2020 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR

Track map of VIR

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 22nd, 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]

Background[]

Due to Virginia's COVID-19 gathering restrictions, fans were barred from attendance for the first time this season.^[2] 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.^[3]

On August 14, 2020, IMSA released the latest technical bulleting, outlining the BoP for the race.^[4] 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.

Entries[]

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. 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.^[5]

Qualifying[]

Frédéric Makowiecki scored overall pole for Porsche GT Team, while Compass Racing's Corey Fergus started first in GTD.^[6]

Qualifying results[]

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

Pos.	Class	No.	Team	Driver	Time	Gap	Grid
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	4
5	GTLM	4	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin	1:41.662	+1.273	5
6	GTLM	24	BMW Team RLL	John Edwards	1:41.716	+1.327	6
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 w/ 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 w/ MSR Curb-Agajanian	Mikhail 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
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	17
18	GTD	16	Wright Motorsports	Ryan Hardwick	1:46.459	+6.070	18
19	GTD	30	Team Hardpoint	Rob Ferriol	1:46.726	+6.337	19
20	GTD	44	GRT Magnus Racing Team	John Potter	1:48.186	+7.797	20
Source:[7]

Results[]

Class winners are denoted in bold and .

Pos	Class	No.	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Laps	Time/Retired
					Engine
1	GTLM	3	Corvette Racing	Antonio García Jordan Taylor	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	85	2:40:40.846
					Chevrolet 5.5L V8
2	GTLM	25	BMW Team RLL	Connor De Phillippi Bruno Spengler	BMW M8 GTE	85	+3.521
					BMW S63 4.0L Turbo V8
3	GTLM	911	Porsche GT Team	Frédéric Makowiecki Nick Tandy	Porsche 911 RSR-19	85	+4.200
					Porsche 4.2L Flat-6
4	GTLM	4	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	85	+1:10.860
					Chevrolet 5.5L V8
5	GTD	96	Turner Motorsport	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley	BMW M6 GT3	83	+2 Laps
					BMW 4.4L Turbo V8
6	GTD	86	Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian	Mario Farnbacher Matt McMurry	Acura NSX GT3 Evo	83	+2 Laps
					Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
7	GTD	74	Riley Motorsports	Lawson Aschenbach Gar Robinson	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	83	+2 Laps
					Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2L V8
8	GTD	14	AIM Vasser Sullivan	Jack Hawksworth Aaron Telitz	Lexus RC F GT3	83	+2 Laps
					Lexus 5.0L V8
9	GTD	16	Wright Motorsports	Ryan Hardwick Patrick Long	Porsche 911 GT3 R	83	+2 Laps
					Porsche 4.0L Flat-6
10	GTD	57	Heinricher Racing w/ MSR Curb-Agajanian	Mikhail Goikhberg Álvaro Parente	Acura NSX GT3 Evo	83	+2 Laps
					Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
11	GTD	44	GRT Magnus Racing Team	Andy Lally John Potter	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	83	+2 Laps
					Lamborghini 5.2L V10
12	GTD	23	Heart of Racing Team	Roman De Angelis Ian James	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	83	+2 Laps
					Aston Martin 4.0L Turbo V8
13	GTD	12	AIM Vasser Sullivan	Townsend Bell Frankie Montecalvo	Lexus RC F GT3	83	+2 Laps
					Lexus 5.0L V8
14	GTLM	912	Porsche GT Team	Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 RSR-19	82	+3 Laps
					Porsche 4.2L Flat-6
15	GTD	22	Gradient Racing	Till Bechtolsheimer Marc Miller	Acura NSX GT3 Evo	81	+4 Laps
					Acura 3.5L Turbo V6
16	GTD	76	Compass Racing	Corey Fergus Paul Holton	McLaren 720S GT3	74	Did Not Finish
					McLaren M840T 4.0L Turbo V8
17	GTLM	24	BMW Team RLL	John Edwards Jesse Krohn	BMW M8 GTE	66	+19 Laps
					BMW S63 4.0L Turbo V8
18	GTD	63	Scuderia Corsa	Cooper MacNeil Toni Vilander	Ferrari 488 GT3	55	Did Not Finish
					Ferrari F154CB 3.9L Turbo V8
19	GTD	30	Team Hardpoint	Rob Ferriol Spencer Pumpelly	Audi R8 LMS Evo	27	Did Not Finish
					Audi 5.2L V10
20	GTD	48	Paul Miller Racing	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	83	Disqualified
					Lamborghini 5.2L V10
Source:[8]

References[]

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