Wikipedia

2020 WeatherTech 240

The 2020 WeatherTech 240 was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at the Daytona International Speedway combined road course in Daytona Beach, Florida, on July 4, 2020. This race was the second round of the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the first round of the 2020 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

Track map of Daytona International Speedway

Taylor and García's GTLM class victory marked the first victory for the new Corvette C8.R, alongside Corvette Racing's 100th win in IMSA competition.[1] The race was also just the 12th caution-free race since the merger in 2014.[2]

Background edit

 
Daytona International Speedway, where the race was held.

The race was the first for the series following the suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was initially announced to be run behind closed doors.[3] However, it was later announced that a maximum of 5,000 fans were to be admitted, with all required to be residents of the state of Florida.[4] The race was also the first time since 2010 that the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship or its previous series had competed in the Paul Revere 250 Independence Day event.[5]

Before the race, Ryan Briscoe, Renger van der Zande, Scott Dixon, and Kamui Kobayashi led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 35 points each, ahead of Oliver Jarvis, Tristan Nunez, and Olivier Pla with 32 points each, and Sébastien Bourdais, João Barbosa, and Loïc Duval with 30 points each.[6] With 35 points, the GTLM Drivers' Championship was led by John Edwards, Jesse Krohn, Augusto Farfus, and Chaz Mostert with a three-point advantage over Earl Bamber, Laurens Vanthoor, and Mathieu Jaminet.[6] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Corey Lewis, and Andrea Caldarelli with 35 points, ahead of Andy Lally, John Potter, Spencer Pumpelly, and Marco Mapelli with 32 points each.[6] Cadillac, BMW, and Lamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R, BMW Team RLL, and Paul Miller Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.[6]

Entries edit

Further information: 2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship § Entries

A total of 26 cars took part in the event, down from the 39 entries from the season's opening event. There were 8 cars in the DPi class, 6 cars in the GTLM class, and 12 cars in the GTD class.[7] In DPi, Gabby Chaves filled in for Felipe Nasr in the Whelen Engineering Racing entry, due to Nasr testing positive for COVID-19.[8] Multimatic Motorsports took over the Mazda DPi program from Joest Racing.[9] The LMP2 class did not participate in the event.[7] In GTLM, Risi Competizione were absent. In GTD, Paul Miller Racing, the GTD class winner in the Rolex 24, didn't enter the event due to effects of the pandemic.[10] Likewise, Pfaff Motorsports also didn't enter, due to travel restrictions surrounding being based in Canada.[11] The No. 19 GEAR Racing powered by GRT Grasser entry, the No. 91 of Wright Motorsports, and the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin all declined to enter the event as well.[12][13][14] Team Hardpoint made their series debut, and Gradient Racing returned for the first time since 2018.[15][16] Prior to the event, Aaron Telitz was announced as the replacement for Parker Chase in the No. 14 entry for AIM Vasser Sullivan.[17] Compass Racing made their season debut.[7]

Practice edit

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, one on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session on Friday lasted one hour while the second session on Saturday lasted 75 minutes.[18]

Practice 1 edit

The first practice session took place at 6:15 pm ET on Friday and ended with Juan Pablo Montoya topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:35.960.[19] The GTLM class was topped by the #912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Laurens Vanthoor with a time of 1:44.003. Tommy Milner in the #4 Corvette Racing entry was second and Nick Tandy rounded out the top 3.[20] The GTD class was topped by the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 of Toni Vilander with a time of 1:47.481.[21]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 DPi 6 Acura Team Penske Juan Pablo Montoya 1:35.960 _
2 DPi 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Pipo Derani 1:35.976 +0.016
3 DPi 55 Mazda Motorsports Harry Tincknell 1:36.013 +0.053
Sources:[22][23]

Practice 2 edit

The second and final practice session took place at 10:15 am ET on Saturday and ended with Oliver Jarvis topping the charts for Mazda Motorsports, with a lap time of 1:34.398.[24] The GTLM class was topped by the #911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Nick Tandy with a time of 1:42.990. Oliver Gavin in the #4 Corvette Racing entry was second and Jordan Taylor rounded out the top 3.[25] The GTD class was topped by the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Aaron Telitz with a time of 1:46.694.[26]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 DPi 77 Mazda Motorsports Oliver Jarvis 1:34.398 _
2 DPi 7 Acura Team Penske Hélio Castroneves 1:34.646 +0.248
3 DPi 55 Mazda Motorsports Jonathan Bomarito 1:34.689 +0.291
Sources:[27][28]

Qualifying edit

 
Hélio Castroneves (pictured in 2018) took the overall pole position for Acura Team Penske.

