Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini wins GT Challenge at VIR
- Tarun Suresh
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
The No.9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini wins the GT Challenge at VIR from pole for the team and the Temerario's second consecutive win. The Canadian contenders were followed by the two GTD Pro Ford Mustangs, the No.64 ahead of the No.65, grabbing a double podium for the manufacturer.
In GTD, the No.57 Winward Racing Mercedes grabbed their third win in a row, with the No.96 Turner Motorsport BMW and the No.70 Inception Racing Ferrari rounding off the podium places.
As it happened
Andrea Caldarelli in the Pfaff Lamborghini Temerario pulled away instantly with a rapid start. The biggest mover was the No.64 Ford Mustang with Dennis Olsen behind the wheel, jumping from sixth to third and was soon right on the back of the No.4 Corvette for third.
It took less than two minutes of green flag running for the first Full Course Yellow and Safety Car as the other Corvette, the No.3 with Alexander Sims driving, crashed out following contact with the No.77 AO Racing Porsche driven by Harry King.
The GTD field had some drama at the start too as the pole sitting DragonSpeed Corvette was forced to pit following contact with the second placed Conquest Racing Ferrari.
The race went green again, two minutes shy of 20 minutes since the race start. Race control deemed no action was necessary for the incident between the No.3 and No.77. The Conquest Racing Ferrari, however, was given a drive through for its incident with the DragonSpeed Ferrari, the latter getting a stop plus sixty second penalty for doing more than just emergency service during FCY.
After the penalties were served, the No.45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini took the lead of the race with the No.96 Turner Motorsport BMW a couple of seconds back.
While the No.45 was rapidly pulling away, the battle for second started heating up with the No.96, No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin and the No.57 Winward Racing Mercedes locked into a tight fight. Soon, the No.27 passed the No.96 for second.
The first to make their full service pit stop was the No.14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus from ninth, making an early stop, just 44 minutes into the race. Some of the other runners in the lower part of the pack soon followed, the No.68 Car Blanche Aston Martin and the No.65 Ford.
While the other runners made their pit stops a few laps later, the AO Racing Porsche did the opposite of the No.14, opting to stay out as long as possible. The same strategy was adopted by the Conquest Racing Ferrari, who were cycled to the back of the GTD pack following their penalty.
A quarter an hour before the halfway point, the No.77 AO Racing Porsche made its pitstop with Nick Tandy getting in the car, coming out twelfth overall and ninth in class.
The early pitters were the winners of this first pit stop cycle with the No.68 Aston Martin, No.65 Ford and the No.14 Lexus all jumping their peers, occupying third to fifth respectively, but would have to stop longer for fuel on their second and final stops.
Just shy of an hour, the ones who pit early made their final pit stops. Around the same time, the top three in GTD made their pit stops; the No.45 Wayne Taylor Lamborghini and the No.27 Aston Martin exited the pit lane with only a few inches separating the two.
It did not take long for the No.27 to make the pass for the lead, jumping to the top of the pack having started eleventh.
Once every team in GTD Pro had made their final stops, it was clear the No.77's gamble to stay out longer hadn't given them the advantage they would've hoped, as they only filtered out eighth, just one place higher than before the final cycle.
The No.77 was soon given a drive through penalty following an incident with the No.14 Lexus where the Rexy-liveried Porsche made side by side contact and pushed the latter off track trying to overtake.
In GTD, the No.45 Lamborghini started losing ground to the No.57 Mercedes and an intense battle for second in class ensued. The Lamborghini soon received a drive through penalty for moving in action without giving ample racing room.
With the No.45 out of the picture, the No.57 Winward Mercedes slowly chipped away at the lead of the No.27 Aston Martin and, with less than 30 minutes to go, had initiated a battle for the lead. The pair had soon caught up to a battle for sixth in GTD Pro between the No.4 Corvette and the No.1 BMW in GTD Pro, and the leaders of both GTD championships were all one behind the other.
With 16 minutes left on the clock, the No.27 cleared the No.4 Corvette, giving some breathing room for both the No.27 Aston Martin and the No.1 BMW. The Corvette soon lost out to the No.57 Mercedes, and soon, the battle for the GTD lead resumed.
With less than six minutes to go, the No.27 Aston Martin and the No.57 Mercedes had an incident similar to the one between the No.77 Porsche and the No.14 Lexus earlier. The incident ended in a similar way, with the No.27 Aston Martin being given a drive through penalty, pushing the car down to fifth.
When the chequered flag was waved, it was the No.9 Pfaff Motorsport Lamborghini grabbing back to back wins in an impressive showing for the Temerario. The No.64 Ford finished second with the sister car, the No.65, rounding off the top three, marking the manufacturer's first double podium since the 2025 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.
In GTD, the No.57 Winward Racing Mercedes clinched their fourth win of the season and a third in a row ahead of the No.96 Turner Motorsport BMW and the No.70 Inception Racing Ferrari.
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