The2020 WeatherTech 240 was asports car race sanctioned by theInternational Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at theDaytona International Speedway combined road course inDaytona Beach, Florida, on July 4, 2020. This race was the second round of the2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the first round of the 2020 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
Taylor and García's GTLM class victory marked the first victory for the newCorvette C8.R, alongside Corvette Racing's 100th win inIMSA competition.[1] The race was also just the 12thcaution-free race since the merger in 2014.[2]
The race was the first for the series following the suspension due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, and was initially announced to be runbehind 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 ofFlorida.[4] The race was also the first time since 2010 that theWeatherTech 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, andKamui Kobayashi led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 35 points each, ahead ofOliver Jarvis,Tristan Nunez, andOlivier Pla with 32 points each, andSébastien Bourdais,João Barbosa, andLoïc Duval with 30 points each.[6] With 35 points, the GTLM Drivers' Championship was led byJohn Edwards,Jesse Krohn,Augusto Farfus, andChaz Mostert with a three-point advantage overEarl Bamber,Laurens Vanthoor, andMathieu Jaminet.[6] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led byBryan Sellers,Madison Snow,Corey Lewis, andAndrea Caldarelli with 35 points, ahead ofAndy Lally,John Potter,Spencer Pumpelly, andMarco Mapelli with 32 points each.[6]Cadillac,BMW, andLamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, whileKonica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R,BMW Team RLL, andPaul Miller Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.[6]
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 theDPi class, 6 cars in theGTLM class, and 12 cars in the GTD class.[7] In DPi,Gabby Chaves filled in forFelipe Nasr in theWhelen Engineering Racing entry, due to Nasr testing positive for COVID-19.[8]Multimatic Motorsports took over the Mazda DPi program fromJoest Racing.[9] TheLMP2 class did not participate in the event.[7] In GTLM,Risi Competizione were absent. In GTD,Paul Miller Racing, the GTD class winner in theRolex 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 inCanada.[11] The No. 19 GEAR Racing powered byGRT Grasser entry, the No. 91 of Wright Motorsports, and the No. 23 Heart of Racing TeamAston 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 forParker Chase in the No. 14 entry forAIM Vasser Sullivan.[17]Compass Racing made their season debut.[7]
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]
The first practice session took place at 6:15 pmET on Friday and ended withJuan Pablo Montoya topping the charts forAcura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:35.960.[19] The GTLM class was topped by the #912Porsche GT TeamPorsche 911 RSR-19 ofLaurens Vanthoor with a time of 1:44.003.Tommy Milner in the #4Corvette Racing entry was second andNick Tandy rounded out the top 3.[20] The GTD class was topped by the #63Scuderia CorsaFerrari 488 GT3 ofToni 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] | ||||||
The second and final practice session took place at 10:15 amET on Saturday and ended withOliver Jarvis topping the charts forMazda Motorsports, with a lap time of 1:34.398.[24] The GTLM class was topped by the #911Porsche GT TeamPorsche 911 RSR-19 of Nick Tandy with a time of 1:42.990.Oliver Gavin in the #4Corvette Racing entry was second andJordan Taylor rounded out the top 3.[25] The GTD class was topped by the #14AIM Vasser SullivanLexus RC F GT3 ofAaron 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] | ||||||
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 forCompass Racing, beatingAaron Telitz in the #14AIM 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 forCorvette Racing, bestingJordan Taylor in the sister #3Corvette Racing entry.[31]
The final session of qualifying was for the DPi class.Hélio Castroneves qualified on pole driving the #7 car forAcura Team Penske, beatingOliver Jarvis in the #77Mazda Motorsports by less than fifty-hundredths of a second.[32]
Pole positions in each class are indicated inbold 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 withCurb-Agajanian | Matt McMurry | 1:47.779 | +13.389 | 20 |
| 21 | GTD | 57 | Heinricher Racing withMSRCurb-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 | GRTMagnus | 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] | |||||||
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]
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 inbold and ‡.
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| Previous race: 24 Hours of Daytona | 2020 season | Next race: Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring |
