Photo: Porsche

Pfaff Motorsports took the GTD Pro class victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, benefiting from a well-timed strategy call to take the Type-992 Porsche 911 GT3 R’s first win.

The No. 9 Porsche, piloted by Klaus Bachler, Patrick Pilet and Laurens Vanthoor, finished 2.7 seconds ahead of the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat and Kyle Kirkwood.

Both cars vaulted into the class lead of the race with a well-timed pitstop in the eighth hour, with Bachler and Kirkwood heading for the pits moments before a full course caution triggered by a collision between Wright Motorsports’ Zach Robichon and Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis.

As a result, the Porsche was able to grab the lead and hold on to it through a chaotic final stage of the race that was interrupted by multiple cautions.

It is the first victory for Porsche’s new-for-2023 GT3 challenger, which made its race debut at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.

The No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Daniel Juncadella, Maro Engel and Jules Gounon completed the top three in GTD Pro after it pitted for a late splash in the final hour.

Jordan Pepper, Franck Perera and Romain Grosjean came home fourth in the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, with the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD of Jordan Taylor, Antonio Garcia and Tommy Milner completing the top five.

The American squad was an…