2020_6_Hours_of_Atlanta

2020 TireRack.com Grand Prix at Road Atlanta

2020 TireRack.com Grand Prix at Road Atlanta

Sixth round of the 2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship season

The 2020 TireRack.com Grand Prix at Road Atlanta was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, on September 5, 2020. This race was the sixth round of the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the second round of the 2020 Michelin Endurance Cup.

Track map of Road Atlanta

The overall race was won by the #7 Acura Team Penske duo of Hélio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor. In LMP2, Scott Huffaker, Patrick Kelly, and Simon Trummer claimed PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports' second class victory of the season. BMW Team RLL triumphed in GTLM, scoring their second win in as many endurance races with Connor De Phillippi and Bruno Spengler behind the wheel. GTD was won by Meyer Shank Racing's #86 entry of Mario Farnbacher, Matt McMurry, and Shinya Michimi.[1]

Background

Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, where the race was held.

The race was brought about as a replacement to the annual 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, which was canceled in 2020 due to New York state COVID-19 travel and gathering restrictions.[2] In late August, Tire Rack was announced as the title sponsor of the event.[3] After fan entry was prohibited at the previous round at VIR, spectators were allowed to attend the event, albeit subject to strict COVID-19 restrictions, including a lack of paddock access and facemask mandates.[4]

On August 27, 2020, IMSA released their latest technical bulletin, outlining BoP for the race.[5] In DPi, the lone change was a 15 kilogram weight reduction for the Cadillac. Similarly in GTLM, a 20 kilogram weight increase for the Porsche was the only adjustment made. In GTD, the Aston Martin received a 7.1 kilowatt increase to its average power delta, alongside increases to its turbocharger boost ratio. Several GTD cars also underwent fuel capacity adjustments. The Aston Martin, BMW, and Ferrari all received slight increases, while the Lamborghini received a one liter fuel capacity decrease.

Before the race, Ryan Briscoe and Renger van der Zande led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 124 points, ahead of Sébastien Bourdais and João Barbosa, and Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez with 117 points.[6] In LMP2, Cameron Cassels led the Drivers' Championship with 64 points, 1 point ahead of Patrick Kelly in second followed by Henrik Hedman in third.[6] Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 165 points, 19 points ahead of Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor in second, and Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in third. With 115 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Jack Hawksworth, ahead of Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry in second.[6] Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Lexus were leading their respective Manufactures' Championships while Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R, Performance Tech Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and AIM Vasser Sullivan each led their own Teams' Championships.[6]

Entries

Further information: 2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship § Entries

A total of 28 cars took part in the event, split across four classes. 8 were entered in DPi, 2 in LMP2, 6 in GTLM, and 12 in GTD. Due to the endurance nature of the event, many teams drafted in a third driver, with teams in the LMP2 and GTD classes obligated to do so. Tristan Vautier, after running the majority of the early season with JDC-Miller Motorsports' #85 entry, was entered as a third driver in the #5. As a result, Stephen Simpson returned to the #85 to partner Matheus Leist.[7] The preliminary LMP2 class list featured four entries, which reduced to two by the time the green flag dropped. Starworks Motorsport withdrew early, and were followed by Performance Tech Motorsports after travel restrictions prohibited driver Cameron Cassels from traveling to and from his native Canada.[8] In GTD, the third driver demands forced AIM Vasser Sullivan to split the championship-contending duo of Aaron Telitz and Jack Hawksworth, placing Telitz in the #12 and leaving Hawksworth in the #14.[9] GRT Grasser Racing Team also returned to IMSA competition, after most recently competing in the season-opening 24 Hours of Daytona. They fielded a Lamborghini for Richard Heistand, Steijn Schothorst, and Richard Westbrook.[7]

Practice

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, both on Friday. The first session lasted one hour on Friday morning while the second session lasted 75 minutes on Friday afternoon.[10]

