2020 Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship
The 2020 Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey County, California on November 1st, 2020. This race was the tenth round of the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the seventh round of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
The overall race was won by Hélio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor, their fourth victory of the season. In LMP2, PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports secured the class victory by default, as no other teams were entered. The GTLM class was won for the second consecutive race by Porsche, albeit this time with the #912 team of Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor. In GTD, Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry scored their second victory of the season.[1]
Background
Initially scheduled to be run on September 13th, the event was rescheduled for the weekend of November 1st, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] The event was run behind closed doors in order to maintain compliance with California state gathering regulations, as it was the only DPi round, and second GT round (Virginia International Raceway the other round in the season) to be held as such, as the second Daytona, Road America, Mid-Ohio, Charlotte, and both Sebring and Road Atlanta rounds were run with spectators. [3] In May, Hyundai was announced as the new title sponsor of the event.[4]
No changes were made to IMSA's balance of performance from the previous round at Road Atlanta.
Entries
A total of 28 cars took part in the event, split across four classes. 8 were entered in DPi, 1 in LMP2, 6 in GTLM, and 13 in GTD. DPi's only changes were between the two JDC entries. With João Barbosa's exit from the team, Tristan Vautier was drafted in to replace him. As a result, Stephen Simpson returned to the #85 to partner Matheus Leist.[5] LMP2 was reduced to just one entry due to a back injury sustained by Era Motorsport driver Dwight Merriman, leaving championship leaders PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports as the only entrant.[6] In GTD, Alessandro Balzan replaced Toni Vilander as Scuderia Corsa's pro driver.[6] Sprint competitors Team Hardpoint and Compass Racing also returned after skipping Petit Le Mans.[5]
Qualifying
Juan Pablo Montoya took overall pole for the event. Patrick Kelly secured the LMP2 pole by default, while Jordan Taylor started first in GTLM. In GTD, Matt McMurry scored pole position for Meyer Shank Racing.[7]
Qualifying results
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 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 1:15.174 | _ | 1 |
| 2 | DPi | 7 | Acura Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | 1:15.333 | +0.159 | 2 |
| 3 | DPi | 77 | Mazda Motorsports | Oliver Jarvis | 1:15.411 | +0.237 | 3 |
| 4 | DPi | 31 | Whelen Engineering Racing | Pipo Derani | 1:15.420 | +0.246 | 4 |
| 5 | DPi | 5 | Mustang Sampling Racing / JDC-Miller Motorsports | Hélio Castroneves | 1:15.461 | +0.287 | 5 |
| 6 | DPi | 55 | Mazda Motorsports | Jonathan Bomarito | 1:15.580 | +0.406 | 6 |
| 7 | DPi | 10 | Konica Minolta Cadillac | Ryan Briscoe | 1:15.729 | +0.555 | 7 |
| 8 | DPi | 85 | JDC-Miller Motorsports | Matheus Leist | 1:15.852 | +0.678 | 8 |
| 9 | LMP2 | 52 | PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports | Patrick Kelly | 1:19.598 | +4.424 | 9 |
| 10 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing | Jordan Taylor | 1:21.483 | +6.309 | 10 |
| 11 | GTLM | 912 | Porsche GT Team | Laurens Vanthoor | 1:21.725 | +6.551 | 11 |
| 12 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing | Oliver Gavin | 1:21.853 | +6.679 | 12 |
| 13 | GTLM | 25 | BMW Team RLL | Bruno Spengler | 1:22.054 | +6.880 | 13 |
| 14 | GTLM | 24 | BMW Team RLL | Jesse Krohn | 1:22.120 | +6.946 | 14 |
| 15 | GTD | 86 | Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian | Matt McMurry | 1:25.126 | +9.952 | 15 |
| 16 | GTD | 96 | Turner Motorsport | Robby Foley | 1:25.140 | +9.966 | 16 |
| 17 | GTD | 63 | Scuderia Corsa | Cooper MacNeil | 1:25.318 | +10.144 | 17 |
| 18 | GTD | 57 | Heinricher Racing w/ MSR Curb-Agajanian | Mikhail Goikhberg | 1:25.426 | +10.252 | 18 |
| 19 | GTD | 12 | AIM Vasser Sullivan | Frankie Montecalvo | 1:25.475 | +10.301 | 19 |
| 20 | GTD | 23 | Heart of Racing Team | Ian James | 1:25.676 | +10.502 | 20 |
| 21 | GTD | 76 | Compass Racing | Jeff Kingsley | 1:25.826 | +10.652 | 21 |
| 22 | GTD | 22 | Gradient Racing | Till Bechtolsheimer | 1:26.012 | +10.838 | 22 |
| 23 | GTD | 16 | Wright Motorsports | Ryan Hardwick | 1:26.171 | +10.997 | 23 |
| 24 | GTD | 44 | GRT Magnus Racing Team | John Potter | 1:26.359 | +11.185 | 24 |
| 25 | GTD | 14 | AIM Vasser Sullivan | Aaron Telitz | 1:26.404 | +11.230 | 25 |
| 26 | GTD | 30 | Team Hardpoint | Rob Ferriol | 1:26.791 | +11.617 | 26 |
| 27 | GTD | 74 | Riley Motorsports | Gar Robinson | 1:29.460 | +14.286 | 27 |
| 28 | GTLM | 911 | Porsche GT Team | Frédéric Makowiecki | 1:32.856 | +17.682 | 28 |
| Source:[8] | |||||||
Results
Class winners are denoted in bold and .
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- The no. 4 Corvette Racing entry was moved to the rear of the GTLM classification for violating competition rules regarding the height of the car's rear diffuser.[9]
References
- "Laguna Seca IMSA: Taylor and Castroneves profit from team orders to win". autosport.com. 2 November 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
- "IMSA Announces Date Changes for Three 2020 WeatherTech Championship Event Weekends". imsa.com. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- "Laguna IMSA race to run without spectators". racer.com. 11 September 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- "WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca to Host Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship". imsa.com. 28 May 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- "Entry List: WeatherTech Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship". frontstretch.com. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- "Single LMP2 Car on Laguna Seca Entry List". sportscar365.com. 21 October 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- "IMSA Laguna Seca: Acuras lock out front row, Corvette tops GTLM". motorsport.com. 1 November 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- "03_Results_Qualifying.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- "Garcia, Taylor win title after penalty for sister Corvette". 1 November 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- "03_Results_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). November 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.