2020 Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring

The 2020 Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida on July 18, 2020. This race was the third round of the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the second round of the 2020 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

Track map of Sebring International Raceway

The race was won by the #31 team of Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr, while the LMP2 class victory was taken by Patrick Kelly and Spencer Pigot, who were awarded the win after the #81 entry was disqualified for failing to meet drive time limits. The GTLM class was won by the #4 entry for Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin, while Jack Hawksworth and Aaron Telitz secured their second consecutive class victory in GTD.[1]

Background

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Sebring International Raceway, where the race was held.

The race was just the second for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship after returning from the pandemic-induced hiatus. The race was added to the schedule in May due to said pandemic, becoming the second race of the season at Sebring alongside the rescheduled 12-hour race.[2] Similarly to the previous round at Daytona, a limited number of fans were announced to be allowed into the track for the event. In late June, Cadillac was announced as the title sponsor of the event.[3] The race marked the beginning of the LMP2 overall championship, as their only previous race (the 24 Hours of Daytona) counted for the Michelin Endurance Cup exclusively. Similarly, the GTD class only scored points towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup in this race, not the overall GTD championship.[4]

On July 10, 2020, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin regarding Balance of Performance for the race. However, no changes were made to any cars taking part in the event.[5]

Before the race, Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 64 points, ahead of Ryan Briscoe and Renger van der Zande, and Jonathan Bomarito and Harry Tincknell with 60 points.[6] Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 64 points, ahead of Antonio García and Jordan Taylor with 63 points.[6] In GTD, Jack Hawksworth led the GTD Drivers' Championship with 57 points, ahead of Aaron Telitz with 54 points. Cadillac, BMW, and Lamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Mazda Motorsports, Porsche GT Team, and AIM Vasser Sullivan each led their own Teams' Championships.[6] LMP2 drivers and teams would be scoring their first championship points of the season due to the 24 Hours of Daytona only counting towards the Michelin Endurance Cup championship.

Entries

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A total of 29 cars took part in the event, up from 26 cars in the previous round, thanks in part to the inclusion of the LMP2 class which was absent from the Daytona race.[7] There were 8 cars in the DPi class, 8 cars in the LMP2 class, 6 cars in the GTLM class, and 10 cars in the GTD class. The DPi field was unchanged in terms of entries from the previous event, although Felipe Nasr returned after missing the previous race due to testing positive for COVID-19. Stephen Simpson also replaced Chris Miller in the #85. Patrick Kelly replaced Simon Trummer in the #52 due to travel restrictions, and Gustavo Menezes was announced to run in the #81, making his first IMSA start since 2018. The two Meyer Shank Racing Acuras were absent from the event due to the round only scoring points towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.[8]

Practice

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There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, one on Friday and one on Saturday morning. The first session on Friday night lasted one hour and the second on Saturday morning lasted 75 minutes.[9]

Practice 1

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The first practice session took place at 6:00 pm ET on Friday and ended with Renger van der Zande topping the charts for Konica Minolta Cadillac, with a lap time of 1:51.152.[10] Gustavo Menezes set the fastest time in LMP2.[11] The GTLM class was topped by the #912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Laurens Vanthoor with a time of 1:59.501. Jordan Taylor in the #3 Corvette Racing entry was second and Oliver Gavin rounded out the top 3.[12] The GTD class was topped by the #76 Compass Racing McLaren 720S GT3 of Paul Holton with a time of 2:06.012.[13]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 DPi 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac Renger van der Zande 1:51.152 _
2 DPi 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Stephen Simpson 1:51.368 +0.216
3 DPi 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Pipo Derani 1:52.596 +1.444
Sources:[14][15]

Practice 2

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The second and final practice session took place at 10:00 am ET on Saturday and ended with Pipo Derani topping the charts for Whelen Engineering Racing, with a lap time of 1:46.940.[16] Gustavo Menezes set the fastest time in LMP2.[17] Frédéric Makowiecki set the fastest time in GTLM with a time of 1:56.754.[18] The GTD class was topped by the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 of Toni Vilander with a time of 2:02.358.[19]

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 DPi 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Pipo Derani 1:46.940 _
2 DPi 5 JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing Sébastien Bourdais 1:47.212 +0.272
3 DPi 7 Acura Team Penske Hélio Castroneves 1:47.348 +0.408
Sources:[20][21]

Qualifying

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Pipo Derani (pictured in 2019) took the overall pole position for Whelen Engineering Racing.

