2020 MOTUL 100% Synthetic Grand Prix
The 2020 MOTUL 100% Synthetic Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in Concord, North Carolina on October 10th, 2020. This race was the eighth round of the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the sixth round of the 2020 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
The overall race was won by the #3 team of Jordan Taylor and Antonio García, the duo's fifth of the season. The Turner Motorsport team of Robby Foley and Bill Auberlen took victory in the GTD class, their second win of the season.[1]
Background
The race replaced the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park due to travel issues regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in Connecticut, meaning the race would be run as part of a triple-header weekend and a double-header Saturday evening with the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series.[2] The race was the shortest of the 2020 season at just 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes) in length, and was one of two events that included only entries from the GTLM and GTD classes.[3] The race also marked the first time since 2000 that an IMSA series raced at Charlotte Motor Speedway.[4] In late September, Motul was announced as the primary sponsor of the event.[5]
On October 2, 2020, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin regarding the Balance of Performance for the race. In the GTLM class, the Porsche 911 received a 15 kilogram weight reduction, while no other changes were made to other cars in the class. In GTD, the Ferrari 488 received a 6.7 horsepower increase, a 5 kilogram increase in minimum weight, and a one-liter increase in fuel capacity.[6]
Entries
A total of 18 cars took part in the event, the lowest number of entries that season, but because the two prototype classes were not scheduled to participate in this event, there were more cars between the two participating classes for this race than the previous round at Mid-Ohio. There were six cars in the GTLM class, two more than at Mid-Ohio, when the CORE Autosport-run Porsche GT Team skipped the previous round due to novel coronavirus concerns within the Porsche factory camp following the 24 Heures du Mans, and twelve cars in the GTD class, the same as the preceding event. Jeff Kingsley made his series debut in the Compass McLaren.[7] Despite the BoP break, Scuderia Corsa missed their second consecutive event, with driver Cooper MacNeil focusing on a championship in the Ferrari Challenge.[6] Frankie Montecalvo was replaced in the #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan entry by Michael De Quesada, as the former was getting married (originally, this race was to have been held at Lime Rock Park on July 17-18, and later rescheduled to October 30-31 before being moved to Charlotte where promoters moved the dates to be part of the NASCAR weekend after state authorities rejected the event over travel restrictions).[8]
Qualifying
Both qualifying sessions demonstrated the drivers' lack of familiarity with the circuit. Laurens Vanthoor broke his Porsche's rear suspension in an accident at turn 7 that drew a red flag. As the session came to a close, Jesse Krohn knocked the mirror off his BMW in turn 1. GTD pole-winner Aaron Telitz suffered minor contact with the outside wall coming out of the final chicane, Kingsley and Rob Ferriol made contact coming into said chicane, and the GTD session's red flag came after Mikhail Goikhberg hit the wall at turn 7 and was unable to get his car going again.[9]
Qualifying results
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by 
.
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing | Jordan Taylor | 1:14.278 | _ | 1 |
| 2 | GTLM | 911 | Porsche GT Team | Frédéric Makowiecki | 1:14.334 | +0.056 | 2 |
| 3 | GTLM | 25 | BMW Team RLL | Bruno Spengler | 1:14.730 | +0.452 | 3 |
| 4 | GTLM | 24 | BMW Team RLL | Jesse Krohn | 1:14.824 | +0.546 | 4 |
| 5 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing | Oliver Gavin | 1:15.067 | +0.789 | 5 |
| 6 | GTD | 14 | AIM Vasser Sullivan | Aaron Telitz | 1:17.954 | +3.676 | 6 |
| 7 | GTD | 96 | Turner Motorsport | Robby Foley | 1:18.077 | +3.799 | 7 |
| 8 | GTD | 86 | Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Matt McMurry | 1:18.091 | +3.813 | 8 |
| 9 | GTD | 76 | Compass Racing | Jeff Kingsley | 1:18.147 | +3.869 | 9 |
| 10 | GTD | 16 | Wright Motorsports | Ryan Hardwick | 1:18.232 | +3.954 | 10 |
| 11 | GTD | 74 | Riley Motorsports | Gar Robinson | 1:18.540 | +4.262 | 11 |
| 12 | GTD | 22 | Gradient Racing | Till Bechtolsheimer | 1:18.725 | +4.447 | 12 |
| 13 | GTD | 12 | AIM Vasser Sullivan | Michael De Quesada | 1:18.923 | +4.645 | 13 |
| 14 | GTD | 23 | Heart of Racing Team | Ian James | 1:19.299 | +5.021 | 14 |
| 15 | GTD | 44 | GRT Magnus Racing Team | John Potter | 1:20.102 | +5.824 | 15 |
| 16 | GTD | 30 | Team Hardpoint | Rob Ferriol | 1:21.235 | +6.957 | 16 |
| 17 | GTD | 57 | Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian | Mikhail Goikhberg | 1:22.908 | +8.630 | 17 |
| 18 | GTLM | 912 | Porsche GT Team | Laurens Vanthoor | 18 | ||
| Source:[10] | |||||||
Results
Class winners are denoted in bold and .
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References
- "Corvette duo of Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor win again at Charlotte Roval". motorsports.nbcsports.com. 10 October 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
- "Venue Modifications Shift Upcoming Events to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Charlotte ROVAL". imsa.com. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- "IMSA will move races to Road Atlanta, Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval". motorsports.nbcsports.com. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- "Blast from the Past". imsa.com. 5 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- "Motul Expands IMSA Presence with Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL Event Sponsorship". imsa.com. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- "Porsche, Ferrari Get BoP Breaks". sportscar365.com. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- "Entry List Notebook - MOTUL 100% Synthetic Grand Prix at Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL". imsa.com. 30 September 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- "De Quesada Replaces Montecalvo For Charlotte IMSA Race". dailysportscar.com. 7 October 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- "Jordan Taylor Wins Motul 100% Synthetic Grand Prix Pole". frontstretch.com. 10 October 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
- "03_Results_Qualifying" (PDF). Retrieved 25 October 2020.
External links
| WeatherTech SportsCar Championship | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous race: 2020 Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio |
2020 season | Next race: 2020 MOTUL Petit Le Mans |