Saturday's afternoon 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.[18] 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.[29]

Qualifying was broken into three sessions. The first was for cars in GTD class. Corey Fergus qualified on pole for the class driving the #76 car for Compass Racing, beating Aaron Telitz in the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan entry by less than two tenths of a second.[30]

The second session of qualifying was for cars in the GTLM class. Oliver Gavin qualified on pole driving the #4 car for Corvette Racing, besting Jordan Taylor in the sister #3 Corvette Racing entry.[31]

The final session of qualifying was for the DPi class. Hélio Castroneves qualified on pole driving the #7 car for Acura Team Penske, beating Oliver Jarvis in the #77 Mazda Motorsports by less than fifty-hundredths of a second.[32]

Qualifying results edit

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

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap Grid
1 DPi 7   Acura Team Penske   Hélio Castroneves 1:34.390 _ 1‡
2 DPi 77   Mazda Motorsports   Oliver Jarvis 1:34.422 +0.032 2
3 DPi 55   Mazda Motorsports   Jonathan Bomarito 1:34.454 +0.064 3
4 DPi 6   Acura Team Penske   Juan Pablo Montoya 1:34.532 +0.142 4
5 DPi 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac   Ryan Briscoe 1:35.061 +0.671 5
6 DPi 31   Whelen Engineering Racing   Gabby Chaves 1:35.244 +0.854 6
7 DPi 5   JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing   João Barbosa 1:35.737 +1.347 7
8 DPi 85   JDC-Miller MotorSports   Chris Miller 1:35.945 +1.555 8
9 GTLM 4   Corvette Racing   Oliver Gavin 1:42.251 +7.861 9‡
10 GTLM 3   Corvette Racing   Jordan Taylor 1:42.523 +8.133 10
11 GTLM 24   BMW Team RLL   Jesse Krohn 1:42.628 +8.238 11
12 GTLM 912   Porsche GT Team   Laurens Vanthoor 1:42.629 +8.239 12
13 GTLM 25   BMW Team RLL   Bruno Spengler 1:42.674 +8.284 13
14 GTLM 911   Porsche GT Team   Nick Tandy 1:42.754 +8.364 14
15 GTD 76   Compass Racing   Corey Fergus 1:47.015 +12.625 15‡
16 GTD 14   AIM Vasser Sullivan   Aaron Telitz 1:47.152 +12.762 16
17 GTD 96   Turner Motorsport   Robby Foley 1:47.468 +13.078 17
18 GTD 12   AIM Vasser Sullivan   Frankie Montecalvo 1:47.502 +13.112 18
19 GTD 63   Scuderia Corsa   Cooper MacNeil 1:47.595 +13.205 19
20 GTD 86   Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian   Matt McMurry 1:47.779 +13.389 20
21 GTD 57   Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian   Misha Goikhberg 1:47.799 +13.409 21
22 GTD 16   Wright Motorsports   Ryan Hardwick 1:47.839 +13.449 22
23 GTD 74   Riley Motorsports   Gar Robinson 1:47.998 +13.608 23
24 GTD 44   GRT Magnus   John Potter 1:48.772 +14.382 261
25 GTD 22   Gradient Racing   Till Bechtolsheimer 1:48.795 +14.405 24
26 GTD 30   Team Hardpoint   Rob Ferriol 1:49.193 +14.803 25
Sources:[33][34]
  • 1 The No. 44 GRT Magnus entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[29]

Race edit

Post-race edit

As a result of winning the race, Bomarito and Tincknell advanced from sixth to third in the DPi Drivers' Championship. Jarvis and Nunez jumped from second to first while Briscoe and van der Zande dropped from first to second.[35] In GTLM, Bamber and Vanthoor jumped to first after being second coming into the event. Edwards and Krohn dropped from first to third while Antonio García and Jordan Taylor advanced from fourth to second.[35] As a result of winning the race, Hawksworth advanced from eighth to first in the GTD Drivers' Championship. Telitz jumped from twelfth to second while Lally and Potter dropped from second to third. Bell and Montecalvo jumped to fifth after being from twelfth coming into the event.[35] Cadillac, BMW, and Lamborghini continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Mazda Motorsports, Porsche GT Team, and AIM Vasser Sullivan became the leaders of their respective class Teams' Championships with nine rounds remaining in the season.[35]

Result edit

Due to a lightning storm, the race start was delayed. While the race was originally scheduled to end at sunset, a considerable portion of the race ended up running after dark. The race ran full course caution free.

