The 2020 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia on August 22, 2020. This race was the fifth round of the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the fourth round of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
The overall race was won by the #3 Corvette Racing team of Antonio García and Jordan Taylor, the duo's third and the team's fourth victories of the season. In GTD, Bill Auberlen collected his record-breaking 61st career IMSA victory, as Turner Motorsport scored their first class victory of the season.[1]
Then International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2019.[2] It was the seventh consecutive year it was part of the IMSA SCC. The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR was the fifth of eleven sports car races of 2020 by IMSA, and the fourth of seven races on the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.[3] The race was held at the 3.27miles Virginia International Raceway on August 22, 2020.[4] Much like in previous years, the event was a GT only round, in which the GTLM and GTD classes were scheduled to compete.[5] Due to a clash with the Indianapolis 500, the event was moved from August 23, 2020, to August 22, 2020.[6]
Due to Virginia's COVID-19 gathering restrictions, fans were barred from attendance for the first time this season.[7] The previous three rounds had limited attendance, but the VIR round was the first to outright prevent any fans from entering the grounds. Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy entered the race as defending champions, although only Tandy participated in the 2020 iteration.[8]
On August 14, 2020, IMSA released the latest technical bulleting, outlining the BoP for the race.[9] In GTLM, the BMW M8 GTE received a five kilogram weight reduction, while the Corvette and Porsche received 20 kilogram weight increases. The Porsche also received a five-liter fuel capacity increase. In GTD, the Audi received a 20 kilogram weight reduction, while the Lexus (which had won the previous three events) had 15 kilograms of ballast added to its total weight.
Before the race, Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 130 points, ahead of Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor with 120 points, and Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner with 117 points.[10] With 87 points, Jack Hawksworth led the GTD Drivers' Championship, 1 point ahead of Townsend Bell and Frankie Montecalvo in second followed by Aaron Telitz in third. Chevrolet and Lexus were leading their respective Manufactures' Championships while Corvette Racing and AIM Vasser Sullivan each led their own Teams' Championships.
A total of 20 cars took part in the event, split across two classes. 6 were entered in GTLM, while 14 were entered in GTD.[11] The lone change from the previous round was the return of Paul Miller Racing's Lamborghini Huracan, which had been absent since the opening race at Daytona.[12]
There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, both on Friday. The first session lasted one hour on Friday morning while the second session lasted 75 minutes on Friday afternoon.[13]
The first practice session took place at 8:00 am ET on Friday and ended with Laurens Vanthoor topping the charts for Porsche GT Team, with a lap time of 1:41.550.[14] The GTD class was topped by the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth with a time of 1:45.264. Patrick Long was second in the Wright Motorsports entry and Bryan Sellers rounded out the top 3.[15] The session was red flagged four minutes in after Roman De Angelis in the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin hit the barrier at turn 4.[16]
| Class | Team | Driver | Time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GTLM | 912 | Porsche GT Team | Laurens Vanthoor | 1:41.550 | _ | |
| 2 | GTLM | 911 | Porsche GT Team | Nick Tandy | 1:41.936 | +0.386 | |
| 3 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing | Antonio García | 1:42.036 | +0.486 | |
| Sources:[17] [18] | |||||||
The second and final practice session took place at 12:00 pm ET on Friday and ended with Oliver Gavin topping the charts for Corvette Racing, with a lap time of 2:03.700.[19] Aaron Telitz set the fastest time in GTD. Twelve of the twenty entries did not get a time in due to heavy rain.
| Class | Team | Driver | Time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing | Oliver Gavin | 2:03.700 | _ | |
| 2 | GTLM | 912 | Porsche GT Team | Laurens Vanthoor | 2:04.385 | +0.685 | |
| 3 | GTLM | 911 | Porsche GT Team | Frédéric Makowieck | 2:04.818 | +1.118 | |
| Sources:[20] [21] | |||||||
Friday's afternoon qualifying was broken into two sessions, with one session for the 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 the GTLMs ahead of the GTD cars.
The first was for cars in GTD class. Corey Fergus qualified on pole for the class driving the #76 car for Compass Racing, beating Robby Foley in the Turner Motorsport entry by less than one-tenth of a second. The #12 Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo was third followed by Matt McMurry in the #86 Acura.[22]
The final session of qualifying was for the GTLM class. Frédéric Makowiecki qualified on pole driving the #911 car for Porsche GT Team, beating teammate Laurens Vanthoor in the sister #912 Porsche GT Team entry by over one-tenth of a second.[23] [24]
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by .
