The 2020 Le Mans Cup, known as the 2020 Michelin Le Mans Cup under sponsorship, was the fifth season of the Le Mans Cup. It began on 18 July at the Circuit Paul Ricard and finished on 1 November at Algarve International Circuit. The series was open to Le Mans Prototypes in the LMP3 class, and grand tourer sports cars in the GT3 class. The 2020 calendar was released on 4 April 2020.[1]
This season ran with a newly updated 2020 ACO LMP3 specification, including an uplift of ~35bhp in power and to 5.6 litres from 5.0 litres.[2] An issue with fuel consumption came to light after Free Practice sessions; the spec Nissan VK56 / X-Trac drivetrain, homologated and supplied through Oreca, used more fuel than was predicted. To mitigate this in the first race an additional mandatory pit stop was added, along with adjustments to relevant mandatory stop times and driver stint rules.
The 2020 calendar was released on 4 April 2020. All races supported the 2020 European Le Mans Series except the Le Mans round, which was part of the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans weekend.
The Barcelona round was moved to Paul Ricard due to the COVID-19 situation in Barcelona.[3]
| Round | Circuit | Location | Race length | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Circuit Paul Ricard | Le Castellet, France | 2 hours | 18 July | |
| 2 |  Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | Spa, Belgium | 2 hours | 8 August | |
| 3 | Circuit Paul Ricard | Le Castellet, France | 2 hours | 29 August | |
| 4 | Circuit de la Sarthe | Le Mans, France | 55 minutes | 19 September | |
| 55 minutes | 18 September | ||||
| 5 |  Autodromo Nazionale Monza | Monza, Italy | 2 hours | 10 October | |
| 6 |  Algarve International Circuit | Portimão, Portugal | 2 hours | 1 November |
| Team | Car | Drivers | Rounds | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DKR Engineering[4] | Duqueine M30 - D08 | 1 | Ugo de Wilde | 4 | |
 Wolfgang Triller | 4 | ||||
| 3 | Jean Glorieux | 1–5 | |||
| Laurents Hörr | All | ||||
| Wolfgang Triller | 6 | ||||
 Realteam Racing | Ligier JS P320 | 4 | Esteban Garcia | 4 | |
| David Droux | 4 | ||||
 CD Sport | Ligier JS P320 | 5 |  Nicholas Adcock | All | |
 Michael Jensen | All | ||||
| 6 | Jacques Wolff | All | |||
| Joffrey de Narda | 1–3, 5–6 | ||||
| Kévin Bole Besançon[5] | 4 | ||||
| Nielsen Racing | Duqueine M30 - D08 | 7 | Colin Noble | All | |
| Anthony Wells | All | ||||
| 10 |  Garett Grist | All | |||
 Rob Hodes | All | ||||
| Racing Experience | Duqueine M30 - D08 | 11 | Gary Hauser | 1, 4 | |
 Yury Wagner | 1, 3 | ||||
| Nicolas Melin | 2, 4–5 | ||||
| David Hauser | 2–3, 5 | ||||
 Team Virage | Ligier JS P320 | 12 | Julien Falchero | 3 | |
| Philippe Haezebrouck | 3 | ||||
| James Winslow | 4 | ||||
| Tom Cloet | 4 | ||||
| Alessandro Ghiretti | 6 | ||||
| Miguel Cristóvão | 6 | ||||
| Eurointernational | Ligier JS P320 | 14 |  Niko Kari | 4 | |
| François Heriau | 4 | ||||
| RLR MSport | Ligier JS P320 | 15 | James Dayson | 4 | |
| Malthe Jakobsen | 4 | ||||
| Grainmarket Racing | Duqueine M30 - D08 | 20 | Mark Crader | 1–2, 5 | |
| Alex Mortimer | 1–2, 5 | ||||
| Mühlner Motorsport | Duqueine M30 - D08 | 21 | Moritz Kranz | All | |
| Tom Cloet | 1–2 | ||||
| Gilles Magnus | 3–4 | ||||
| Alex Kapadia | 5–6 | ||||
| United Autosports[6] | Ligier JS P320 | 22 | Jim McGuire | 4 | |
| Duncan Tappy | 4 | ||||
| 23 | Wayne Boyd[7] | All | |||
| John Schauerman | All | ||||
| 24 | Andy Meyrick[8] | All | |||
 Daniel Schneider | All | ||||
| 25 | Shaun Lynn | 4 | |||
| Joe Macari | 4 | ||||
| Graff | Ligier JS P320 | 26 |  Matthias Kaiser | All | |
| Rory Penttinen | All | ||||
| MV2S Racing | Ligier JS P320 | 27 | Christophe Cresp | All | |
| Bruce Jouanny | 1, 4 | ||||
| Fabien Lavergne | 2–3, 5–6 | ||||
| Cool Racing | Ligier JS P320 | 37 | Edouard Cauhaupe | All | |
| Nicolas Maulini | All | ||||
