IMSA has pieced together a 2020 season and we have reached the halfway point... well, we actually surpassed halfway through the 6 Hours of Atlanta over Labor Day weekend, but five races remain, and this is our chance to get a look at how the championship sits entering autumn.
This is a much different season. Normally, at this time of year all that is left is the season finale at Petit Le Mans. However, there are two endurance races left in 2020, including the 12 Hours of Sebring. There are also two traditional sprint weekends left and an audible was made to allow a GT-only round to take place with a NASCAR weekend at a course North America's top sports car series has not used since 2000.
We need to get a grasp of where we are, how did we get here and what is still to come in this 2020 IMSA season.
How has IMSA kept this season on track?
By adding a second race at Daytona, Sebring and Road Atlanta among other things.
With Long Beach, Belle Isle and Mosport first falling off the calendar, IMSA revived the Paul Revere 250 on Independence Day weekend at Daytona and added a traditional, two-hour and 40-minute race at Sebring in July. When Watkins Glen and Lime Rock Park were called off, Road Atlanta took over the six-hour endurance race and the Charlotte road course was called upon to take the GT-only round to run on Friday night of the NASCAR weekend.
Mid-Ohio moved from May to the end of September. Laguna Seca moved from September to November 1. Petit Le Mans was shifted back a week and will no longer be the season finale. The 12 Hours of Sebring will close the season on November 14.
The season will be 11 rounds, down one from originally planned, but we should still have four endurance races, including the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring.
Where has the pandemic hit the hardest?
While Formula One, IndyCar and NASCAR have skated through 2020 without seeing much of a hit on grid size, IMSA and sports car racing as a whole has not been so fortunate.
Paul Miller Racing won the 24 Hours of Daytona and missed the next three races due to financial constraints. Heart of Racing Team has also missed races and Alex Riberas has not been able to return to the country. GEAR Racing powered by GRT Grasser shutdown.
The LMP2 class was due to see some growth in 2020, but Tower Motorsport by Starworks closed after the second round. Cameron Cassels ended his season due to quarantine concerns and Performance Tech Motorsports' season ended with Cassels pulling out. DragonSpeed is a part-time program after originally stating full-time aspirations.
The 6 Hours of Road Atlanta had two LMP2 starters after opening 2020 with five cars.
Though not immediately felt, the Porsche GT North America program will cease operation after the 2020 season. Although, I guess we will immediately feel Porsche's absence, as it withdrew from the Mid-Ohio round due to positive covid-19 tests coming out of the Porsche camp at Le Mans and drivers have been quarantined.
Felipe Nasr tested positive for covid-19 prior to the Paul Revere 250 round at Daytona and missed the race. Nasr has since returned to competition, but IMSA has not been immune from the harsh realities of the current climate.
How does Acura Team Penske have the most victories and yet simultaneously is the most disappointed team?
For some reason the entire Acura Team Penske program was casted as a failure when the manufacture and team announced they would go in separate directions after 2020, though it won a championship last year!
The first few races were difficult for the team. The #7 Acura of Hélio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor was caught in an accident in the 24 Hours of Daytona and then had mechanically problems in the Paul Revere 250. The #6 Acura of Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron was fourth in both Daytona races. Both cars did not have a great day in the Sebring sprint race.
The #7 Acura turned it around with impressive victories in the wet at Road America and a comeback drive at Road Atlanta. However, the decision has already been made between Acura and Penske to go separate ways in 2021.
The #7 Acura has actually gotten itself back in the title fight, ten points off the championship leading #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac. The #7 Acura is actually ahead of the #6 Acura by 11 points despite starting the season with two last-place finishes.
If Acura is not happy, then who is in Daytona Prototype international?
Wayne Taylor Racing? It started the season with a dominating victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona. It had two runner-up finishes and probably had a podium finish taken from the team when Ryan Briscoe was penalized for hitting Montoya entering the pit lane at Road Atlanta, although there was not much Briscoe could have done in that situation. Both cars were already at pit lane speed and Montoya abruptly decelerated.
Briscoe and Renger van der Zande have not made many mistakes together and are a reliable duo to have leading the championship.
Cadillac as a whole should be happy.
The #5 Mustang Samplings Cadillac of João Barbosa and Sébastien Bourdais for JDC-Miller Motorsports is second in the championship, four points off the #10 Cadillac with finishes of third, third, third, fourth and fourth this season. The #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac has been on the podium in the last three races, including the Sebring sprint where Pipo Derani and Nasr scored victory in Nasr's first race back.
