2020 Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio

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.

Track map of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

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

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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 27th 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

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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

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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

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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. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 DPi 6 Acura Team Penske Juan Pablo Montoya 1:13.057 _
2 DPi 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Pipo Derani 1:13.293 +0.236
3 DPi 7 Acura Team Penske Ricky Taylor 1:13.302 +0.245
Sources:[15][16]

Practice 2

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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. Class No. Team Driver Time Gap
1 DPi 7 Acura Team Penske Hélio Castroneves 1:11.395 _
2 DPi 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac Renger van der Zande 1:11.587 +0.192
3 DPi 6 Acura Team Penske Dane Cameron 1:11.645 +0.250
Sources:[20][21]

Qualifying

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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

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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 6   Acura Team Penske   Dane Cameron 1:10.839 _ 1
2 DPi 7   Acura Team Penske   Hélio Castroneves 1:10.855 +0.016 2
3 DPi 55   Mazda Motorsports   Jonathan Bomarito 1:11.004 +0.165 3
4 DPi 31   Whelen Engineering Racing   Pipo Derani 1:11.067 +0.228 4
5 DPi 10   Konica Minolta Cadillac   Ryan Briscoe 1:11.271 +0.432 5
6 DPi 77   Mazda Motorsports   Oliver Jarvis 1:11.365 +0.526 6
7 DPi 5   JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing   Sébastien Bourdais 1:11.382 +0.543 7
8 DPi 85   JDC-Miller MotorSports   Gabriel Aubry 1:12.081 +1.242 8
9 GTLM 3   Corvette Racing   Jordan Taylor 1:17.985 +7.146 91
10 GTLM 24   BMW Team RLL   Jesse Krohn 1:18.361 +7.522 122
11 GTLM 4   Corvette Racing   Oliver Gavin 1:18.448 +7.609 103
12 GTLM 25   BMW Team RLL   Bruno Spengler 1:18.515 +7.676 114
13 GTD 14   AIM Vasser Sullivan   Aaron Telitz 1:20.974 +10.135 13
14 GTD 86   Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian   Matt McMurry 1:21.089 +10.250 14
15 GTD 57   Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian   Misha Goikhberg 1:21.196 +10.357 15
16 GTD 76   Compass Racing   Corey Fergus 1:21.302 +10.463 245
17 GTD 96   Turner Motorsport   Robby Foley 1:21.364 +10.525 16
18 GTD 23   Heart of Racing Team   Ian James 1:21.431 +10.592 17
19 GTD 12   AIM Vasser Sullivan   Frankie Montecalvo 1:21.442 +10.603 18
20 GTD 16   Wright Motorsports   Ryan Hardwick 1:21.659 +10.820 19
21 GTD 22   Gradient Racing   Till Bechtolsheimer 1:22.189 +11.350 20
22 GTD 74   Riley Motorsports   Gar Robinson 1:22.254 +11.415 226
23 GTD 44   GRT Magnus   John Potter 1:22.388 +11.549 21
24 GTD 30   Team Hardpoint   Rob Ferriol 1:22.855 +12.016 237
Sources:[26][27]
  • 1 The No. 3 Corvette Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[22]
  • 2 The No. 24 BMW Team RLL was moved to the back of the GTLM field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[22]
  • 3 The No. 4 Corvette Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[22]
  • 4 The No. 25 BMW Team RLL entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[22]
  • 5 The No. 76 Compass Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field for violating competition rules regarding the car's ride height.[28]
  • 6 The No. 74 Riley Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[22]
  • 7 The No. 30 Team Hardpoint entry was moved to the back of the GTD 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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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

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Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Pos Class No. Team Drivers Chassis Laps Time/retired
Engine
1 DPi 7   Acura Team Penske   Hélio Castroneves
  Ricky Taylor
Acura ARX-05 115 2:40:07.918‡
Acura AR35TT 3.5L Turbo V6
2 DPi 31   Whelen Engineering Racing   Pipo Derani
  Felipe Nasr
Cadillac DPi-V.R 115 +0.607
Cadillac 5.5L V8
3 DPi 10   Konica Minolta Cadillac   Ryan Briscoe
  Renger van der Zande
Cadillac DPi-V.R 115 +15.861
Cadillac 5.5L V8
4 DPi 55   Mazda Motorsports   Jonathan Bomarito
  Harry Tincknell
Mazda RT24-P 115 +16.433
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4
5 DPi 77   Mazda Motorsports   Oliver Jarvis
  Tristan Nunez
Mazda RT24-P 115 +20.646
Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0L Turbo I4
6 DPi 5   JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing   João Barbosa
  Sébastien Bourdais
Cadillac DPi-V.R 115 +24.257
Cadillac 5.5L V8
7

