The 2020 4 Hours of The Bend was an endurance sportscar racing event held on January 12, 2020, at The Bend Motorsport Park in Tailem Bend, Australia. It served as the second round of the 2019-20 Asian Le Mans Series season. [1]
The 2020 4 Hours of The Bend was an endurance sportscar racing event held on January 12, 2020, at The Bend Motorsport Park in Tailem Bend, Australia. It served as the second round of the 2019-20 Asian Le Mans Series season. [1]
The race was announced in 16 February 2019, [2] and included into the Asian Le Mans Series season calendar by replacing the 4 Hours of Fuji five days later. [3] The competing classes were LMP2, LMP3 and GT, with both LMP2 and GT split to include the AM class.
The race was the first major international motor race held on The Bend's 35 turn, 7.770 km (4.828 mi) long GT Circuit, officially the second longest permanent motor racing circuit in the world behind only the 20.832 km (12.944 mi) Nürburgring Nordschleife. The race was attended by the President of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), Pierre Fillon. [4] [5]
| Date | Time (local: ACDT) | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, 10 January | 16:10 | Free Practice 1 |
| Saturday, 11 January | 9:30 | Free Practice 2 |
| 13:30 | Qualifying | |
| Sunday, 12 January | 13:00 | Race |
| Source: [6] | ||
| Free Practice 1 | Class | No. | Entrant | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LMP2 | 1 |  Eurasia Motorsport | 2:36.496 | |
| LMP2 Am | 59 |  RLR MSport | 2:46.312 | |
| LMP3 | 12 |  ACE1 Villorba Corse | 2:52.431 | |
| GT | 88 |  Team JLOC | 2:59.913 | |
| GT Am | — | |||
| Free Practice 2 | Class | No. | Entrant | Time |
| LMP2 | 26 |  G-Drive Racing with Algarve | 2:35.418 | |
| LMP2 Am | 59 | RLR MSport | 2:43.416 | |
| LMP3 | 12 | ACE1 Villorba Corse | 2:50.933 | |
| GT | 88 | Team JLOC | 2:58.787 | |
| GT Am | 16 |  Astro Veloce Motorsport | 3:04.525 | |
| Source: [7] [8] | ||||
British driver Ben Barnicoat took pole position for the 4 Hours of The Bend with a time of 2:35.698 driving a Dallara P217 LMP2 for Thunderhead Carlin Racing. It was the first time that the Dallara P217 had scored a pole position in any LMP2 competition. Young Scottish driver Colin Noble took pole in LMP3 with a time of 2:50.802 in his Norma M30 for Nielsen Racing's first ever LMP3 pole, while Italian Davide Rigon scored the GT pole in the HubAuto Corsa's Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 with a 2:56.109 lap. [9] [10]
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold.
The minimum number of laps for classification (70% of overall winning car's distance) was 54 laps. Class winners are marked in bold.
