Pfaff's Quick Change
The former Porsche team switched to McLaren in the offseason and is looking to keep its strong IMSA record going as it adjusts to a new partner.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—The IMSA GTD Pro class looks different these days.
Nine teams are expected to run all 10 races on this year's schedule--up from five full-time competitors in 2023.
The manufacturer count is up, too. Last year's title fight, won by the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus team, saw five manufacturers represented. This year, there will be eight.
The carmaker changes include perhaps the most intriguing GTD Pro development. Pfaff Motorsports, a Porsche operation since it joined IMSA in 2019, is now a McLaren team.
Despite Pfaff's strong association and success with the legendary German brand--the “plaid Porsche” won two IMSA titles and starred in one of the most thrilling Rolex 24 class finishes in recent years--the McLaren partnership didn't exactly come out of the blue.
The Concord, Ontario-based racing team is a division of Pfaff Automotive Partners (PAS), which has a longstanding relationship with the UK carmaker, including two dealerships. PAS also is McLaren's official Canadian importer.
On track, Pfaff Motorsports won the 2022 FEL Sports Car Championship Canada GT4 Class title in a McLaren 570S GT4.
Selling high-end sports cars or winning class titles in any racing series isn’t easy work. But competing for wins in IMSA's de facto factory GT class is, literally and figuratively, a whole other level.
Can Pfaff adjust quickly enough to have its McLaren 720S GT3 Evo compete for the 2024 title in a GTD Pro stacked field?
Probably, two of motor racing's most knowledgeable observers suggest.
Speaking on a recent episode of The Marshall Pruett Podcast, dailysportscar.com editor and Radio Le Mans commentator Graham Goodwin suggested that Pfaff’s experience and McLaren's commitment will quickly combine to form a strong foundation.
“McLaren were very keen indeed to get a car into that GTD Pro class and are indeed completely delighted they've managed to do it,” Goodwin said. “And more delighted still with the fact that it's a team of the quality and the racing CV of Pfaff.”
Goodwin cited PAS's deep ties with McLaren and the manufacturer’s consistently stellar support of teams that run its cars as two factors in Pfaff's favor.
“Corporately, there are some very strong ties across the whole of the Pfaff corporate body,” he said. “That's going to help in terms of the bargaining power, the channels of communication that are important--particularly when you need to get things done and done quickly.”
McLaren's engineering specialists “will be on site, will be able to help the team to learn and to troubleshoot,” Goodwin added. “And that in no small part is part of the package that comes with this kind of effort.”
Pfaff is a McLaren “manufacturer-nominated” entrant. Details of such deals are kept between the parties and vary from team to team, said Pruett.
One common contracted item is a factory driver. Pfaff will pair Marvin Kirchhöfer, a McLaren factory driver since 2021, and sports car veteran Oliver Jarvis as its full-time drivers. Endurance events, including the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, will see IndyCar notables Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe join the driver lineup.
While not a true “works” program staffed with factory team employees, Pruett says McLaren's deal with Pfaff is about as close as IMSA GTD Pro efforts get.
“This is what we so often see...an alignment with a high-quality championship level team,” Pruett said. “Corvette Racing is not run out of [General Motors' Detroit headquarters]. It's run out of Pratt Miller, a specialized, dedicated racing team. Lexus does not have a Lexus motorsports base with a full dedicated team that builds and runs cars on its behalf. It engages with Vasser Sullivan. Same exact relationship here…with McLaren and Pfaff.”
Pfaff unveiled its McLaren tie-up in early October. Its first car didn't arrive until after the official Rolex 24 test sessions in early December.
Despite the rush to get ready for the season, the team looks like it hasn't missed a beat. Jarvis qualified the No. 9 McLaren 720S GT3 E sixth in class for the Rolex 24. More importantly, no major hurdles have emerged. The team even found a way to blend elements of its traditional plaid livery with McLaren's signature papaya and blue color scheme.
“A brand-new race car showed up mid-December and hit the track for the first time on [Jan. 20, the start of Rolex 24 practice]," Hinchcliffe said. "I've been around this business a long time, as have my fellow co-drivers, and we were all expecting far more issues than we’ve had. That's credit to the team at Pfaff for preparing this car so well, including the help we've had from McLaren in the UK.”
Editor's note: Big thanks to the Marshall Pruett podcast's Daniel Summersgill for including my question on the show.
Photos: S. Broderick
References
Marshall Pruett Podcast Episode 1481—https://marshallpruett.podbean.com/e/mp-1480-the-week-in-sports-cars-jan-10-2024/
Hinchcliffe quotes—https://www.pfaffmotorsports.com/news/2024-daytona-roar
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