Saturday'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.[9] 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.[22]

The first was for cars in GTD class. Frankie Montecalvo qualified on pole for the class driving the #12 car for AIM Vasser Sullivan.[23]

The second session was for cars in the GTLM class. Jordan Taylor qualified on pole driving the #3 car for Corvette Racing, beating Oliver Gavin the sister #4 Corvette Racing entry by over three tenths of a second.[24]

The final session of qualifying was for cars in the LMP2 and DPi classes. Pipo Derani qualified on pole driving the #31 car for Whelen Engineering Racing, beating Juan Pablo Montoya in the #6 Acura Team Penske by over two tenths of a second.[25] Patrick Kelly set the fastest time in LMP2 driving the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports car.[24]

Qualifying results

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

Pos. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap Grid
1 DPi 31   Whelen Engineering Racing   Pipo Derani 1:46.733 _ 1‡
2 DPi 6   Acura Team Penske   Juan Pablo Montoya 1:46.949 +0.216 2
3 DPi 10   Konica Minolta Cadillac   Renger van der Zande 1:47.110 +0.377 3
4 DPi 77   Mazda Motorsports   Tristan Nunez 1:47.200 +0.467 4
5 DPi 5   JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing   Sébastien Bourdais 1:47.276 +0.543 5
6 DPi 7   Acura Team Penske   Hélio Castroneves 1:47.425 +0.692 6
7 DPi 85   JDC-Miller MotorSports   Stephen Simpson 1:47.824 +1.091 7
8 DPi 55   Mazda Motorsports   Jonathan Bomarito 1:47.856 +1.123 8
9 LMP2 52   PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports   Patrick Kelly 1:51.526 +4.793 9‡
10 LMP2 81   DragonSpeed USA   Henrik Hedman 1:52.085 +5.352 10
11 LMP2 38   Performance Tech Motorsports   Cameron Cassels 1:52.681 +5.948 11
12 LMP2 8   Tower Motorsports by Starworks   John Farano 1:54.938 +8.205 131
13 LMP2 18   Era Motorsport   Dwight Merriman 1:55.012 +8.279 12
14 GTLM 3   Corvette Racing   Jordan Taylor 1:55.634 +8.901 14‡
15 GTLM 4   Corvette Racing   Oliver Gavin 1:56.015 +9.282 15
16 GTLM 911   Porsche GT Team   Frédéric Makowiecki 1:56.079 +9.346 16
17 GTLM 912   Porsche GT Team   Laurens Vanthoor 1:56.398 +9.665 17
18 GTLM 24   BMW Team RLL   Jesse Krohn 1:56.620 +9.887 18
19 GTLM 25   BMW Team RLL   Bruno Spengler 1:56.909 +10.176 19
20 GTD 12   AIM Vasser Sullivan   Frankie Montecalvo 2:01.190 +14.457 20‡
21 GTD 14   AIM Vasser Sullivan   Aaron Telitz 2:01.257 +14.524 21
22 GTD 63   Scuderia Corsa   Cooper MacNeil 2:02.069 +15.336 22
23 GTD 96   Turner Motorsport   Robby Foley 2:02.098 +15.365 23
24 GTD 76   Compass Racing   Corey Fergus 2:02.203 +15.470 24
25 GTD 74   Riley Motorsports   Gar Robinson 2:02.371 +15.638 25
26 GTD 16   Wright Motorsports   Ryan Hardwick 2:02.729 +15.996 26
27 GTD 22   Gradient Racing   Till Bechtolsheimer 2:03.227 +16.494 27
28 GTD 30   Team Hardpoint   Robert Ferriol 2:04.343 +17.610 28
29 GTD 44   GRT Magnus   John Potter 2:04.424 +17.691 29
Source:[26][27]
  • 1 The No. 8 Tower Motorsport 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).[22]