Mazda should be pleased. Jonathan Bomarito and Harry Tincknell won the Paul Revere 250 in a Mazda 1-2. Bomarito and Tincknell were second at Road Atlanta. Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez were runner-up in the first two races. The Mazdas are fourth and fifth in the championship.
Has Corvette's driver change worked out?
Jordan Taylor entered, and victories came with him.
Taylor and Antonio García have won three races in the #3 Corvette. They have pulled away in the GT Le Mans championship with 191 points, 14 points clear in class. They could have had four consecutive victories if it were not for the #4 Corvette of Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin leading a Corvette 1-2 at Sebring.
Not all the credit can fall on Taylor, as the #4 Corvette has a runner-up finish at Road America and was second at Road Atlanta. Corvette has the top two spots in the championship. It ended a two-year victory drought. García got his first victory in almost three years! Corvette might be the one entity having a good 2020.
Is GT Le Mans Balance of Performance working?
Put the #3 Corvette aside for a second...
The #4 Corvette is on 177 points. The #25 BMW Team RLL BMW of Bruno Spengler and Connor De Phillippi is on 174 points and won at Road Atlanta. The #24 BMW Team RLL BMW of John Edwards and Jesse Krohn is on 171 points and won at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Both Porsches are on 171 points with the #912 Porsche ahead of the #911 Porsche because Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor were runner-up in the first two races while Frédéric Makowiecki and Nick Tandy were third in both those races and has not finished better than third this season but does have three pole positions.
The #3 Corvette aside, which caught a break at Virginia International Raceway and probably should have been third instead of first, six points cover five cars. All six cars have finished on the podium multiple times this year.
We all acknowledge people hate Balance of Performance, but it is working in GTLM. Things are pretty balanced.
Who is standing out in GT Daytona?
Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry are leading the championship in the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura with a victory at Road Atlanta and four podium finishes, but the noticeable standout is Aaron Telitz, who is second in the championship, and Telitz was not supposed to be full-time this year.
Telitz was going to be an endurance race driver for AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus, but when Parker Chase withdrew from the team due to financial woes the pandemic caused, Telitz was drafted in to be aside Jack Hawksworth and it has worked out.
Telitz and Hawksworth won the Paul Revere 250 and Sebring sprint race and they were third at Road America. So how is Telitz ahead of Hawksworth in the championship?
Originally, Hawksworth was ahead of Telitz because Hawksworth was ninth in the #14 Lexus in the 24 Hours of Daytona and Telitz was 12th in the #12 Lexus with Townsend Bell and Frankie Montecalvo. However, for Road Atlanta, Telitz moved back to the #12 Lexus and Chase and Michael de Quesada were back in the #14 Lexus with Hawksworth.
The #12 Lexus was fifth at Road Atlanta, the #14 Lexus was tenth and Telitz is now two points ahead of Hawksworth, and 12 points off the #86 Acura.
Shout out to Bell and Montecalvo, who won at Road America, and are fourth in the championship, 16 points off the #86 Acura.
And Bill Auberlen deserves recognition for becoming the all-time leader in IMSA victory with his 61st triumph at VIR in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW with Robby Foley.
Anything to say on LMP2?
The best story of the year is Patrick Kelly, who has won two of three starts in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca.
At the start of the 2010s, Kelly was a Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge competitor and he started in the 2010 12 Hours of Sebring in the GTC class, finishing third in class. Nine years ago, Kelly was hit head-on by a school bus driver in a traffic accident. Kelly suffered a significant brain injury and a crushed knee. He was about to start competing in the Prototype Challenge class at the time of the accident, but it sidelined him for the rest of the decade.
After being told his motorsports career was over, his neurologist cleared him three years ago to return to competition. Last year, he won with Matt McMurry driving for PR1/Mathiasen at Road America, but this year Kelly is pursuing a full season and he leads the championship with 98 points. There are still three races to go.
The #18 Era Motorsport Oreca of Dwight Merriman and Kyle Tilley are second in the championship with 92 points. DragonSpeed has crossed the finish line first in all three of its starts, but it was disqualified from the Sebring sprint because Henrik Hedman was two seconds shy of meeting minimum drive time.
It is not clear if LMP2 will be a two-car class for the final three races between PR1/Mathiasen and Era Motorsports. DragonSpeed had two cars at Le Mans, is focused on the European Le Mans Series championship, but it could return for the final three races.
