2020 Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio

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Track map of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Mid-Ohio.svg
Track map of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

The 2020 Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, on September 27, 2020. This race was the seventh round of the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the fifth round of the 2020 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

Contents

Hélio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor claimed their third consecutive overall victory for Acura Team Penske, while Antonio García and Jordan Taylor were crowned victors in GTLM for the fourth time that season. In GTD, Jack Hawksworth and Aaron Telitz of AIM Vasser Sullivan similarly scored their third class victory of the season. [1]

Background

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where the race was held. Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (16168219601).jpg
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, 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 third consecutive year it was part of the IMSA SCC. The event was the seventh of eleven sports car races of 2020 by IMSA, and the fifth of seven races on the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. [3] 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] A tentative reschedule for the weekend of September 27 followed shortly thereafter, which became the finalized date on which the race was held. [5] As with most events on the 2020 calendar, the race was held with a limited number of spectators in accordance with Ohio Department of Health guidelines. A maximum of 6,000 spectators were permitted, facemasks were required, temperature checks were instituted, and paddock access was restricted. [6] Acura Team Penske duo Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya entered the race as defending champions. [7]

On September 11, 2020, IMSA released their latest technical bulletin outlining BoP for the race. [8] The DPi class featured changes to fuel capacity, as the Cadillac and Mazda received three liter fuel capacity increases. No changes were made to GTLM competitors. In GTD, the Acura received a decreased fuel capacity of one liter, while the Porsche and Lexus received increases of one and two liters respectively. The Aston Martin also received a 30 kilogram weight decrease.

Before the race, Ryan Briscoe and Renger van der Zande led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 150 points, ahead of Sébastien Bourdais and João Barbosa in second with 146 points, and Pipo Derani in third with 145 points. [9] Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 191 points, 14 points ahead of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in second. [9] With 150 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry, ahead of Aaron Telitz. [9] Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Acura were leading their respective Manufactures' Championships while Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R, Corvette Racing, and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian each led their own Teams' Championships. [9]

Entries

A total of 24 cars took part in the event, split across three classes. 8 were entered in DPi, 4 in GTLM, and 12 in GTD. [10] JDC-Miller Motorsports' driver lineup once again shuffled, as Matheus Leist and Stephen Simpson were replaced by Tristan Vautier and Gabriel Aubry. Porsche's factory GTLM effort was sidelined at Mid-Ohio after positive COVID-19 tests within the team's 24 Hours of Le Mans camp, which had competed the previous weekend with much of their IMSA cohort in attendance. As a result, the already anemic GTLM class was further reduced to just four competitors. [11] GTD featured a late withdrawal of the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari, as driver Cooper MacNeil was competing in both Ferrari Challenge and IMSA competition, and was leading the championship of the former. The Ferrari Challenge was racing at Laguna Seca, so MacNeil's IMSA entry was pulled from the Mid-Ohio race. [10]

Practice

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, one on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session lasted one hour on Friday while the second session on Saturday lasted 75 minutes. [12]

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 6:00 pm ET on Friday and ended with Juan Pablo Montoya topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:13.057. [13] Antonio García was fastest in GTLM with a time of 1:19.690. [14] Bill Auberlen set the fastest time in GTD. [14]

Pos.ClassNo.TeamDriverTimeGap
1DPi6 Acura Team Penske Juan Pablo Montoya 1:13.057_
2DPi31 Whelen Engineering Racing Pipo Derani 1:13.293+0.236
3DPi7 Acura Team Penske Ricky Taylor 1:13.302+0.245
Sources: [15] [16]

Practice 2

The second and final practice session took place at 10:55 am ET on Saturday and ended with Hélio Castroneves topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:11.395. [17] Jordan Taylor set the fastest time in GTLM. [18] Aaron Telitz was fastest in GTD with a time of 1:20.465. [19]

