Scott Hargrove has been named a Porsche Selected Driver, and will contest the full 2019 WeatherTech season in the GTD class with Pfaff Motorsports, including all endurance races.

The team’s driver lineup features Hargrove, who was 2018 Pirelli World Challenge GT Sprint champion and 2017 Porsche GT3 Cup Canada champion, Zacharie Robichon, 2018 Porsche GT3 Cup Canada champion. Lars Kern, a Porsche engineer and current holder of the production-car lap record at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in a Porsche 911 GT2 RS MR, will join the team for all endurance races, and Porsche Young Professional driver Dennis Olsen will contest the 24 Hours of Daytona with the team.

“We introduced our Porsche Selected Driver program last year with the expressed purpose of placing deserving drivers with equally deserving customer programs,” explained Daniel Armbruster, President and CEO, Porsche Motorsport North America. “Scott Hargrove is a perfect representative of a Porsche Selected Driver. He is fast, intelligent and has a honed racing savvy in and out of the cockpit. Scott has worked his way up through the Porsche racing ranks, including a seat at the 2014 Porsche Young Driver Academy, which makes it that much more satisfying for us at Porsche Motorsport to name him a 2019 Porsche Selected Driver. We are looking forward to a strong year for Scott and Pfaff Motorsports in the full IMSA WeatherTech Championship next season.”

"What a privilege to be added as a Porsche Selected Driver" said Scott Hargrove. Porsche has an incredible history in motorsports and I could not imagine a better manufacturer to represent. I'm very thankful for their belief in me."

“I'm happy Scott is becoming a Porsche Selected Driver." said Steve Bortolotti, Pfaff Motorsports manager. "He is an incredible talent behind the wheel, and a true professional off-track. We are all proud of the role Pfaff has played in his development, and hope this leads to more opportunities in the future with the Porsche brand.”

Scott Hargrove added, “2019 is shaping up to be a massively exciting season. Racing with Pfaff Motorsports in GTD for the full season showcases the drive this team has on- and off-track. They are always looking for more. It is an honour to be a part of the effort, and I can’t wait to hit the track with my new teammates in Daytona.” 

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23 year old Scott Hargrove from British Columbia, Canada is the 2018 Pirelli World Challenge Sprint Champion with Pfaff Motorsports. Over four seasons in GT3 Cup, Scott captured more than 30 victories, including the 2014 & 2017 Porsche GT3 Cup Championships. Scott also has an extensive open wheel racing background, having competed in every level of the Road to Indy, including numerous victories and winning the 2013 USF2000 Championship.

Follow @Scott_Hargrove (https://www.instagram.com/scott_hargrove/) on Instagram for updates throughout the 2019 season.

ATLANTA, October 12, 2018 // After a historic rookie-year championship in Pirelli World Challenge GT Sprint, Pfaff Motorsports announced today that it will move to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2019. The team will contest the seven races in the Sprint calendar with a new 2019 Porsche 911 GT3 R and drivers Scott Hargrove and Zacharie Robichon.

“I couldn’t be more excited to enter the IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Championship in 2019,” said Steve Bortolotti, team manager. “We have long targeted this series as where we ultimately want to bring our program, and the new sprint format allows us to make that transition sooner than expected. We are working hard with our commercial partners to be on the grid for all the endurance events in the near future, and are thrilled to contest the sprint championship as well as Petit Le Mans in 2019. Our relationship with Porsche Motorsport North America has been incredible over the years, and we are excited to begin another new chapter of our company’s racing history with a marque we have passionately represented for over 50 years.”

“The success of Pfaff Motorsports over the last two seasons really showcases how determined we are as a team,” said Scott Hargrove. “When I joned Pfaff in 2017, I never could have imagined where it would take us. Moving to the IMSA WeatherTech series with the new 911 GT3 R is a dream come true. Fresh off the 2018 GT Sprint Championship in Pirelli World Challenge, I’m confident we can transition and make an impact right away. There will be new challenges like dealing with other classes of cars, refueling, and significantly longer races. I’m excited to have Zach joining our all- Canadian team – we were teammates racing Formula 1600, both in Canada and Europe, and again in 2016 racing Porsche GT3 Cup. I know he will be very quick, and that will allow us to focus on the details necessary to become a winning team.”

“I’m looking forward to moving into the WeatherTech championship. It’s the pinnacle of sportscar racing in North America and the opportunity to compete at that level is one that I’ve dreamed about for a long time,” added Zacharie Robichon. “It will be a tough transition from a one-make sprint series to GTD, but I’m up for it. I had the task of competing against Pfaff Motorsports in 2016 and 2017, seeing first-hand their ability to produce race- and championship-winning cars, and their results in 2018 speak for themselves. I couldn’t think of a better place to compete in 2019, and this will be the fourth time Scott and I will race as teammates. I know we’ll push each other to get the most out of the car. His experience in the GT3 R means I’ll be leaning on him a lot to learn.”

