The2020 Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring was asports car race sanctioned by theInternational Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held atSebring International Raceway inSebring, Florida on July 18, 2020. This race was the third round of the2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the second round of the 2020 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
The race was won by the #31 team ofPipo Derani andFelipe Nasr, while the LMP2 class victory was taken by Patrick Kelly andSpencer 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 forTommy Milner andOliver Gavin, whileJack Hawksworth andAaron Telitz secured their second consecutive class victory in GTD.[1]
The race was just the second for theWeatherTech SportsCar Championship after returning from thepandemic-induced hiatus. The race was added to the schedule in May due to said pandemic, becoming the second race of the season atSebring alongside the rescheduled12-hour race.[2] Similarly to the previous round atDaytona, 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 (the24 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 andTristan Nunez led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 64 points, ahead ofRyan Briscoe andRenger van der Zande, andJonathan Bomarito andHarry Tincknell with 60 points.[6]Earl Bamber andLaurens Vanthoor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 64 points, ahead ofAntonio García andJordan Taylor with 63 points.[6] In GTD,Jack Hawksworth led the GTD Drivers' Championship with 57 points, ahead ofAaron Telitz with 54 points.Cadillac,BMW, andLamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, whileMazda Motorsports,Porsche GT Team, andAIM 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.
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 theLMP2 class which was absent from theDaytona race.[7] There were 8 cars in theDPi class, 8 cars in theLMP2 class, 6 cars in theGTLM class, and 10 cars in theGTD class. The DPi field was unchanged in terms of entries from the previous event, althoughFelipe Nasr returned after missing the previous race due to testing positive forCOVID-19.Stephen Simpson also replacedChris Miller in the #85. Patrick Kelly replacedSimon Trummer in the #52 due to travel restrictions, andGustavo Menezes was announced to run in the #81, making his first IMSA start since 2018. The twoMeyer Shank RacingAcuras were absent from the event due to the round only scoring points towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.[8]
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]
The first practice session took place at 6:00 pmET on Friday and ended withRenger van der Zande topping the charts forKonica 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 #912Porsche GT TeamPorsche 911 RSR-19 ofLaurens Vanthoor with a time of 1:59.501.Jordan Taylor in the #3Corvette Racing entry was second andOliver Gavin rounded out the top 3.[12] The GTD class was topped by the #76Compass RacingMcLaren 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] | ||||||
The second and final practice session took place at 10:00 amET on Saturday and ended withPipo Derani topping the charts forWhelen 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 #63Scuderia CorsaFerrari 488 GT3 ofToni 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] | ||||||
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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 forAIM Vasser Sullivan.[23]
The second session was for cars in the GTLM class.Jordan Taylor qualified on pole driving the #3 car forCorvette Racing, beatingOliver Gavin the sister #4Corvette 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 forWhelen Engineering Racing, beating Juan Pablo Montoya in the #6Acura Team Penske by over two tenths of a second.[25] Patrick Kelly set the fastest time in LMP2 driving the #52PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports car.[24]
Pole positions in each class are indicated inbold 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 | GRTMagnus | John Potter | 2:04.424 | +17.691 | 29 |
| Source:[26][27] | |||||||
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]
Class winners are denoted inbold and ‡.
Notes
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| IMSA SportsCar Championship | ||
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| Previous race: 2020 WeatherTech 240 | 2020 season | Next race: 2020 IMSA SportsCar Weekend |