Pos.ClassNo.TeamDriverTimeGap
1DPi7 Acura Team Penske Hélio Castroneves 1:11.395_
2DPi10 Konica Minolta Cadillac Renger van der Zande 1:11.587+0.192
3DPi6 Acura Team Penske Dane Cameron 1:11.645+0.250
Sources: [20] [21]

Qualifying

Sunday's morning qualifying was broken into three sessions, with one session for the DPi, GTLM, and GTD classes, which lasted for 15 minutes each, and a ten minute interval between the sessions. [12] The rules dictated that all teams nominated a driver to qualify their cars, with the Pro-Am (GTD) class 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 GTLM and GTD cars. [22]

The first was for cars in the GTD class. Aaron Telitz qualified on pole for the class driving the #14 car for AIM Vasser Sullivan, besting Matt McMurry in the #86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian entry. [23]

The second session was for cars in the GTLM class. Jordan Taylor qualified on pole driving the #3 car for Corvette Racing, beating Jesse Krohn in the #24 BMW Team RLL entry by over four-tenths of a second. [24]

The final session of qualifying was for cars in the DPi class. Dane Cameron qualified on pole driving the #6 car for Acura Team Penske, beating teammate Hélio Castroneves in the sister #7 Acura Team Penske entry by less than less than twenty-hundredths of a second. [25]

Qualifying results

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

Pos.ClassNo.TeamDriverTimeGapGrid
1DPi6 Flag of the United States.svg Acura Team Penske Flag of the United States.svg Dane Cameron 1:10.839_1
2DPi7 Flag of the United States.svg Acura Team Penske Flag of Brazil.svg Hélio Castroneves 1:10.855+0.0162
3DPi55 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Mazda Motorsports Flag of the United States.svg Jonathan Bomarito 1:11.004+0.1653
4DPi31 Flag of the United States.svg Whelen Engineering Racing Flag of Brazil.svg Pipo Derani 1:11.067+0.2284
5DPi10 Flag of the United States.svg Konica Minolta Cadillac Flag of Australia (converted).svg Ryan Briscoe 1:11.271+0.4325
6DPi77 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Mazda Motorsports Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Oliver Jarvis 1:11.365+0.5266
7DPi5 Flag of the United States.svg JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing Flag of France.svg Sébastien Bourdais 1:11.382+0.5437
8DPi85 Flag of the United States.svg JDC-Miller MotorSports Flag of France.svg Gabriel Aubry 1:12.081+1.2428
9GTLM3 Flag of the United States.svg Corvette Racing Flag of the United States.svg Jordan Taylor 1:17.985+7.1469 1
10GTLM24 Flag of the United States.svg BMW Team RLL Flag of Finland.svg Jesse Krohn 1:18.361+7.52212 2
11GTLM4 Flag of the United States.svg Corvette Racing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Oliver Gavin 1:18.448+7.60910 3
12GTLM25 Flag of the United States.svg BMW Team RLL Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Bruno Spengler 1:18.515+7.67611 4
13GTD14 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg AIM Vasser Sullivan Flag of the United States.svg Aaron Telitz 1:20.974+10.13513
14GTD86 Flag of the United States.svg Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Flag of the United States.svg Matt McMurry 1:21.089+10.25014
15GTD57 Flag of the United States.svg Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Misha Goikhberg 1:21.196+10.35715
16GTD76 Flag of the United States.svg Compass Racing Flag of the United States.svg Corey Fergus1:21.302+10.46324 5
17GTD96 Flag of the United States.svg Turner Motorsport Flag of the United States.svg Robby Foley 1:21.364+10.52516
18GTD23 Flag of the United States.svg Heart of Racing Team Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ian James 1:21.431+10.59217
19GTD12 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg AIM Vasser Sullivan Flag of the United States.svg Frankie Montecalvo 1:21.442+10.60318
20GTD16 Flag of the United States.svg Wright Motorsports Flag of the United States.svg Ryan Hardwick1:21.659+10.82019
21GTD22 Flag of the United States.svg Gradient Racing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Till Bechtolsheimer1:22.189+11.35020
22GTD74 Flag of the United States.svg Riley Motorsports Flag of the United States.svg Gar Robinson 1:22.254+11.41522 6
23GTD44 Flag of the United States.svg GRT Magnus Flag of the United States.svg John Potter 1:22.388+11.54921
24GTD30 Flag of the United States.svg Team Hardpoint Flag of the United States.svg Rob Ferriol1:22.855+12.01623 7
Sources: [26] [27]

