2020 MOTUL 100% Synthetic Grand Prix

Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (2018–present)

The 2020 MOTUL 100% Synthetic Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in Concord, North Carolina on October 10, 2020. This race was the eighth round of the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the sixth round of the 2020 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

The overall race was won by the #3 team of Jordan Taylor and Antonio García, the duo's fifth of the season. The Turner Motorsport team of Robby Foley and Bill Auberlen took victory in the GTD class, their second win of the season. ^[1]

Background

The race replaced the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park due to travel issues regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in Connecticut, meaning the race would be run as part of a triple-header weekend and a double-header Saturday evening with the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series. ^[2] The race was the shortest of the 2020 season, as the race was scheduled for the length of the Detroit and Long Beach rounds that had been cancelled because of the pandemic as two-hour races (1 hour, 40 minutes) in length, and was one of two events that included only entries from the GTLM and GTD classes (as it was moved from Lime Rock). ^[3] The race also marked the first time since 2000 that an IMSA series raced at Charlotte Motor Speedway. ^[4] In late September, Motul was announced as the primary sponsor of the event. ^[5] The event was the eighth of eleven sports car races of 2020 by IMSA, and the event was the sixth of seven races on the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. ^[6] The race was held at the 2.280 mi (3.669 km) Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval on October 10, 2020. ^[7]

On October 2, 2020, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin regarding the Balance of Performance for the race. In the GTLM class, the Porsche 911 received a 15 kilogram weight reduction, while no other changes were made to other cars in the class. In GTD, the Ferrari 488 received a 6.7 horsepower increase, a 5 kilogram increase in minimum weight, and a one-liter increase in fuel capacity. ^[8]

Before the race, Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 226 points, ahead of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner with 209 points, and Connor De Phillippi and Bruno Spengler with 204 points. ^[9] With 176 points, Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry led the GTD Drivers' Championship, ahead of Aaron Telitz. ^[9] Chevrolet and Lexus were leading their respective Manufactures' Championships while Corvette Racing and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian each led their own Teams' Championships. ^[9]

Entries

Further information: 2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship § Entries

A total of 18 cars took part in the event, the lowest number of entries that season, but because the two prototype classes were not scheduled to participate in this event, there were more cars between the two participating classes for this race than the previous round at Mid-Ohio. There were six cars in the GTLM class, two more than at Mid-Ohio, when the CORE Autosport-run Porsche GT Team skipped the previous round due to novel coronavirus concerns within the Porsche factory camp following the 24 Heures du Mans, and twelve cars in the GTD class, the same as the preceding event. Jeff Kingsley made his series debut in the Compass McLaren. ^[10] Despite the BoP break, Scuderia Corsa missed their second consecutive event, with driver Cooper MacNeil focusing on a championship in the Ferrari Challenge. ^[8] Frankie Montecalvo was replaced in the #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan entry by Michael De Quesada, as the former was getting married (originally, this race was to have been held at Lime Rock Park on July 17–18, and later rescheduled to October 30–31 before being moved to Charlotte where promoters moved the dates to be part of the NASCAR weekend after state authorities rejected the event over travel restrictions). ^[11]

Practice

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, 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 7:30 pm ET on Friday and ended with Jesse Krohn topping the charts for BMW Team RLL, with a lap time of 1:15.482. ^[13] Mario Farnbacher set the fastest time in GTD. ^[14] The session was red flagged for 13 minutes after Michael De Quesada in the #12 Lexus crashed at turn 8. ^[15] IMSA extended the session by ten minutes as compensation. ^[13]

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap
1	GTLM	24	BMW Team RLL	Jesse Krohn	1:15.482	_
2	GTLM	25	BMW Team RLL	Bruno Spengler	1:15.551	+0.069
3	GTLM	911	Porsche GT Team	Nick Tandy	1:15.606	+0.124
Sources: [16] [17]

Practice 2

The second and final practice session took place at 9:45 am ET on Saturday and ended with Tommy Milner topping the charts for Corvette Racing, with a lap time of 1:14.935. ^[18] The GTD class was topped by the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Bill Auberlen with a time of 1:19.475. Lawson Aschenbach was second in the Riley Motorsports entry and Jack Hawksworth rounded out the top 3. ^[19] The session was red flagged with 22 minutes remaining after the #22 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo of Marc Miller suffered a loose wheel after crashing at turn 7 and stopped on the track. ^{[20] [18]}