| Class | Team | Driver | Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GTLM | 911 |  Porsche GT Team |  Frédéric Makowiecki | 1:40.389 | _ | 1 | |
| 2 | GTLM | 912 | Porsche GT Team |  Laurens Vanthoor | 1:40.519 | +0.130 | 2 | |
| 3 | GTLM | 25 | BMW Team RLL | Connor De Phillippi | 1:41.095 | +0.706 | 3 | |
| 4 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing | Jordan Taylor | 1:41.228 | +0.839 | 5 | |
| 5 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing |  Oliver Gavin | 1:41.662 | +1.273 | 6 | |
| 6 | GTLM | 24 | BMW Team RLL | John Edwards | 1:41.716 | +1.327 | 4 | |
| 7 | GTD | 76 | Compass Racing | Corey Fergus | 1:45.236 | +4.847 | 7 | |
| 8 | GTD | 96 | Turner Motorsport | Robby Foley | 1:45.310 | +4.921 | 8 | |
| 9 | GTD | 12 |  AIM Vasser Sullivan | Frankie Montecalvo | 1:45.397 | +5.008 | 9 | |
| 10 | GTD | 86 | Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Matt McMurry | 1:45.434 | +5.045 | 10 | |
| 11 | GTD | 48 | Paul Miller Racing | Madison Snow | 1:45.453 | +5.064 | 11 | |
| 12 | GTD | 14 | AIM Vasser Sullivan | Aaron Telitz | 1:45.524 | +5.135 | 12 | |
| 13 | GTD | 63 | Scuderia Corsa | Cooper MacNeil | 1:45.565 | +5.176 | 13 | |
| 14 | GTD | 57 | Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian | Misha Goikhberg | 1:45.570 | +5.181 | 14 | |
| 15 | GTD | 22 | Gradient Racing | Till Bechtolsheimer | 1:46.196 | +5.807 | 15 | |
| 16 | GTD | 23 | Heart of Racing Team | Ian James | 1:46.391 | +6.002 | 16 | |
| 17 | GTD | 74 | Riley Motorsports | Gar Robinson | 1:46.391 | +6.002 | 18 | |
| 18 | GTD | 16 | Wright Motorsports | Ryan Hardwick | 1:46.459 | +6.070 | 17 | |
| 19 | GTD | 30 | Team Hardpoint | Rob Ferriol | 1:46.726 | +6.337 | 20 | |
| 20 | GTD | 44 | GRT Magnus | John Potter | 1:48.186 | +7.797 | 19 | |
| Sources:[25] [26] | ||||||||
With a total of 165 points, García and Taylor's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Bamber and Vanthoor in the GTLM Drivers' Championship to 29 points.[28] The result kept Hawksworth atop the GTD Drivers' Championship while Farnbacher and McMurry advanced from fourth to second. Foley and Auberlen jumped from ninth to fifth. Chevrolet and Lexus continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Corvette Racing and AIM Vasser Sullivan kept their respective advantages in the their respective of Teams' Championships with six rounds remaining in the season.
Class winners are denoted in bold and .
| +DPi Drivers' Championship standings | +/– | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ryan Briscoe Renger van der Zande | 124 | ||
| 2 | Sébastien Bourdais João Barbosa | 118 | ||
| 3 | Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez | 117 | ||
| 4 |  Pipo Derani | 115 | ||
| 5 | Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell | 112 |
| +LMP2 Drivers' Championship standings | +/– | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cameron Cassels | 64 | ||
| 2 | Patrick Kelly | 63 | ||
| 3 |  Henrik Hedman | 61 | ||
| 4 | Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley | 60 | ||
| 5 | Spencer Pigot | 35 |
| +GTLM Drivers' Championship standings | +/– | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Antonio García Jordan Taylor | 165 | ||
| 2 |  Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor | 146 | ||
| 3 | Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner | 145 | ||
| 4 | 1 | Frédéric Makowiecki Nick Tandy | 143 | |
| 5 | 1 | John Edwards Jesse Krohn | 141 |
| +GTD Drivers' Championship standings | +/– | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack Hawksworth | 115 | ||
| 2 | 2 |  Mario Farnbacher Matt McMurry | 115 | |
| 3 | Aaron Telitz | 112 | ||
| 4 | 2 | Townsend Bell Frankie Montecalvo | 108 | |
| 5 | 4 | Robby Foley Bill Auberlen | 107 |
| +DPi Teams' Championship standings | +/– | Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R | 124 | ||
| 2 | #5 Mustang Sampling Racing / JDC-Miller MotorSports | 118 | ||
| 3 | #77 Mazda Motorsports | 117 | ||
| 4 | #31 Whelen Engineering Racing | 115 | ||
| 5 | #55 Mazda Motorsports | 112 | ||
| +LMP2 Teams' Championship standings | +/– | Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #38 Performance Tech Motorsports | 64 | ||
| 2 | #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | 63 | ||
| 3 | #81 DragonSpeed USA | 61 | ||
| 4 | #18 Era Motorsport | 60 | ||
| 5 | #8 Tower Motorsport by Starworks | 28 |
| +GTLM Teams' Championship standings | +/– | Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #3 Corvette Racing | 165 | ||
| 2 | #912 Porsche GT Team | 146 | ||
| 3 | #4 Corvette Racing | 145 | ||
| 4 | 1 | #911 Porsche GT Team | 143 | |
| 5 | 1 | #24 BMW Team RLL | 141 | |
| +GTD Teams' Championship standings | +/– | Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan | 115 | ||
| 2 | 3 | #86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | 115 | |
| 3 | 1 | #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan | 108 | |
| 4 | 3 | #96 Turner Motorsport | 107 | |
| 5 | 1 | #16 Wright Motorsports | 104 | |
| +DPi Manufacturers' Championship standings | +/– | Manufacturer | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cadillac | 134 | ||
| 2 | Mazda | 129 | ||
| 3 |  Acura | 125 | ||
| +GTLM Manufacturers' Championship standings | +/– | Manufacturer | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevrolet | 170 | ||
| 2 | BMW | 159 | ||
| 3 | Porsche | 156 | ||
| 4 | Ferrari | 28 |
| +GTD Manufacturers' Championship standings | +/– | Manufacturer | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lexus | 122 | ||
| 2 | Acura | 121 | ||
| 3 | 3 | BMW | 113 | |
| 4 | Porsche | 110 | ||
| 5 |  Lamborghini | 108 | ||