Race

Post-race

As a result of winning the race, Hélio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor advanced from sixth to third in the DPi Drivers' Championship. Bourdais and Barbosa dropped from second to fifth while Derani moved from third to second. [29] With 226 points, Antonio García and Jordan Taylors' victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Gavin and Milner to 17 points. [29] The result kept Farnbacher and McMurry atop the GTD Drivers' Championship, 3 points ahead of race winner Telitz. Hardwick and Long advanced from fifth to fourth while Aschenbach and Robinson jumped from sixth to fifth. [29] Cadillac and Chevrolet continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Lexus took the lead of the GTD Manufactures' Championship. [29] Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R, Corvette Racing, and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian kept their respective advantages in Teams' Championships with four rounds remaining in the season. [29]

Results

Class winners are denoted in bold and .

PosClassNo.TeamDriversChassisLapsTime/retired
Engine
1DPi7 Flag of the United States.svg Acura Team Penske Flag of Brazil.svg Hélio Castroneves
Flag of the United States.svg Ricky Taylor
Acura ARX-05 1152:40:07.918
Acura AR35TT 3.5L Turbo V6
2DPi31 Flag of the United States.svg Whelen Engineering Racing Flag of Brazil.svg Pipo Derani
Flag of Brazil.svg Felipe Nasr
Cadillac DPi-V.R 115+0.607
Cadillac 5.5L V8
3DPi10 Flag of the United States.svg Konica Minolta Cadillac Flag of Australia (converted).svg Ryan Briscoe
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Renger van der Zande
Cadillac DPi-V.R 115+15.861
Cadillac 5.5L V8
4DPi55 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Mazda Motorsports Flag of the United States.svg Jonathan Bomarito
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Harry Tincknell
Mazda RT24-P 115+16.433
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4
5DPi77 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Mazda Motorsports Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Oliver Jarvis
Flag of the United States.svg Tristan Nunez
Mazda RT24-P 115+20.646
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4
6DPi5 Flag of the United States.svg JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing Flag of Portugal.svg João Barbosa
Flag of France.svg Sébastien Bourdais
Cadillac DPi-V.R 115+24.257
Cadillac 5.5L V8
7

