Pfaff Motorsports and its Lamborghini Temerario GT3 will have more eyes on it than at any other race on the calendar due to the volume of plaid-sporting Canadian fans at the track formerly known as Mosport. As one of the few Canadian teams on the entry list, Team Principal Steve Bortolotti and his crew feel the pressure to show out well at home.
“There’s certainly more pressure at home; I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t, so we embrace it,” said Bortolotti.
The Pfaff name has recently been tied to the track itself, after Pfaff Automotive Partners President and CEO Chris Pfaff became part of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s ownership group in December 2025.
“We want to be successful at our home race, for sure, especially this being the first year that we’re racing on a track that Chris [Pfaff], our owner, is part-owner of. We always feel that added pressure year on year, and this year, maybe a little bit more.”
Adding to the pressure of it all, the hometown heroes are still very much in the developmental phase of their programme with the new Temerario GT3.
This weekend, Pfaff Motorsports already pleased its faithful fanbase by bringing back the team’s signature red and black plaid livery with Canadian Tire’s Motomaster brand of automotive products as the primary partner for this weekend’s race. They’ll now hope for an improved result from Watkins Glen come Sunday, thanks to some key technical changes.
The Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen was a notably difficult race for Pfaff. Finishing the race ninth in GTD PRO, down in the overall order behind GTD front-runners – and showing a noticeable lack of pace when restarting from a late-race caution, sitting in second position before the #9 Lamborghini was quickly eaten up by its competitors.
At this point in their run with the Temerario GT3, Pfaff is pleased with how the homologation process has been conducted and is looking to maximise their performance within the technical parameters they have been given.
“I respect and am honestly aligned with IMSA’s decision not to depart from the FIA homologation of the car. I think all these manufacturers sign up for what the FIA does when mitigating GT3 cars, and you know, I’m aligned with them in respecting those limits,” Bortolotti said.
The Lamborghini Temerario GT3s that have recently debuted in DTM and GT World Challenge Europe following the car’s world debut at Sebring are working with different performance parameters than the Pfaff team in IMSA. These efforts have been given fewer restrictions, specifically regarding downforce, under their series’ regulations.
The car’s downforce issue came to a head at the high-downforce Watkins Glen circuit, and has the potential to be an issue at Mosport with its similarly fast, winding layout.
To help with this, IMSA has given the Temerario some leeway to change their rear wing angle this weekend, enough to bring some hope of an improvement after the difficulty at Watkins Glen – but crucially, within the car’s homologation window.
“I appreciate [IMSA] bringing us to the limit of what is homologated with the car. And now, ultimately, the work will start for us to see what kind of performance we can unlock,” Bortolotti added.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be enough to make us consistently running at the front, especially at a track that requires so much downforce like CTMP, so we’ll do our best.”
However, compared to the issues they found with the McLaren 720S GT3 EVO’s performance window in 2024, the Temerario is already in a position that suits Lamborghini Squadra Corse factory drivers Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell, who’ve both had a major role in the development process.
“[The performance window has] been really good, honestly. The drivers are happy driving it,” Bortolotti remarked. “I think the [tyre] wear is strong. I think it’s exceptional, and we’re working on addressing the weak points. So I think from a driver comfort standpoint, it’s great to drive. I think once there’s more of them out there, it’ll be a really successful car. It does seem as though it’s a lot easier to drive.”
As with any new GT3 platform introduced to this era of sports car racing – particularly this Temerario GT3, which represents a major philosophical and manufacturing shift for Lamborghini – there is a lot of ground to make up to be competitive against well-established GT3 programmes with multiple seasons under their belt.
Information is shared throughout the Temerario programme worldwide because of this, meaning the car can only improve from here on out as more customers and drivers get involved.
As the Pfaff crew continue to investigate and implement incremental improvements, they are making the Temerario GT3 more attractive to potential IMSA customers under the shared IMSA/FIA-aligned regulations.
“At the end of the day, the car is within the same window as any other new GT3 car. So it’s ultimately on the teams to run it within that homologation window set by the FIA and to find what works with the car, and then, you know, share that back to Lamborghini Squadra Corse, which then allows that to funnel to their customers.”
When asked whether the Temerario has the potential to extend their tyres further than their competitors because of their downforce setup, Bortolotti said the best-case scenario his team would be a race full of long, uninterrupted racing, where their gentle tyre use could be a difference-maker at their home track.
“For sure, anything like long green flag runs, I think we’ll actually be quite competitive. I think once we get into these start-stop races, we probably have [less of a chance].”
Pfaff Motorsports scored its only win on home soil back in 2022, during their GTD PRO championship season, the second of back-to-back IMSA titles in the heyday of their time running as a Porsche customer. That win is still bookmarked in Bortolotti’s memory for how much it meant to the team and to him personally.
“When we won here in 2022, it was a day I’ll never forget. It was still one of my best days in motorsport, barring [winning] the Rolex 24; it was the next best thing. So yeah, we’ll give it all we’ve got.”
Images © IMSA