| 69 | Maurice Smith | All | |||
| Ben Barnicoat | 1 | ||||
| Matt Bell | 2–6 | ||||
| Rinaldi Racing | Duqueine M30 - D08 | 55 | Alexander Mattschull | 1, 3–4, 6 | |
| Daniel Keilwitz | 1, 3 | ||||
| Nicolas Schatz | 4 | ||||
 Nicolás Varrone | 6 | ||||
| 66 | Steve Parrow | 1–4, 6 | |||
| Dominik Schwager | 1–4, 6 | ||||
| IDEC Sport | Ligier JS P320 | 75 | Patrice Lafargue | 3–6 | |
| Stéphane Adler | 3–4 | ||||
| Dimitri Enjalbert | 5–6 | ||||
| Motorsport98 | Ligier JS P320 | 98 | Eric De Doncker | 1–3, 5–6 | |
| Dino Lunardi | 1–3, 5–6 | ||||
| Entries: | |||||
| Team | Car | Drivers | Rounds | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pzoberer Zürichsee by TFT | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 2 | Julien Andlauer | 1, 3–6 | |
| Nicolas Leutwiler | 1, 3–6 | ||||
| Iron Lynx[9] | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 8 | Rino Mastronardi | All | |
| Giacomo Piccini | 1–2, 4–6 | ||||
| Nicklas Nielsen | 3 | ||||
| 9 | Michelle Gatting | 1–2 | |||
| Deborah Mayer | 1–2 | ||||
| Paolo Ruberti | 4 | ||||
 Murad Sultanov | 4 | ||||
| Niccolò Schirò | 5 | ||||
| Emanuele Maria Tabacchi | 5 | ||||
| 77 | Claudio Schiavoni | 1–5 | |||
| Andrea Piccini | 1–2, 4–5 | ||||
 Matt Griffin | 3 | ||||
| IDEC Sport | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 17 | Patrice Lafargue | 1 | |
| Erik Maris | 1 | ||||
| Delahaye Racing Team | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 28 | Pierre-Etienne Bordet | 4 | |
| Alexandre Viron | 4 | ||||
| Kessel Racing | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 50 | Oliver Hancock | All | |
| John Hartshorne | All | ||||
| 67 | Murad Sultanov | 1–3 | |||
| Paolo Ruberti | 1–2 | ||||
| Andrea Belicchi | 3 | ||||
 Murat Cuhadaroglu | 4–5 | ||||
| Nicola Cadei | 4 | ||||
| David Fumanelli | 5 | ||||
| 74 | Michael Broniszewski | All | |||
| David Perel | All | ||||
| Spirit of Race | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 51 | Gunnar Jeannette | 4 | |
| Rodrigo Sales | 4 | ||||
 Orange1 FFF Racing Team | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 | 63 | Andrea Caldarelli | 4 | |
 Hiroshi Hamaguchi | 4 | ||||
| Optimum Motorsport | McLaren 720S GT3 | 70 | Brendan Iribe | 5 | |
| Oliver Milroy | 5 | ||||
| Sky - Tempesta Racing | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 93 | Chris Froggatt | 4 | |
 Jonathan Hui | 4 | ||||
| Entries[10] | |||||
Bold indicates the overall winner.
| Circuit | LMP3 Winning Team | GT3 Winning Team | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LMP3 Winning Drivers | GT3 Winning Drivers | |||
| 1 | Paul Ricard | No. 3 DKR Engineering | No. 8 Iron Lynx | |
| Jean Glorieux Laurents Hörr | Rino Mastronardi Giacomo Piccini | |||
| 2 | Spa-Francorchamps | No. 37 Cool Racing | No. 8 Iron Lynx | |
| Edouard Cauhaupe Nicolas Maulini | Rino Mastronardi Giacomo Piccini | |||
| 3 | Paul Ricard | No. 69 Cool Racing | No. 2 Pzoberer Zürichsee by TFT | |
| Maurice Smith Matt Bell | Julien Andlauer Nicolas Leutwiler | |||
| 4 | 1 | Le Mans | No. 3 DKR Engineering | No. 8 Iron Lynx |
| Jean Glorieux Laurents Hörr | Rino Mastronardi Giacomo Piccini | |||
| 2 | No. 37 Cool Racing | No. 74 Kessel Racing | ||
| Edouard Cauhaupe Nicolas Maulini | Michael Broniszewski David Perel | |||
| 5 | Monza | No. 3 DKR Engineering | No. 2 Pzoberer Zürichsee by TFT | |
| Jean Glorieux Laurents Hörr | Julien Andlauer Nicolas Leutwiler | |||
| 6 | Portimão | No. 7 Nielsen Racing | No. 8 Iron Lynx | |
| Colin Noble Anthony Wells | Rino Mastronardi Giacomo Piccini |
Points are awarded according to the following structure:
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Pole | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 25 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | |
| Le Mans | 15 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1 |
| Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||