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 10:00 am ET on Friday and ended with Pipo Derani topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:09.743.[11] Colin Braun was fastest in LMP2 with a time of 1:10.910.[11] The GTLM class was topped by the #912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Earl Bamber with a time of 1:17.552. Nick Tandy in the sister #911 Porsche GT Team entry was second and John Edwards rounded out the top three.[12] The GTD class was topped by the #44 GRT Magnus Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Andy Lally with a time of 1:20.538.[13]

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Practice 2

The second and final practice session took place at 2:25 pm ET on Friday and ended with Felipe Nasr topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:09.023.[16] Simon Trummer set the fastest time in LMP2.[17] The GTLM class was topped by the #25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE of Connor De Phillippi with a time of 1:16.875. Laurens Vanthoor in the #912 Porsche GT Team entry was second and Antonio García rounded out the top 3.[17] Steijn Schothorst was fastest in GTD with a time of 1:20.346.[18]

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Qualifying

Hélio Castroneves (pictured in 2018) helped take the No. 7 Acura's third pole position of 2020.

Friday's evening qualifying was broken into three sessions, with one session for the DPi and LMP2, GTLM, and GTD classes, which lasted for 15 minutes each, and a ten minute interval between the sessions.[10] The rules dictated that all teams nominated a driver to qualify their cars, with the Pro-Am (LMP2/GTD) classes requiring a Bronze/Silver Rated Driver to qualify the car. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order. IMSA then arranged the grid to put DPis ahead of the LMP2, GTLM, and GTD cars.[21]

The first session was for cars in GTD class. Frankie Montecalvo qualified on pole for the class driving the #12 car for AIM Vasser Sullivan, besting Madison Snow in the Paul Miller Racing entry.[22]

The second session was for cars in the GTLM class. Nick Tandy qualified on pole driving the #911 car for Porsche GT Team, beating Antonio García in the #3 Corvette Racing entry by less than twenty-hundredths of a second. All cars in class qualified within two tenths of the pole time.[23]

The final session of qualifying was for cars in the LMP2 and DPi classes. Hélio Castroneves qualified on pole driving the #7 car for Acura Team Penske, beating Felipe Nasr in the #31Whelen Engineering Racing car by less than one-tenth of a second. Patrick Kelly qualified on pole in LMP2 driving the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports car.[24][25]

Qualifying results

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.

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  • 1 The No. 77 Mazda Motorsports entry initially qualified fourth for the DPi class. However, the team changed engines after qualifying. By IMSA rules, the entry was moved to the rear of the DPi field on the starting grid.[28]
  • 2 The No. 18 Era Motorsport entry was moved to the back of the LMP2 field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[21]
  • 3 The No. 912 Porsche GT Team entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[21]
  • 4 The No. 25 BMW Team RLL entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[21]
  • 5 The No. 24 BMW Team RLL entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[21]
  • 6 The No. 23 Heart of Racing Team entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[21]

Race

Post-race

The result kept Briscoe and van der Zande atop the DPi Drivers' Championship with 150 points. Jarvis and Nunez dropped from third to fifth while Derani advanced from fourth to third.[29] As a result of winning the race, Kelly took the lead of the LMP2 Drivers' Championship with 98 points. Merriman and Tilley advanced from fourth to second.[29] The result kept Antonio García and Jordan Taylor atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 191 points. De Phillippi and Spengler advanced from sixth to third as a result of winning the race while Bamber and Vanthoor dropped from second to fifth. Edwards and Krohn moved to fourth after being fifth coming into Road Atlanta.[29] As a result of winning the race, Farnbacher and McMurry took the lead of the GTD Drivers' Championship with 150 points. Hawksworth dropped from first to third while Hardwick and Long advanced from sixth to fifth.[29] Cadillac and Chevrolet continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Acura took the lead of the GTD Manufactures' Championship.[29] Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R and Corvette Racing kept their respective advantages in the their respective of Teams' Championships. PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian became the leaders of their respective class Teams' Championships with five rounds remaining in the season.[29]

Results

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

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Standings after the race

More information Pos., +/– ...
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
More information Pos., +/– ...
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
More information Pos., +/– ...
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

References

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