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap
1	GTLM	4	Corvette Racing	Tommy Milner	1:14.935	_
2	GTLM	911	Porsche GT Team	Frédéric Makowieck	1:15.103	+0.168
3	GTLM	24	BMW Team RLL	Jesse Krohn	1:15.125	+0.190
Sources: [21] [22]

Qualifying

Jordan Taylor (pictured in 2023) secured the overall pole position for Corvette Racing.

Saturday's afternoon qualifying was broken into two sessions, with one session for the 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 the GTLMs ahead of the GTD cars. ^[23]

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 Robby Foley in the Turner Motorsport entry. Telitz uffered minor contact with the outside wall coming out of the final chicane while Kingsley and Rob Ferriol made contact coming into said chicane. The session ended early when, Misha Goikhberg, driving the #57 Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian, hit the wall at turn 7 and was unable to get his car going again. For causing the red flag, Goikhberg had his best two laps from the session deleted. Ryan Hardwick completed two flaps under the red flag and served a five-minute-stop-and-hold penalty. ^{[24] [25]}

The final session of qualifying was for cars in the GTLM class. Jordan Taylor qualified on pole driving the #3 car for Corvette Racing, beating Frédéric Makowiecki in the #911 Porsche GT Team by less than one-tenth of a second. The session saw one incident when, Laurens Vanthoor driving the #912 Porsche GT Team entry, broke his Porsche's rear suspension in an accident at turn 7 that drew a red flag. Vanthoor had his best two laps from the session deleted for causing a red flag, effectively leaving him with no time set. As the session came to a close, Jesse Krohn knocked the mirror off his BMW in turn 1. ^{[26] [24]}

Qualifying results

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

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap	Grid
1	GTLM	3	Corvette Racing	Jordan Taylor	1:14.278	_	1‡
2	GTLM	911	Porsche GT Team	Frédéric Makowiecki	1:14.334	+0.056	2
3	GTLM	25	BMW Team RLL	Bruno Spengler	1:14.730	+0.452	3
4	GTLM	24	BMW Team RLL	Jesse Krohn	1:14.824	+0.546	4
5	GTLM	4	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin	1:15.067	+0.789	5
6	GTD	14	AIM Vasser Sullivan	Aaron Telitz	1:17.954	+3.676	7‡
7	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Robby Foley	1:18.077	+3.799	8
8	GTD	86	Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	Matt McMurry	1:18.091	+3.813	9
9	GTD	76	Compass Racing	Jeff Kingsley	1:18.147	+3.869	10
10	GTD	16	Wright Motorsports	Ryan Hardwick	1:18.232	+3.954	11
11	GTD	74	Riley Motorsports	Gar Robinson	1:18.540	+4.262	12
12	GTD	22	Gradient Racing	Till Bechtolsheimer	1:18.725	+4.447	13
13	GTD	12	AIM Vasser Sullivan	Michael De Quesada	1:18.923	+4.645	14
14	GTD	23	Heart of Racing Team	Ian James	1:19.299	+5.021	15
15	GTD	44	GRT Magnus	John Potter	1:20.102	+5.824	16
16	GTD	30	Team Hardpoint	Rob Ferriol	1:21.235	+6.957	17
17	GTD	57	Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian	Misha Goikhberg	1:22.908 1	+8.630	18
18	GTLM	912	Porsche GT Team	Laurens Vanthoor	no time 2	–	6
Sources: [27] [28]

• ¹ The No. 57 Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian entry had its two fastest laps deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session.
• ² The No. 912 Porsche GT Team entry had its two fastest laps deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session.