LMP2 took a dip at the 6 Hours of Atlanta. This entire season hasn't gone as planned. Hopefully, LMP2 can end on a high note in the final three races.
Who can turn it around in the final four races?
The only DPi entries without a podium finish are the #6 Acura and the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac. I think Montoya and Cameron can pick up a victory or two. A successful championship defense could be over, but they should have a few respectable races.
It is a six-horse race with four events to go in DPi. It is equal parts confusing and understandable Wayne Taylor Racing leads the championship. It is one of the best teams out there, but we have not seen the dominant speed out of the team in the four races succeeding the 24 Hours of Daytona.
In my eyes, Mazda has been the best top to bottom, but rain and a poorly timed safety car forced Jarvis to sacrifice a victory at Road America. Mazda is winning but has yet to entirely shed the cruel defeats.
GTLM feels partially sewed up. With only six cars, and only four for Mid-Ohio, I don't think the #3 Corvette is going to slip up in the final five races. If Porsche returns for the final four races, it will win at least once. It should have taken VIR. It will get one final victory before it steps away from IMSA, hopefully only for a brief hiatus.
There isn't one GTD team that is doing more poorly than the rest, but Magnus Racing has not finished better than seventh in the last five races since finishing runner-up at Daytona. I think Andy Lally and John Potter are due for some good results in the #44 Lamborghini.
How is 2021 shaping up?
We have a schedule and a new class has been announced for the series.
The LMP3 class will be added for the 2021 season, in hopes of keeping the grid size up with the impending departure of Porsche from GTLM and possibly more teams. There has already been one LMP3 entry announced. Riley Motorsports will field a Ligier for Jim Cox and Dylan Murry.
LMP3 will compete in six races, plus the 24 Hours of Daytona will only count toward the Endurance Cup. Sebring, Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen, Mosport, Road America and Petit Le Mans make up the full schedule.
Similar to LMP3, Daytona will only count toward the Endurance Cup in LMP2. Sebring, Laguna Seca, Belle Isle, Watkins Glen, Road America and Petit Le Mans make up the full LMP2 calendar.
GTLM will run at every round but Mid-Ohio and Belle Isle.
GTD wll compete at every event with Belle Isle and Mosport only counting toward the GTD Sprint Cup.
DPi will run at every round but the GT-only events at Lime Rock Park and Virginia International Raceway.
IMSA decided to change the points system. Take the current system and multiple the points total for each position by ten. A victory is now worth 350 points. That's it. The system didn't change, they only made the points larger. What did change is qualifying will carry what are now race points. Pole position will pay 35 points, second-fastest will get 32 points and so on.
There will also be a different qualifying format for the amateur classes. The amateur driver will qualify in the first half of the session to determine the starting position with the professional driver qualifying in the second half to determine the championship points that will be awarded to each entry.
The unanswered questions are what happens to the Acura program and does a team such as Meyer Shank Racing, Wayne Taylor Racing or Chip Ganassi Racing step into that role?
Will GTLM consist of two Corvettes and two BMWs or could a full-time return of Risi Competizione or another privateer effort add some variety to the grid?
How many LMP2 teams stick around?
How many LMP3 teams are on the grid? Does LMP3 really help grid size or is it robbing Peter to pay Paul and sees LMP2 and/or GTD teams switch classes?
There will be driver movement. All four Acura drivers are up in the air. I would think Ricky Taylor and Dane Cameron land somewhere. Juan Pablo Montoya has expressed more interest at a shot at Le Mans and the Triple Crown. Hélio Castroneves has said he wants to return to IndyCar full-time.
Sébastien Bourdais will be returning to IndyCar full-time with A.J. Foyt Racing in 2021 and that opens a prime seat next to João Barbosa in the Mustang Samplings Cadillac. Felipe Nasr had also planned on dipping his toes in IndyCar waters in 2020, but the pandemic prevented him from competing in any races. If Nasr does get a serious IndyCar opportunity in 2021 that could open up a co-driver role with Pipo Derani.
Porsche's exit means Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber, Laurens Vanthoor and Frédéric Makowiecki are all free agents. I am sure some of those guys will stick with Porsche and be re-directed to other series. Perhaps some stay in IMSA and find roles with GTD teams, but there is a chance a few move on looking for other opportunities.
The 2021 season will look a lot different from 2020.