Dr. Daniel Armbruster, President and CEO, Porsche Motorsport North America, said: “The move of Pfaff Motorsports into the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD class is another great example our pyramid system at Porsche Motorsport North America. It is encouraging to see Pfaff, one of the largest Porsche dealerships in North America, utilizing motorsport competition to take their own brand identity to the next level. From track days, to the IMSA Porsche Ultra 94 GT3 Cup
Challenge Canada by Yokohama, to the Pirelli World Challenge, the Pfaff racing team has won championships each step of the way. Their drivers, Scott Hargrove and Zach Robichon, each Porsche Young Driver Academy graduates, have won the last two GT3 Cup Challenge Canada titles. Now, all of the pieces have come together with their entry into the IMSA WeatherTech Championship. We are proud as they are a true example of the Porsche ‘way’."

Over its 50-plus-year history, the Pfaff organization has been synonymous with developing up-and- coming Canadian driving talent. In 2017, president and CEO Chris Pfaff was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame for the pivotal role he played in the development of a long list of Canadian racers including Richard Spenard, Scott Goodyear, Ron Fellows, and many others.
Pfaff has provided driving and talent development opportunities in karting through the Pfaff Pole awards in the Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship, the Pfaff Driver of the Day awards in the Champion Ron Fellows Karting Championship, and title sponsorship of the national-level Pfaff Kartsport Cup. In 2017, Pfaff also launched a national online racing championship in partnership with Cineplex and WorldGaming to bridge the divide between the real and virtual racing worlds.
The 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Sprint calendar kicks off at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, OH on May 3-5. Follow @PfaffMotorsports and @PfaffAuto on Instagram for more announcements and behind-the-scenes content before the start of the season.

About Pfaff Automotive Partners
Pfaff Automotive Partners, a leading Canadian automotive retailer, was founded in 1964. Its brand offering includes Volkswagen, Toyota, Chrysler, Dodge, RAM, Jeep, Mazda, Audi, BMW, MINI, Porsche, McLaren, Singer Vehicle Design, Pagani, BAC Mono, Harley-Davidson, and Mercedes-Benz automobiles and motorcycles. It has a 50-plus-year racing history across many forms of motorsport. The company also operates Pfaff Tuning, Pfaff Leasing, and Pfaff Autoworks. For more information, please visit www.pfaffauto.com.

Pfaff Motorsports and driver Scott Hargrove finished their first year in the Pirelli World Challenge series by winning the GT Sprint class championship – the first time in series history a rookie team has won the championship’s top class. The #96 Castrol-Pfaff Motorsports 911 GT3 R was also the top Porsche in the series’ overall standings.

The team began the final race weekend of the season at Watkins Glen International, with an eight-point lead in the GT Sprint championship, but a tire issue in the weekend’s first race set Hargrove back from P3 to a P6 finish on Saturday. Hargrove had to dig deep on Sunday; he started from fifth on the grid and was quickly up to second position, but spent the majority of the 50-minute race defending his position from a hard-charging Alvaro Parente.

“We got a really good run on the start,” said Hargrove. “Alvaro went to the inside and I went to the outside. I stayed on the throttle, and when I rejoined the track, I couldn’t see anybody. But the big yellow Bentley was filling my mirrors, and it ended up that way for the entire race. I looked at my mirrors more than I looked at my windshield this race!”

The nail-biting season finale capped a challenging, but successful, first year for Pfaff Motorsports in the Pirelli World Challenge series. The season began with two wins in St. Petersburg, and included podium finishes at Circuit of the Americas, Virginia International Raceway, Lime Rock Park, Road America, and Portland International. In the series’ SprintX championship, Hargrove was joined in the #96 car by legendary Porsche driver Wolf Henzler. The team finished third in the SprintX championship, and second in the overall (combined Sprint and SprintX) championship, in its first year of PWC competition.

“I’m incredibly proud of Scott’s continued development and success since joining us at Pfaff Motorsports in late 2016,” said Steve Bortolotti, Pfaff Motorsports manager. “In Scott’s case, we knew his driving talent was world-class from the day we first competed against him back in 2014, so our development angle with Scott was less about driving, and more about the intangibles off-track. Scott has honed his skills in the boardroom, become an integral asset to our valued partners, and has matured into someone we are proud to have representing our company.”