Race

Post-race

With a total of 261 points, García and Taylor's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Gavin and Milner in the GTLM Drivers' Championship to 24 points. ^[29] The result Farnbacher and McMurry atop the GTD Drivers' Championship while Hardwick and Long advanced from fourth to third. Bell jumped from sixth to fifth. ^[29] Chevrolet and Lexus continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Corvette Racing and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian kept their respective advantages in the their respective of Teams' Championships with three rounds remaining in the season. ^[29]

Results

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Pos	Class	No.	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Laps	Time/Retired
					Engine
1	GTLM	3	Corvette Racing	Jordan Taylor Antonio García	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	62	1:40:08.170‡
					Chevrolet 5.5L V8
2	GTLM	24	BMW Team RLL	John Edwards Jesse Krohn	BMW M8 GTE	62	+1.474
					BMW S63 4.0L Turbo V8
3	GTLM	25	BMW Team RLL	Connor De Phillippi Bruno Spengler	BMW M8 GTE	62	+2.059
					BMW S63 4.0L Turbo V8
4	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Robby Foley Bill Auberlen	BMW M6 GT3	61	+1 Lap‡
					BMW 4.4L Turbo V8
5	GTD	16	Wright Motorsports	Ryan Hardwick Patrick Long	Porsche 911 GT3 R	61	+1 Lap
					Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
6	GTD	23	Heart of Racing Team	Ian James Roman De Angelis	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	61	+1 Lap
					Aston Martin 4.0L Turbo V8
7	GTD	12	AIM Vasser Sullivan	Michael De Quesada Townsend Bell	Lexus RC F GT3	61	+1 Lap
					Lexus 5.0L V8
8	GTD	57	Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian	Álvaro Parente Mikhail Goikhberg	Acura NSX GT3 Evo	61	+1 Lap
					Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
9	GTD	30	Team Hardpoint	Rob Ferriol Spencer Pumpelly	Audi R8 LMS Evo	61	+1 Lap
					Audi 5.2L V10
10	GTD	86	Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	Mario Farnbacher Matt McMurry	Acura NSX GT3 Evo	61	+1 Lap
					Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
11	GTD	14	AIM Vasser Sullivan	Jack Hawksworth Aaron Telitz	Lexus RC F GT3	61	+1 Lap
					Lexus 5.0L V8
12	GTD	76	Compass Racing	Jeff Kingsley Paul Holton	McLaren 720S GT3	60	+2 Laps
					McLaren M840T 4.0L Turbo V8
13	GTD	74	Riley Motorsports	Lawson Aschenbach Gar Robinson	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	60	+2 Laps
					Mercedes-AMG M159 G.2L V8
14 DNF	GTLM	4	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	54	Accident
					Chevrolet 5.5L V8
15 DNF	GTD	44	GRT Magnus	John Potter Andy Lally	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	25	Tire Failures
					Lamborghini 5.2L V10
16 DNF	GTD	22	Gradient Racing	Till Bechtolsheimer Marc Miller	Acura NSX GT3 Evo	22	Accident
					Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
17 DNF	GTLM	911	Porsche GT Team	Frédéric Makowiecki Nick Tandy	Porsche 911 RSR-19	8	Accident
					Porsche 4.2L Flat-6
18 DNF	GTLM	912	Porsche GT Team	Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 RSR-19	4	Accident
					Porsche 4.2L Flat-6
Sources: [30] [31]

Standings after the race

DPi Drivers' Championship standings [29] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Ryan Briscoe Renger van der Zande 180 2 Pipo Derani 177 3 Helio Castroneves Ricky Taylor 175 4 Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell 172 5 Sébastien Bourdais João Barbosa 171

LMP2 Drivers' Championship standings [29] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Patrick Kelly 98 2 Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley 92 3 Cameron Cassels 64 4 Simon Trummer 63 5 Henrik Hedman 61

GTLM Drivers' Championship standings [29] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Antonio García Jordan Taylor 261 2 Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner 237 3 Connor De Phillippi Bruno Spengler 234 4 John Edwards Jesse Krohn 231 5 1 Frédéric Makowiecki Nick Tandy 197

GTD Drivers' Championship standings [29] Pos. +/– Driver Points 1 Mario Farnbacher Matt McMurry 200 2 Aaron Telitz 196 3 1 Ryan Hardwick Patrick Long 196 4 1 Jack Hawksworth 194 5 1 Townsend Bell 183

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

DPi Teams' Championship standings [29] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R 180 2 #31 Whelen Engineering Racing 177 3 #7 Acura Team Penske 175 4 #55 Mazda Motorsports 172 5 #5 Mustang Sampling Racing / JDC-Miller MotorSports 171

