Pfaff Motorsports will add the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to its 2026 IMSA schedule, entering its Lamborghini Temerario GT3 in the GTD class for the upcoming 100-minute sprint on Saturday, 18 April.
The Canadian team gave the new Lamborghini Temerario GT3 its worldwide racing debut at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March, and completed the gruelling race with a tenth-place finish in GTD Pro, just one lap off the lead despite a brake issue.
Lamborghini Squadra Corse factory driver Andrea Caldarelli, one of Pfaff’s full-time GTD Pro competitors, will be entered alongside IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship newcomer Zachary Vanier, who satisfies the GTD requirement for at least one Silver or Bronze-graded driver in the line-up.
Vanier, 22, first made his mark as a championship-winning driver in his native Canada, winning the 2020 Canadian Touring Car Championship TCR and 2022 FEL Sports Car Championship Canada GT4 championships driving for Pfaff Motorsports. In 2023, Vanier stepped up to the Porsche Sprint Cup North America series and won the GT3 Cup Pro-Am title. He then progressed to the IMSA-sanctioned Porsche Carrera Cup North America, where he finished third in the series standings in each of the last two years, with five wins and 16 total podiums.
Last autumn, Vanier represented Porsche Motorsport North America in the prestigious Porsche Junior Shootout, and this past weekend, he made his GT3 racing debut behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 GT3 R at Sonoma during the opening round of GT World Challenge America.
Pfaff Motorsports last raced at Long Beach in 2023, finishing third in GTD Pro, and also finished second in GTD on the way to the 2021 series championship. Entering GTD at Long Beach will give Lamborghini and Pfaff Motorsports additional data to work with as the Temerario GT3 also begins its first GT World Challenge Europe and DTM campaigns in April.
Images © Jack Webster / dailysportscar.com
