2020 TireRack.com Grand Prix at Road Atlanta
The 2020 TireRack.com Grand Prix at Road Atlanta was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia on September 5th, 2020. This race was the sixth round of the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the second round of the 2020 Michelin Endurance Cup.
The overall race was won by the #7 Acura Team Penske duo of Hélio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor. In LMP2, Scott Huffaker, Patrick Kelly, and Simon Trummer claimed PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports' second class victory of the season. BMW Team RLL triumphed in GTLM, scoring their second win in as many endurance races with Connor De Phillippi and Bruno Spengler behind the wheel. GTD was won by Meyer Shank Racing's #86 entry of Mario Farnbacher, Matt McMurry, and Shinya Michimi.[1]
Background
The race was brought about as a replacement to the annual 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, which was canceled in 2020 due to New York state COVID-19 travel and gathering restrictions.[2] In late August, Tire Rack was announced as the title sponsor of the event.[3] After fan entry was prohibited at the previous round at VIR, spectators were allowed to attend the event, albeit subject to strict COVID-19 restrictions, including a lack of paddock access and facemask mandates.[4]
On August 27, 2020, IMSA released their latest technical bulletin, outlining BoP for the race.[5] In DPi, the lone change was a 15 kilogram weight reduction for the Cadillac. Similarly in GTLM, a 20 kilogram weight increase for the Porsche was the only adjustment made. In GTD, the Aston Martin received a 7.1 kilowatt increase to its average power delta, alongside increases to its turbocharger boost ratio. Several GTD cars also underwent fuel capacity adjustments. The Aston Martin, BMW, and Ferrari all received slight increases, while the Lamborghini received a one liter fuel capacity decrease.
Entries
A total of 28 cars took part in the event, split across four classes. 8 were entered in DPi, 2 in LMP2, 6 in GTLM, and 12 in GTD. Due to the endurance nature of the event, many teams drafted in a third driver, with teams in the LMP2 and GTD classes obligated to do so. Tristan Vautier, after running the majority of the early season with JDC-Miller Motorsports' #85 entry, was entered as a third driver in the #5. As a result, Stephen Simpson returned to the #85 to partner Matheus Leist.[6] The preliminary LMP2 class list featured four entries, which reduced to two by the time the green flag dropped. Starworks Motorsport withdrew early, and were followed by Performance Tech Motorsports after travel restrictions prohibited driver Cameron Cassels from traveling to and from his native Canada.[7] In GTD, the third driver demands forced AIM Vasser Sullivan to split the championship-contending duo of Aaron Telitz and Jack Hawksworth, placing Telitz in the #12 and leaving Hawksworth in the #14.[8] GRT Grasser Racing Team also returned to IMSA competition, after most recently competing in the season-opening 24 Hours of Daytona. They fielded a Lamborghini for Richard Heistand, Steijn Schothorst, and Richard Westbrook.[6]
Qualifying
Hélio Castroneves took overall pole for the event. Patrick Kelly scored pole position in LMP2, while Nick Tandy started first in GTLM. Frankie Montecalvo claimed his second pole of the season in GTD.[9]
Qualifying results
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 | 1:08.674 | _ | 1 |
| 2 | DPi | 31 | Whelen Engineering Racing | Felipe Nasr | 1:08.730 | +0.056 | 2 |
| 3 | DPi | 6 | Acura Team Penske | Dane Cameron | 1:08.767 | +0.093 | 3 |
| 4 | DPi | 77 | Mazda Motorsports | Tristan Nunez | 1:08.916 | +0.242 | 4 |
| 5 | DPi | 55 | Mazda Motorsports | Harry Tincknell | 1:08.948 | +0.274 | 5 |