DNF

DPi6 Flag of the United States.svg Acura Team Penske Flag of the United States.svg Dane Cameron
Flag of Colombia.svg Juan Pablo Montoya
Acura ARX-05 112Did not finish
Acura AR35TT 3.5L Turbo V6
8GTLM3 Flag of the United States.svg Corvette Racing Flag of Spain.svg Antonio García
Flag of the United States.svg Jordan Taylor
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 110+5 Laps
Chevrolet 5.5L V8
9GTLM4 Flag of the United States.svg Corvette Racing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Oliver Gavin
Flag of the United States.svg Tommy Milner
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 110+5 Laps
Chevrolet 5.5L V8
10GTLM25 Flag of the United States.svg BMW Team RLL Flag of the United States.svg Connor De Phillippi
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Bruno Spengler
BMW M8 GTE 110+5 Laps
BMW S63 4.0L Turbo V8
11GTLM24 Flag of the United States.svg BMW Team RLL Flag of the United States.svg John Edwards
Flag of Finland.svg Jesse Krohn
BMW M8 GTE 110+5 Laps
BMW S63 4.0L Turbo V8
12GTD14 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg AIM Vasser Sullivan Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jack Hawksworth
Flag of the United States.svg Aaron Telitz
Lexus RC F GT3 108+7 Laps
Lexus 5.0L V8
13GTD74 Flag of the United States.svg Riley Motorsports Flag of the United States.svg Lawson Aschenbach
Flag of the United States.svg Gar Robinson
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 108+7 Laps
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2L V8
14GTD16 Flag of the United States.svg Wright Motorsports Flag of the United States.svg Ryan Hardwick
Flag of the United States.svg Patrick Long
Porsche 911 GT3 R 108+7 Laps
Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
15GTD23 Flag of the United States.svg Heart of Racing Team Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Roman De Angelis
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ian James
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 108+7 Laps
Aston Martin 4.0L Turbo V8
16GTD86 Flag of the United States.svg Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Flag of Germany.svg Mario Farnbacher
Flag of the United States.svg Matt McMurry
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 108+7 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
17GTD57 Flag of the United States.svg Heinricher Racing w/ MSR Curb-Agajanian Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Mikhail Goikhberg
Flag of Portugal.svg Álvaro Parente
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 108+7 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
18GTD44 Flag of the United States.svg GRT Magnus Racing Team Flag of the United States.svg Andy Lally
Flag of the United States.svg John Potter
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 108+7 Laps
Lamborghini 5.2L V10
19GTD76 Flag of the United States.svg Compass Racing Flag of the United States.svg Corey Fergus
Flag of the United States.svg Paul Holton
McLaren 720S GT3 108+7 Laps
McLaren M840T 4.0L Turbo V8
20GTD22 Flag of the United States.svg Gradient Racing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Till Bechtolsheimer
Flag of the United States.svg Marc Miller
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 107+8 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
21GTD12 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg AIM Vasser Sullivan Flag of the United States.svg Townsend Bell
Flag of the United States.svg Frankie Montecalvo
Lexus RC F GT3 87+28 Laps
Lexus 5.0L V8
22

DNF

DPi85 Flag of the United States.svg JDC-Miller MotorSports Flag of France.svg Gabriel Aubry
Flag of France.svg Tristan Vautier
Cadillac DPi-V.R 86Did not finish
Cadillac 5.5L V8
23GTD96 Flag of the United States.svg Turner Motorsport Flag of the United States.svg Bill Auberlen
Flag of the United States.svg Robby Foley
BMW M6 GT3 83+32 Laps
BMW 4.4L Turbo V8
24

DNF

GTD30 Flag of the United States.svg Team Hardpoint Flag of the United States.svg Rob Ferriol
Flag of the United States.svg Spencer Pumpelly
Audi R8 LMS Evo 60Did not finish
Audi 5.2L V10
Sources: [30] [31]

Standings after the race

References

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  2. Dagys, John (August 2, 2019). "2020 WeatherTech Championship Schedule Released". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  3. Pruett, Marshall (June 25, 2020). "IMSA refines 2020 calendar". racer.com. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
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  12. 1 2 "2020 IMSA Official Schedule and SR M-O 091620 V1" (PDF). results.imsa.com/noticeBoard.php. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  13. Malsher-Lopez, David (September 25, 2020). "IMSA Mid-Ohio: Montoya puts Acura on top in first practice". motorsport.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  14. 1 2 Dagys, John (September 25, 2020). "Montoya Paces Opening Practice at Mid-Ohio". sportscar365.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  15. "03_Results_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. September 25, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  16. "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. September 25, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  17. Malsher-Lopez, David (September 26, 2020). "IMSA Mid-Ohio: Castroneves leads van der Zande in FP2". motorsport.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  18. Barnes, Joey (September 26, 2020). "Castroneves leads final Mid-Ohio IMSA practice". racer.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
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  28. "IWSC 20-14 Mid-Ohio #75 Compass Racing.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com/noticeBoard.php. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. September 30, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  30. "03_Results_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). October 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  31. "2020 ACURA SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE". racing-reference.info. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
IMSA SportsCar Championship
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