2020 WeatherTech 240

The 2020 WeatherTech 240 was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at the Daytona International Speedway combined road course in Daytona Beach, Florida, on July 4, 2020. This race was the second round of the 2020 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 new Corvette C8.R, alongside Corvette Racing's 100th win in IMSA competition. The race was also just the 12th caution-free race since the merger in 2014.

Background

The race was the first for the series following the suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was initially announced to be run behind closed doors. 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 of Florida. The race was also the first time since 2010 that the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship or its previous series had competed in the Paul Revere 250 Independence Day event.

Before the race, Ryan Briscoe, Renger van der Zande, Scott Dixon, and Kamui Kobayashi led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 35 points each, ahead of Oliver Jarvis, Tristan Nunez, and Olivier Pla with 32 points each, and Sébastien Bourdais, João Barbosa, and Loïc Duval with 30 points each. With 35 points, the GTLM Drivers' Championship was led by John Edwards, Jesse Krohn, Augusto Farfus, and Chaz Mostert with a three-point advantage over Earl Bamber, Laurens Vanthoor, and Mathieu Jaminet. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Corey Lewis, and Andrea Caldarelli with 35 points, ahead of Andy Lally, John Potter, Spencer Pumpelly, and Marco Mapelli with 32 points each. Cadillac, BMW, and Lamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R, BMW Team RLL, and Paul Miller Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entries

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 the DPi class, 6 cars in the GTLM class, and 12 cars in the GTD class. In DPi, Gabby Chaves filled in for Felipe Nasr in the Whelen Engineering Racing entry, due to Nasr testing positive for COVID-19. Multimatic Motorsports took over the Mazda DPi program from Joest Racing. The LMP2 class did not participate in the event. In GTLM, Risi Competizione were absent. In GTD, Paul Miller Racing, the GTD class winner in the Rolex 24, didn't enter the event due to effects of the pandemic. Likewise, Pfaff Motorsports also didn't enter, due to travel restrictions surrounding being based in Canada. The No. 19 GEAR Racing powered by GRT Grasser entry, the No. 91 of Wright Motorsports, and the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin all declined to enter the event as well. Team Hardpoint made their series debut, and Gradient Racing returned for the first time since 2018. Prior to the event, Aaron Telitz was announced as the replacement for Parker Chase in the No. 14 entry for AIM Vasser Sullivan. Compass Racing made their season debut.

Practice

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.

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 6:15 pm ET on Friday and ended with Juan Pablo Montoya topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:35.960. The GTLM class was topped by the #912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Laurens Vanthoor with a time of 1:44.003. Tommy Milner in the #4 Corvette Racing entry was second and Nick Tandy rounded out the top 3. The GTD class was topped by the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 of Toni Vilander with a time of 1:47.481.

Practice 2

The second and final practice session took place at 10:15 am ET on Saturday and ended with Oliver Jarvis topping the charts for Mazda Motorsports, with a lap time of 1:34.398. The GTLM class was topped by the #911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Nick Tandy with a time of 1:42.990. Oliver Gavin in the #4 Corvette Racing entry was second and Jordan Taylor rounded out the top 3. The GTD class was topped by the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Aaron Telitz with a time of 1:46.694.

Qualifying

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. 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.

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 for Compass Racing, beating Aaron Telitz in the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan entry by less than two tenths of a second.

The second session of qualifying was for cars in the GTLM class. Oliver Gavin qualified on pole driving the #4 car for Corvette Racing, besting Jordan Taylor in the sister #3 Corvette Racing entry.

The final session of qualifying was for the DPi class. Hélio Castroneves qualified on pole driving the #7 car for Acura Team Penske, beating Oliver Jarvis in the #77 Mazda Motorsports by less than fifty-hundredths of a second.

Qualifying results

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by .

* The No. 44 GRT Magnus entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).

Race

Post-race

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. 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. 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. 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.

Result

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 in bold and .

Standings after the race

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

References

{{Sportscar Race Report
, Year_of_race = 2020
, Sportscar_Series = IMSA SportsCar Championship
, Previous_race_in_season = 24 Hours of Daytona
, Next_race_in_season = Cadillac Grand Prix of Sebring

24 Hours of Daytona
Daytona
2020 24 Hours of Daytona
WeatherTech 240
WeatherTech 240