Mitchell claims his first global endurance win
Lamborghini factory driver Sandy Mitchell, team-mate Andrea Caldarelli and Pfaff Motorsports delivered a masterclass in fast, faultless racing to win the latest round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – the six-hour Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix in Wisconsin.
The GTD Pro victory was the first global endurance race win for the new-for-2026 Lamborghini Temerario GT3.
Mitchell, the 26-year-old from Forfar, and fellow Lamborghini factory driver, Italian Caldarelli, piloted the No.9 Motul Temerario GT3 prepared by Canadian team Pfaff Motorsports to an historic win on the iconic 4.048-mile, 14-turn Road America circuit at Elkhart Lake.
“That was a crazy, crazy race,” said Mitchell. “It was hectic with a 54-car grid, but the team made a couple of absolutely amazing strategy calls and we reaped the benefit at the end.”
The adrenaline-fuelled six-hour race was punctuated by no less than 10 Safety Car periods, such was the intensity of the action.
Starting from eighth in the GTD Pro class, and following numerous incidents, Mitchell handed the car to Caldarelli in third place with two hours to go.
In what continued to be a slightly chaotic race with countless race incidents and penalties, the Italian found himself leading GTD Pro with 1hr 45mins remaining.
“We knew once we were in the lead we had the pace to keep the others at bay,” Mitchell said.
“It’s so difficult to overtake on this track because of the dirty air from the car in front, plus the GT3 cars and drivers are so equally matched you really need others to make a mistake before you can pass.
“Andrea was under intense pressure for the closing hour or so, but he did a brilliant job to bring the car home.” Such was the pressure on Caldareli that in the final 45 minutes he had to navigate yet another three Safety Car periods and restarts.
“On each of the restarts he had the pole-sitting Porsche right behind him but on each occasion he controlled the restart and managed to edge away to hold the lead,” Mitchell said. “We definitely had more pace as the race went on, and yet again the Temerario was bulletproof in terms of reliability.”
Such was the car’s pace in clean air at the end of the race that it set the fastest GTD Pro lap time of the top eight finishers.
While it was Caldarelli’s second IMSA race win, his first since Daytona in 2020, it was Mitchell’s first IMSA win on only his 11th outing, having already bagged a podium earlier this season in Detroit.
“Considering this is my first full season in IMSA with a new team, plus we’re debuting the all-new Lamborghini Temerario GT3, it’s been pretty good so far,” he stated. “We brought a small upgrade package to the race this weekend that we’re looking to rollout worldwide with the new car. This is the first time we’ve used it here and things certainly went well this weekend.
“It’s been a huge amount of work to get us to where we are with the car. Andrea and I have been testing it in the States and back in Italy as well.
“I’m so happy for everyone back at Lamborghini HQ in Sant’Agata Bolognese and everyone who is involved in this project. Quite honestly, it’s a small team of people, because at the end of the day we are not as big as other manufacturers.
“But it’s also incredible for the crew at Pfaff who have worked tirelessly to develop the car. It was a picture perfect race to be honest. I’m just so proud of everyone.”