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Laps Time/Retired
Engine
1 DPi 55   Mazda Motorsports   Jonathan Bomarito
  Harry Tincknell 		Mazda RT24-P 95 2:40:11.281‡
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4
2 DPi 77   Mazda Motorsports   Oliver Jarvis
  Tristan Nunez 		Mazda RT24-P 95 +10.168s
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4
3 DPi 5   JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing   João Barbosa
  Sébastien Bourdais 		Cadillac DPi-V.R 95 +15.378s
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
4 DPi 6   Acura Team Penske   Juan Pablo Montoya
  Dane Cameron 		Acura ARX-05 95 +27.335s
Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6
5 DPi 31   Whelen Engineering Racing   Gabby Chaves
  Pipo Derani 		Cadillac DPi-V.R 95 +31.275s
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
6 DPi 10   Konica Minolta Cadillac   Renger van der Zande
  Ryan Briscoe 		Cadillac DPi-V.R 95 +1:06.779
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
7 DPi 85   JDC-Miller MotorSports   Chris Miller
  Tristan Vautier 		Cadillac DPi-V.R 95 +1:18.511
Cadillac 5.5 L V8
8 GTLM 3   Corvette Racing   Jordan Taylor
  Antonio García 		Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 90 +5 Laps‡
Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
9 GTLM 912   Porsche GT Team   Earl Bamber
  Laurens Vanthoor 		Porsche 911 RSR-19 90 +5 Laps
Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6
10 GTLM 911   Porsche GT Team   Frédéric Makowiecki
  Nick Tandy 		Porsche 911 RSR-19 90 +5 Laps
Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6
11 GTLM 25   BMW Team RLL   Connor De Phillippi
  Bruno Spengler 		BMW M8 GTE 90 +5 Laps
BMW S63 4.0 L Turbo V8
12 GTLM 4   Corvette Racing   Oliver Gavin
  Tommy Milner 		Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 89 +6 Laps
Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
13 GTLM 24   BMW Team RLL   John Edwards
  Jesse Krohn 		BMW M8 GTE 89 +6 Laps
BMW S63 4.0 L Turbo V8
14 GTD 14   AIM Vasser Sullivan   Jack Hawksworth
  Aaron Telitz 		Lexus RC F GT3 87 +8 Laps‡
Lexus 5.0 L V8
15 GTD 12   AIM Vasser Sullivan   Frankie Montecalvo
  Townsend Bell 		Lexus RC F GT3 86 +9 Laps
Lexus 5.0 L V8
16 GTD 86   Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian   Mario Farnbacher
  Matt McMurry 		Acura NSX GT3 Evo 86 +9 Laps
Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
17 GTD 57   Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian   Álvaro Parente
  Mikhail Goikhberg 		Acura NSX GT3 Evo 86 +9 Laps
Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
18 GTD 63   Scuderia Corsa   Cooper MacNeil
  Toni Vilander 		Ferrari 488 GT3 86 +9 Laps
Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8
19 GTD 74   Riley Motorsports   Lawson Aschenbach
  Gar Robinson 		Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 85 +10 Laps
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8
20 GTD 16   Wright Motorsports   Ryan Hardwick
  Patrick Long 		Porsche 911 GT3 R 85 +10 Laps
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
21 GTD 96   Turner Motorsport   Robby Foley
  Bill Auberlen 		BMW M6 GT3 85 +10 Laps
BMW 4.4 L Turbo V8
22 GTD 44   GRT Magnus   John Potter
  Andy Lally 		Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 85 +10 Laps
Lamborghini 5.2 L V10
23 GTD 22   Gradient Racing   Till Bechtolsheimer
  Marc Miller 		Acura NSX GT3 Evo 85 +10 Laps
Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6
24 GTD 76   Compass Racing   Corey Fergus
  Paul Holton 		McLaren 720S GT3 85 +10 Laps
McLaren M840T 4.0 L Turbo V8
25 GTD 30   Team Hardpoint   Rob Ferriol
  Spencer Pumpelly 		Audi R8 LMS Evo 84 +11 Laps
Audi 5.2 L V10
26 DPi 7   Acura Team Penske   Hélio Castroneves
  Ricky Taylor 		Acura ARX-05 43 Engine
Acura AR35TT 3.5 L Turbo V6
Sources:[36][37]