Race

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Post-race

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In DPi, Briscoe and van der Zande moved to first after being second coming into Sebring. Jarvis and Nunez dropped from first to second while Derani advanced from seventh to fifth.[28] Since it was the season's first points paying race, Kelly and Pigot led the LMP2 Drivers' Championship with 35 points.[28] As a result of winning the race, Gavin and Milner advanced from sixth to fourth in the GTLM Drivers' Championship. Jordan Taylor and Antonio García moved to first after being second coming into Sebring while Bamber and Vanthoor dropped from first to second.[28] GTD drivers, teams, and manufactures did not score full season points due to the event only counting towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Cadillac kept their advantage in the DPi Manufactures' Championship while Chevrolet took the lead of the GTLM Manufactures' Championship.[28] Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R and Corvette Racing took the lead of their respective Teams' Championships while PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports became the leaders of the LMP2 Teams' Championship with eight rounds remaining.[28]

Results

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Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Laps Time/retired
Engine
1 DPi 31   Whelen Engineering Racing   Felipe Nasr
  Pipo Derani
Cadillac DPi-V.R 83 2:40:36.181‡
Cadillac 5.5L V8
2 DPi 10   Konica Minolta Cadillac   Renger van der Zande
  Ryan Briscoe
Cadillac DPi-V.R 83 +36.432
Cadillac 5.5L V8
3 DPi 5   JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing   João Barbosa
  Sébastien Bourdais
Cadillac DPi-V.R 83 +56.144
Cadillac 5.5L V8
4 DPi 77   Mazda Motorsports   Oliver Jarvis
  Tristan Nunez
Mazda RT24-P 83 +56.632
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4
5 DPi 55   Mazda Motorsports   Jonathan Bomarito
  Harry Tincknell
Mazda RT24-P 83 +1:27.300
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4
6 DPi 6   Acura Team Penske   Dane Cameron
  Juan Pablo Montoya
Acura ARX-05 83 +1:29.280
Acura AR35TT 3.5L Turbo V6
7 DPi 7   Acura Team Penske   Hélio Castroneves
  Ricky Taylor
Acura ARX-05 83 +1:30.667
Acura AR35TT 3.5L Turbo V6
8 DPi 85   JDC-Miller MotorSports   Stephen Simpson
  Tristan Vautier
Cadillac DPi-V.R 82 +1 Lap
Cadillac 5.5L V8
9 LMP2 52   PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports   Patrick Kelly
  Spencer Pigot
Oreca 07 81 +2 Laps‡
Gibson GK428 V8
10 LMP2 38   Performance Tech Motorsports   Cameron Cassels
  Kyle Masson
Oreca 07 80 +3 Laps
Gibson GK428 V8
11 LMP2 18   Era Motorsports   Dwight Merriman
  Kyle Tilley
Oreca 07 80 +3 Laps
Gibson GK428 V8
12 GTLM 4   Corvette Racing   Oliver Gavin
  Tommy Milner
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 77 +6 Laps‡
Chevrolet 5.5L V8
13 GTLM 3   Corvette Racing   Antonio García
  Jordan Taylor
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 77 +6 Laps
Chevrolet 5.5L V8
14 GTLM 912   Porsche GT Team   Earl Bamber
  Laurens Vanthoor
Porsche 911 RSR-19 77 +6 Laps
Porsche 4.2L Flat-6
15 GTLM 25   BMW Team RLL   Bruno Spengler
  Connor De Phillippi
BMW M8 GTE 77 +6 Laps
BMW S63 4.0L Turbo V8
16 GTLM 24   BMW Team RLL   Jesse Krohn
  John Edwards
BMW M8 GTE 77 +6 Laps
BMW S63 4.0L Turbo V8
17 GTLM 911   Porsche GT Team   Nick Tandy
  Frédéric Makowiecki
Porsche 911 RSR-19 77 +6 Laps
Porsche 4.2L Flat-6
18 GTD 14   AIM Vasser Sullivan   Aaron Telitz
  Jack Hawksworth
Lexus RC F GT3 75 +8 Laps‡
Lexus 5.0L V8
19 GTD 63   Scuderia Corsa   Cooper MacNeil
  Toni Vilander
Ferrari 488 GT3 75 +8 Laps
Ferrari F154CB 3.9L Turbo V8
20 GTD 96   Turner Motorsport   Robby Foley
  Bill Auberlen
BMW M6 GT3 75 +8 Laps
BMW 4.4L Turbo V8
21 GTD 74   Riley Motorsport   Gar Robinson
  Lawson Aschenbach
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 75 +8 Laps
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2L V8
22 GTD 12   AIM Vasser Sullivan   Frankie Montecalvo
  Townsend Bell
Lexus RC F GT3 75 +8 Laps
Lexus 5.0L V8
23 GTD 76   Compass Racing   Corey Fergus
  Paul Holton
McLaren 720S GT3 74 +9 Laps
McLaren M840T 4.0L Turbo V8
24 GTD 22   Gradient Racing   Till Bechtolsheimer
  Marc Miller
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 74 +9 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
25 GTD 30   Team Hardpoint   Rob Ferriol
  Spencer Pumpelly
Audi R8 LMS Evo 73 +10 Laps
Audi 5.2L V10
26 GTD 16   Wright Motorsports   Ryan Hardwick
  Patrick Long
Porsche 911 GT3 R 71 +12 Laps
Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
27 LMP2 8   Tower Motorsport by Starworks   John Farano
  Ryan Dalziel
Oreca 07 49 +34 Laps
Gibson GK428 V8
28 LMP2 81   DragonSpeed USA   Henrik Hedman
  Gustavo Menezes
Oreca 07 81 Disqualified[N 1]
Gibson GK428 V8
29

