Pfaff Motorsports dropped the first hint of its 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver lineup as it switches from Porsche to McLaren.
Pfaff tweeted that James Hinchcliffe would be joining them for the three longer endurance races in 2024 — the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Motul Petit Le Mans. The Canadian IndyCar race winner and NBC Sports analyst, is the first announced for the Canadian team based near Toronto.
The tweet included a video in which Hinchcliffe is checking his e-mail and celebrates, before yelling to his wife, “Hey babe, how do you feel about plaid?” His wife, actress Rebecca Dalton, then walks in the room wearing a plaid flannel shirt, hat and boots. Pfaff has a history of playing up its Canadian roots with a plaid livery, although the team’s general manager, Steve Bortolotti, has indicated the design on its 720S Evo will be more tied into McLaren’s colors.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1406]
Pfaff Motorsports announced in October that it would switch from Porsche to McLaren for its 2024 WeatherTech Championship GTD PRO campaign. The team has won championships the previous two years running, earning the GTD crown in 2021 and the inaugural GTD PRO title in 2022. However, the squad took only a single victory in 2023, a win at the Twelve Hours of Sebring that came through a risky gamble on fuel.
Three more drivers are yet to be announced — the two season-long drivers, as well as a fourth driver for Daytona. One of the full-season drivers is expected to come from the McLaren stable of factory pilots. Pfaff is expected to make more driver announcements over the next few days.