DNF

DPi 6   Acura Team Penske   Dane Cameron
  Juan Pablo Montoya
Acura ARX-05 112 Did not finish
Acura AR35TT 3.5L Turbo V6
8 GTLM 3   Corvette Racing   Antonio García
  Jordan Taylor
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 110 +5 Laps‡
Chevrolet 5.5L V8
9 GTLM 4   Corvette Racing   Oliver Gavin
  Tommy Milner
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 110 +5 Laps
Chevrolet 5.5L V8
10 GTLM 25   BMW Team RLL   Connor De Phillippi
  Bruno Spengler
BMW M8 GTE 110 +5 Laps
BMW S63 4.0L Turbo V8
11 GTLM 24   BMW Team RLL   John Edwards
  Jesse Krohn
BMW M8 GTE 110 +5 Laps
BMW S63 4.0L Turbo V8
12 GTD 14   AIM Vasser Sullivan   Jack Hawksworth
  Aaron Telitz
Lexus RC F GT3 108 +7 Laps‡
Lexus 5.0L V8
13 GTD 74   Riley Motorsports   Lawson Aschenbach
  Gar Robinson
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 108 +7 Laps
Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2L V8
14 GTD 16   Wright Motorsports   Ryan Hardwick
  Patrick Long
Porsche 911 GT3 R 108 +7 Laps
Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
15 GTD 23   Heart of Racing Team   Roman De Angelis
  Ian James
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 108 +7 Laps
Aston Martin 4.0L Turbo V8
16 GTD 86   Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian   Mario Farnbacher
  Matt McMurry
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 108 +7 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
17 GTD 57   Heinricher Racing w/ MSR Curb-Agajanian   Mikhail Goikhberg
  Álvaro Parente
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 108 +7 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
18 GTD 44   GRT Magnus Racing Team   Andy Lally
  John Potter
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 108 +7 Laps
Lamborghini 5.2L V10
19 GTD 76   Compass Racing   Corey Fergus
  Paul Holton
McLaren 720S GT3 108 +7 Laps
McLaren M840T 4.0L Turbo V8
20 GTD 22   Gradient Racing   Till Bechtolsheimer
  Marc Miller
Acura NSX GT3 Evo 107 +8 Laps
Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
21 GTD 12   AIM Vasser Sullivan   Townsend Bell
  Frankie Montecalvo
Lexus RC F GT3 87 +28 Laps
Lexus 5.0L V8
22

DNF

DPi 85   JDC-Miller MotorSports   Gabriel Aubry
  Tristan Vautier
Cadillac DPi-V.R 86 Did not finish
Cadillac 5.5L V8
23 GTD 96   Turner Motorsport   Bill Auberlen
  Robby Foley
BMW M6 GT3 83 +32 Laps
BMW 4.4L Turbo V8
24

DNF

GTD 30   Team Hardpoint   Rob Ferriol
  Spencer Pumpelly
Audi R8 LMS Evo 60 Did not finish
Audi 5.2L V10
Sources:[30][31]

Standings after the race

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  • 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

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  1. ^ "IMSA Mid-Ohio: Castroneves, Taylor score third straight win for Acura". autosport.com. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  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.
  4. ^ "IMSA Update on the 2020 Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio". imsa.com. 18 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  5. ^ "2020 Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio Reschedule Update". midohio.com. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Mid-Ohio to Permit Up to 6,000 Spectators". sportscar365.com. 17 September 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  7. ^ "Acura Sports Car Challenge Fact Sheet". midohio.com. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  8. ^ "TB-IWSC-20-22-DPi-and-GTD-BoP-Tables-Mid-Ohio-09112020.pdf" (PDF). imsa.com. 11 September 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. September 9, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  10. ^ a b "Entry List: Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio". frontstretch.com. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  11. ^ "Porsche pulls GTLM cars from Mid-Ohio because of COVID-19 positives". motorsports.nbcsports.com. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  12. ^ a b "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. ^ a b 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.
  19. ^ Dagys, John (September 26, 2020). "Castroneves Tops Saturday Practice at Mid-Ohio". sportscar365.com. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  20. ^ "03_Results_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. September 26, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  21. ^ "06_Fastest Lap By Driver_Practice 2.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. September 26, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g "2020 IMSA SPORTING REGULATIONS and SERIES SUPPLEMENTARY REGULATIONS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 December 2023. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  23. ^ "Cameron takes IMSA Mid-Ohio pole for Acura". racer.com. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  24. ^ Dagys, John (September 27, 2020). "Cameron Leads Acura Penske Front Row Sweep at Mid-Ohio". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  25. ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (September 27, 2020). "IMSA Mid-Ohio: Acura Team Penske locks out front row". motorsport.com. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  26. ^ "03_Results_Qualifying.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  27. ^ "01_Grid_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. September 27, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  28. ^ "IWSC 20-14 Mid-Ohio #75 Compass Racing.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com/noticeBoard.php. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
  29. ^ 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. September 30, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  30. ^ "03_Results_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). October 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  31. ^ "2020 ACURA SPORTS CAR CHALLENGE". racing-reference.info. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
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