT3 R ahead of a return to racing in the next IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race.

The Canadian squad finished 13th in the GT Daytona class in January’s season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona following an axle failure that took the Dennis Olsen, Zach Robichon, Lars Kern and Patrick Pilet-driven entry out of contention of the class win.

While having completed the race after initial repairs, team manager Steve Bortolotti revealed to Sportscar365 that upon post-race inspection, damage from the mechanical issue ultimately deemed the chassis “unrepairable” by Porsche’s collision repair standards.

“The damage to the chassis was relatively small compared to other components in the surrounding area in all honesty, so during the race we replaced the gearbox side cover, left-rear subframe section, left-rear axle, and upright before heading back on track to finish the race,” Bortolotti told Sportscar365.

“When we returned from Daytona, we had the Pfaff group’s body shop (which is a Porsche-approved collision center) crack-checked the area, and they found the area where the subframe mounts on the left side of the chassis to be compromised.

“This area isn’t a section that is replaceable according to Porsche’s collision repair processes, so we had to do a chassis.

A replacement chassis was then ordered.

“Physically getting one took a bit longer than expected due to some logistical challenges with the airline, but ultimately had we been racing at Sebring we still would have had it finished in plenty of time.”

Robichon and the team entered the 2020 WeatherTech Championship on the heels of a impressive rookie season that saw the 27-year-old claim two class wins en route to the IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup title and third place finish in the overall GTD standings.

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