| 6 | DPi | 5 | Mustang Sampling Racing / JDC-Miller Motorsports | Sébastien Bourdais | 1:09.067 | +0.393 | 6 |
| 7 | DPi | 10 | Konica Minolta Cadillac | Renger van der Zande | 1:09.079 | +0.405 | 7 |
| 8 | DPi | 85 | JDC-Miller Motorsports | Matheus Leist | 1:09.683 | +1.009 | 8 |
| 9 | LMP2 | 52 | PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports | Patrick Kelly | 1:12.209 | +3.535 | 9 |
| 10 | LMP2 | 18 | Era Motorsport | Dwight Merriman | 1:15.490 | +6.816 | 10 |
| 11 | GTLM | 911 | Porsche GT Team | Nick Tandy | 1:16.167 | +7.493 | 11 |
| 12 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing | Antonio García | 1:16.181 | +7.507 | 12 |
| 13 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing | Tommy Milner | 1:16.212 | +7.538 | 13 |
| 14 | GTLM | 912 | Porsche GT Team | Laurens Vanthoor | 1:16.245 | +7.571 | 14 |
| 15 | GTLM | 25 | BMW Team RLL | Connor De Phillippi | 1:16.253 | +7.579 | 15 |
| 16 | GTLM | 24 | BMW Team RLL | Jesse Krohn | 1:16.359 | +7.685 | 16 |
| 17 | GTD | 12 | AIM Vasser Sullivan | Frankie Montecalvo | 1:19.757 | +11.083 | 17 |
| 18 | GTD | 48 | Paul Miller Racing | Madison Snow | 1:19.907 | +11.233 | 18 |
| 19 | GTD | 16 | Wright Motorsports | Jan Heylen | 1:19.920 | +11.246 | 19 |
| 20 | GTD | 86 | Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian | Shinya Michimi | 1:20.009 | +11.335 | 20 |
| 21 | GTD | 11 | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Steijn Schothorst | 1:20.125 | +11.451 | 21 |
| 22 | GTD | 57 | Heinricher Racing w/ MSR Curb-Agajanian | Mikhail Goikhberg | 1:20.364 | +11.690 | 22 |
| 23 | GTD | 96 | Turner Motorsport | Robby Foley | 1:20.469 | +11.795 | 23 |
| 24 | GTD | 63 | Scuderia Corsa | Jeff Westphal | 1:20.606 | +11.932 | 24 |
| 25 | GTD | 14 | AIM Vasser Sullivan | Michael de Quesada | 1:20.615 | +11.941 | 25 |
| 26 | GTD | 74 | Riley Motorsports | Gar Robinson | 1:20.649 | +11.975 | 26 |
| 27 | GTD | 23 | Heart of Racing Team | Ian James | 1:20.828 | +12.154 | 27 |
| — | GTD | 44 | GRT Magnus Racing Team | Did Not Participate | — | ||
| Source:[10] | |||||||
Results
Class winners are denoted in bold and .
.svg.png.webp){kind=small}
.svg.png.webp){kind=small}
.svg.png.webp){kind=small}
.svg.png.webp){kind=small}
References
- "Action-Packed TireRack.com Grand Prix Highlights Michelin's Endurance". michelinracingusa.com. 5 September 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- "Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen race moved from Watkins Glen International to Atlanta". stargazette.com. 3 August 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- "Michelin to Serve as Title Sponsor for 6H Road Atlanta". sportscar365.com. 24 August 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- "Michelin Endurance Challenge Weekend Race Week Is Here". motorsportamerica.com. 7 September 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- "TB-IWSC-20-20-Road-Atlanta-1-BoP-Tables-08272020-Revised.pdf" (PDF). imsa.com. 27 August 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- "Entry List: TireRack.com Grand Prix". frontstretch.com. 3 September 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- "Performance Tech Withdraws; Two LMP2s for Road Atlanta". sportscar365.com. 2 September 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- "IMSA Road Atlanta entry list features notable additions for 6-hour race". motorsports.nbcsports.com. 26 August 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- "Helio Castroneves Wins TireRack.com Grand Prix Pole". frontstretch.com. 4 September 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- "03_Results_Qualifying.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- "03_Results_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). September 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2021.