DNF

GTD 44   GRT Magnus Racing Team   John Potter
  Andy Lally
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 40 Differential
Lamborghini 5.2L V10
Sources:[29][30]

Notes

  1. ^ The No. 81 DragonSpeed Oreca was disqualified for failing to meet minimum drive time thresholds.

Standings after the race

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  • : Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
  • : Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
  • : Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

References

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  1. ^ "Cadillac Sweeps IMSA Cadillac GP at Sebring". autoweek.com. 19 July 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  2. ^ "2020 Events Added for Sebring International Raceway". sebringraceway.com. 15 May 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Cadillac Named Title Sponsor for July Sebring Race". sportscar365.com. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  4. ^ "Entry List Notebook – Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring". imsa.com. 8 July 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  5. ^ "TB-IWSC-20-14-Sebring1-BoP-Tables" (PDF). imsa.com. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  6. ^ a b c "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 7, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  7. ^ "2020_IWSC_Sebring_July_Official_EntryList" (PDF). imsa.com. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  8. ^ "29 Cars For IMSA's Cadillac Grand Prix Of Sebring". dailysportscar.com. 9 July 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  9. ^ a b "2020 IMSA Official Schedule and SR Sebring July 070820 V1" (PDF). results.imsa.com/noticeBoard.php. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  10. ^ Dagys, John (July 17, 2020). "Van der Zande Tops Rain-Delayed Opening Practice at Sebring". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  11. ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (July 17, 2020). "IMSA Sebring: WTR's van der Zande leads opening practice". motorsport.com. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  12. ^ O'Malley, J.J. (July 17, 2020). "van der Zande leads Cadillac 1-2-3 in opening Sebring practice". racer.com. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  13. ^ "Cadillacs Quick in Opening Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring Practice". imsa.com. July 17, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  14. ^ "03_Results_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 17, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  15. ^ "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 1.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 17, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  16. ^ Dagys, John (July 18, 2020). "Derani Paces Practice 2 as Times Tumble at Sebring". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  17. ^ Allaway, Phil (July 18, 2020). "Pipo Derani Fastest in Sebring WeatherTech Practice". frontstretch.com. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  18. ^ O'Malley, J.J. (July 18, 2020). "Derani takes AXR to the front in second Sebring practice". racer.com. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  19. ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (July 18, 2020). "IMSA Sebring: Derani keeps Cadillac top in FP2". motorsport.com. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  20. ^ "03_Results_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 18, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  21. ^ "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 18, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  22. ^ a b "2020 IMSA SPORTING REGULATIONS and SERIES SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 December 2023. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  23. ^ O'Malley, J.J. (July 18, 2020). "Derani, Cadillac on pole for Sebring sprint race". racer.com. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  24. ^ a b Dagys, John (July 18, 2020). "Derani Claims Sebring Pole". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  25. ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (July 18, 2020). "IMSA Sebring: AXR Cadillac, Corvette, Lexus take poles". motorsport.com. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  26. ^ "sebring_qualifying.pdf" (PDF). July 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  27. ^ "01_Grid_Race_Official_Amended.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 18, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  28. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 21, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  29. ^ "03_Results_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 21, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  30. ^ "2020 CADILLAC GRAND PRIX OF SEBRING". racing-reference.info. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
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