LMP2 Teams' Championship standings [29] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports 98 2 #18 Era Motorsport 92 3 #38 Performance Tech Motorsports 64 4 #81 DragonSpeed USA 61 5 #8 Tower Motorsport by Starworks 28

GTLM Teams' Championship standings [29] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 #3 Corvette Racing 261 2 #4 Corvette Racing 237 3 #25 BMW Team RLL 234 4 #24 BMW Team RLL 231 5 1 #911 Porsche GT Team 197

GTD Teams' Championship standings [29] Pos. +/– Team Points 1 #86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian 200 2 1 #16 Wright Motorsports 196 3 1 #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan 194 4 1 #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan 183 5 1 #96 Turner Motorsport 182

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

DPi Manufacturers' Championship standings [29] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Cadillac 196 2 Acura 195 3 Mazda 191

GTLM Manufacturers' Championship standings [29] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 272 2 BMW 258 3 Porsche 216 4 Ferrari 28

GTD Manufacturers' Championship standings [29] Pos. +/– Manufacturer Points 1 Lexus 211 2 Acura 208 3 Porsche 202 4 2 BMW 194 5 1 Mercedes-AMG 190

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

References

1. "Corvette duo of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor win again at Charlotte Roval". motorsports.nbcsports.com. 10 October 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
2. "Venue Modifications Shift Upcoming Events to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Charlotte ROVAL". imsa.com. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
3. "IMSA will move races to Road Atlanta, Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval". motorsports.nbcsports.com. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
4. "Blast from the Past". imsa.com. 5 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
5. "Motul Expands IMSA Presence with Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL Event Sponsorship". imsa.com. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
6. Pruett, Marshall (June 25, 2020). "IMSA refines 2020 calendar". racer.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
7. "Revised 2020 Sports Car Racing Calendars". sportscar365.com. April 4, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
8. "Porsche, Ferrari Get BoP Breaks". sportscar365.com. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
9. "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. September 30, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
10. "Entry List Notebook - MOTUL 100% Synthetic Grand Prix at Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL". imsa.com. 30 September 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
11. "De Quesada Replaces Montecalvo For Charlotte IMSA Race". dailysportscar.com. 7 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
12. "2020 IMSA Official Schedule and SR ROVAL 093020 V1" (PDF). results.imsa.com/noticeBoard.php. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
13. Malsher-Lopez, David (October 9, 2020). "IMSA Charlotte: Krohn leads BMW 1-2 on the CMS Roval". motorsport.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
14. Pruett, Marshall (October 9, 2020). "BMW Team RLL leads the way in opening Charlotte Roval practice". racer.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
15. Dagys, John (October 9, 2020). "Krohn Quickest in Opening Practice at Charlotte Roval". sportscar365.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
16. "03_Results_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. October 9, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
17. "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. October 9, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
18. Malsher-Lopez, David (October 10, 2020). "IMSA Charlotte: Milner puts Corvette on top in FP2 on Roval". motorsport.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
19. Pruett, Marshall (October 10, 2020). "Corvette leads final Charlotte IMSA practice". racer.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
20. Dagys, John (October 10, 2020). "Milner Quickest in Final Practice at Charlotte". sportscar365.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
21. "03_Results_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. October 10, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
22. "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. October 10, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
23. "2020 IMSA SPORTING REGULATIONS and SERIES SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 December 2023. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
24. Dagys, John (October 10, 2020). "Charlotte Saturday Notebook". sportscar365.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
25. "Jordan Taylor Wins Motul 100% Synthetic Grand Prix Pole". frontstretch.com. 10 October 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
26. Dagys, John (October 10, 2020). "Taylor Takes Corvette to Charlotte Roval Pole". sportscar365.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
27. "03_Results_Qualifying" (PDF). Retrieved 25 October 2020.
28. "01_Grid_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. October 10, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
29. "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. October 13, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
30. "Official Results" (PDF). theapex.racing. October 11, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
31. "2020 MOTUL 100% SYNTHETIC GRAND PRIX". racing-reference.info. Retrieved August 1, 2023.

External links

• IMSA Race Resource Guide

IMSA SportsCar Championship
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