2020_Petit_Le_Mans

2020 Petit Le Mans

2020 Petit Le Mans

Ninth round of the 2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship season

The 2020 Petit Le Mans (formally known as the 2020 MOTUL Petit Le Mans for sponsorship reasons) was the 23rd running of the Petit Le Mans, and was held on October 17, 2020. It was the 9th race in the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, and the 3rd race of the 2020 Michelin Endurance Cup, and was run at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. The race was won overall by the #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac Cadillac DPi-V.R after the #7 Acura Team Penske and #31 Whelen Engineering Racing entries made contact and spun out in the closing minutes of the race.[1]

The Track map of Road Atlanta

Background

Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, where the race was held.

Then International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2019.[2] It was the seventh consecutive year it was part of the IMSA SCC, and the 23rd Petit Le Mans. The 2020 Petit Le Mans was the ninth of eleven sports car races of 2020 by IMSA, and the third of four races of the Michelin Endurance Cup (MEC).[3] The race took place at the 12-turn, 2.540-mile (4.088 km) Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. The event was one of the first postponed by IMSA as a result of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic, with the organization citing CDC regulations on public gatherings as the official cause of postponement.[4] The race was rescheduled from running on October 10, 2020, to October 17, 2020.[5] Due to the 12 Hours of Sebring getting postponed, Petit Le Mans would not be the season finale for the first time in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.[6][7]

Before the race, Ryan Briscoe and Renger van der Zande led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 180 points, ahead of Pipo Derani in second with 177 points, and Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor with 175 points.[8] In LMP2, Patrick Kelly led the Drivers' Championship with 98 points, 6 points ahead of Dwight Merriman and Kyle Tilley.[8] Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 261 points, 24 points ahead of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in second, and Connor De Phillippi and Bruno Spengler in third.[8] With 200 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry, ahead of Aaron Telitz.[8] Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Lexus were leading their respective Manufactures' Championships while Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian each led their own Teams' Championships.[8]

Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani entered the race as defending winners.[9]

Entries

Further information: 2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship § Entries

A total of 31 cars took part in the event split across 4 classes. 8 cars were entered in DPi, 4 in LMP2, 6 in GTLM, and 13 in GTD.[10] In DPi, Tristan Vautier replaced João Barbosa in the Mustang Sampling Racing/JDC-Miller MotorSports entry.[11] In LMP2, Inter Europol Competition made their IMSA SportsCar Championship debut.[12] Era Motorsport withdrew from the event after Dwight Merriman suffered a back injury at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.[13] Mikkel Jensen replaced Ryan Dalziel in the Tower Motorsport By Starworks entry.[14] Job van Uitert made his IMSA SportsCar Championship debut joining Mikkel Jensen and John Farano in the Tower Motorsport By Starworks entry.[15] Colin Braun joined Matthew Bell and James McGuire in the Performance Tech Motorsports entry.[16] In GTD, Pfaff Motorsports made their first appearance since the season opening race at Daytona.[17] Scuderia Corsa returned after skipping the previous two rounds. Team Hardpoint expanded its campaign to include running at Petit Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring.[18] GRT Grasser Racing Team skipped the event due to a clash with the ADAC GT Masters round at the Red Bull Ring.[16]


Practice

There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, all three one on Thursday. The first session on Thursday morning lasted one hour. The second session on Thursday afternoon lasted 75 minutes. The final session on Thursday evening lasted 90 minutes.[19]

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 11:15 am ET on Thursday and ended with Ricky Taylor topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:10.086.[20] Mikkel Jensen was fastest in LMP2 with a time of 1:11.078.[21] Laurens Vanthoor set the fastest time in GTLM with a time of 1:17.008.[22] The GTD class was topped by the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Bryan Sellers with a time of 1:19.946.[21] The session was stopped for four minutes when Chris Miller, driving the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports entry, spun at turn 5 and came to a stop facing oncoming traffic.[21]

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Practice 2

The second practice session took place at 3:45 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Filipe Albuquerque topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:09.230.[25] Simon Trummer set the fastest time in LMP2.[25] The GTLM class topped by the #3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Antonio García with a time of 1:16.901. John Edwards in the #24 BMW Team RLL entry was second and Connor De Phillippi rounded out the top 3.[26] Robby Foley set the fastest time in GTD.[27]

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Practice 3

The third and final practice session took place at 7:30 pm ET on Thursday and ended with Pipo Derani topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:10.175.[30] Mikkel Jensen was fastest in LMP2 with a time of 1:11.195.[31] The GTLM class topped by the #912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Laurens Vanthoor with a time of 1:17.252. Frederic Makowiecki in the sister #911 Porsche GT Team entry was second and Nicky Catsburg rounded out the top 3.[32] Jack Hawksworth set the fastest time in GTD.[32] The session was red flagged twice. 55 minutes into the session, Jakub Śmiechowski in the #51 Inter Europol Competition Oreca spun at turn 10, and got stuck in the gravel trap.[33][30] 4 minutes later, Ben Keating in the #74 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, spun at turn 2. Chris Miller in the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi-V.R, went off track and collided with Keating's Mercedes. The #85 Cadillac received right-front damage and lost its rear wing while the #74 Mercedes suffered right-front damage.[30][33]

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Qualifying

Friday's afternoon 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.[19] 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.[36]

The first session was for cars in GTD class. Shinya Michimi qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 86 car for Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, besting Jeff Westphal in the Scuderia Corsa entry.[37]

The second session was for cars in the GTLM class. Antonio García qualified on pole driving the No. 3 car for Corvette Racing, beating Connor De Phillippi in the #25 BMW Team RLL entry by less than three-tenths of a second.[38]

The final session of qualifying was for cars in the LMP2 and DPi classes. Dane Cameron secured overall pole for the event driving the No. 6 car for Acura Team Penske, beating teammate Ricky Taylor in the sister No. 7 Acura Team Penske entry by less than one-tenth of a second.[39] Patrick Kelly took pole in LMP2, beating Rob Hodes in the Inter Europol Competition entry.[40]

Qualifying results

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

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  • 1 The No. 8 Tower Motorsports by Starworks entry was moved to the back of the LMP2 field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[36]
  • 2 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).[36]

Race

Post-race

Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor advanced from third to second in the DPi Drivers' Championship. Derani dropped from second to third while Bourdais moved from fifth to fourth.[43] The result kept Kelly atop the LMP2 Drivers' Championship. Braun advanced from eleventh to fifth.[43] The result kept Antonio García and Jordan Taylor atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship while Edwards and Krohn advanced from fourth to third.[43] By finishing second place, Telitz took the lead of the GTD Drivers' Championship. Farnbacher and McMurry dropped from first to fourth while Hawksworth advanced from fourth to second.[43] Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Lexus continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, and Corvette Racing kept their respective advantages in the their respective of Teams' Championships.[43] AIM Vasser Sullivan took the lead of the GTD Teams' Championship with two rounds remaining in the season.[43]

Results

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

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Standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

References

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