Standings after the race edit

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

References edit

  1. ^ "Corvette Take First Win For C8.R & 100th IMSA Victory". dailysportscar.com. 5 July 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Mazda Maintains Midsummer Magic with 1-2 in IMSA WeatherTech 240 At Daytona". imsa.com. 4 July 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  3. ^ "IMSA Announces Updated Return to Racing Plan". imsa.com. 15 May 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  4. ^ "IMSA: July 4 race at Daytona will have limited crowd; masks required". motorsports.nbcsports.com. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  5. ^ "IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Returns to Daytona". daytonainternationalspeedway.com. 15 May 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. January 28, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c Dagys, John (June 24, 2020). "26 Entries for IMSA's Return to Racing at Daytona". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  8. ^ Lloyd, Daniel (July 3, 2020). "Nasr to Miss Daytona after Testing Positive for COVID-19". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  9. ^ Lloyd, Daniel (March 19, 2020). "Mazda Confirms Multimatic Takeover from Joest". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  10. ^ Dagys, John (June 9, 2020). "Paul Miller Racing to Skip Daytona, Sebring July Races". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  11. ^ Dagys, John (June 12, 2020). "Pfaff "Undecided" on Timing of IMSA Return". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  12. ^ Dagys, John (June 17, 2020). "GEAR, Grasser Part Ways". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  13. ^ Dagys, John (June 18, 2020). "Wright Down to Single Porsche GTD Entry". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  14. ^ Dagys, John (June 23, 2020). "The Heart of Racing to Skip Daytona". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  15. ^ "Entry List: WeatherTech 240 at Daytona". fronstretch.com. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  16. ^ Dagys, John (June 17, 2020). "Hardpoint Expands to GTD with Audi Entry for Pumpelly, Ferriol". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  17. ^ "Telitz Replaces Chase in AVS Lexus for Remainder of Season". sportscar365.com. 24 June 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  18. ^ a b "2020 IMSA Official Schedule and SR Daytona July 4 062420 V1" (PDF). results.imsa.com/noticeBoard.php. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  19. ^ O'Malley, J.J. (July 3, 2020). "Montoya tops opening IMSA Daytona practice". racer.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  20. ^ Dagys, John (July 3, 2020). "Montoya Quickest in Opening Practice at Daytona". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  21. ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (July 3, 2020). "Daytona IMSA: Montoya tops first practice for Acura Penske". motorsport.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  22. ^ "03_Results_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 3, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  23. ^ "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 3, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  24. ^ O'Malley, J.J. (July 3, 2020). "Mazda's Jarvis fastest in Daytona Practice 2". racer.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  25. ^ Dagys, John (July 4, 2020). "Jarvis Rebounds to Put Mazda On Top in Final Practice". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  26. ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (July 4, 2020). "Daytona IMSA: Mazda's Jarvis tops second practice". motorsport.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  27. ^ "03_Results_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 4, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  28. ^ "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 4, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  29. ^ a b "2020 IMSA SPORTING REGULATIONS and SERIES SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 December 2023. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  30. ^ Dagys, John (July 4, 2020). "Castroneves Storms to Daytona Pole". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  31. ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (July 4, 2020). "Daytona IMSA: Castroneves' Acura beats Mazdas to pole". motorsport.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  32. ^ O'Malley, J.J. (July 4, 2020). "Castroneves takes Daytona IMSA pole for Acura". racer.com. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  33. ^ "03_Results_Qualifying" (PDF). Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  34. ^ "01_Grid_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 4, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  35. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 7, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  36. ^ "03_Results_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 7, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  37. ^ "2020 WEATHERTECH 240 AT DAYTONA". racing-reference.info. Retrieved July 30, 2023.


IMSA SportsCar Championship
Previous race:
24 Hours of Daytona 		2020 season Next race:
Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring
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