Thanksgiving has just ended, and we are entering the Christmas season. While preparing for the holidays, purchasing presents, putting up lights and other decorations, there are a lot of races still on the schedule. However, many seasons have come to a close. There have been numerous of championships awarded this month, some on schedule, a few later than planned. There were plenty of good stories to pick from.
Castroneves' Championship
In one of the less ideal situations, Hélio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor clinched the 2020 Daytona Prototype international championship with a last place finish at the 12 Hours of Sebring. This wasn't one of those cases where all Castroneves and Taylor had to do was start the race in the #7 Acura. Honestly, last place was the last thing this team needed to win a championship.
Castroneves and Taylor opened the season with two consecutive last place finishes. Most years in IMSA that is season over right then and there. With the way the point system is set up, it does not allow much forgiveness to poor results, especially in a class that only features eight cars.
Somehow, in this crazy 2020 season, three last-place finishes and a second-to-last finish did not prevent the #7 Acura from winning the championship, but Castroneves and Taylor needed all four victories and the one runner-up finish it got in the other five races. It needed team orders and the last lap position swap with the #6 Acura at Laguna Seca to win the championship.
Nothing wrong with that, as it is a team sport, and after the #6 Acura won the title in 2019, Team Penske did all it could to secure its second consecutive title and it was successful by the skin of its teeth with every break going its way between the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac needing repairs after contact with the #77 Mazda and the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac spinning off and being penalized for contact with the #6 Acura.
After the #7 Acura appeared to have lost the title when the team went back to the garage due to intercooler issues in the first hour, there was a great relief when the checkered flag waved and Castroneves and Taylor came out on top by one point.
Castroneves could exhale after 20 years of frustration. At 45 years old, his final season with Team Penske, he won the first championship in his career. After many titles lost in IndyCar and close calls in junior formula, this IMSA season was going to be his last great shot at a championship and if there was anyone who deserved a lifetime achievement championship, it was Castroneves.
It felt fitting for him to get this championship and I am trying to remember the last time we had a champion like this in motorsports.
Most drivers don't have to wait an entire career for their first championship. Looking over the IndyCar champions, most got their first title with plenty of time left in their careers. Dario Franchitti's first title in 2007 felt like a long-time coming, but he was only 34 years old at the time, 11 years younger than Castroneves now and Franchitti ended up having five more years in IndyCar. Paul Tracy's championship in 2003 fits the criteria somewhat. Johnny Rutherford's only IndyCar championship was in 1980, the year of his third Indianapolis 500 victory, in his 19th season, and at the age of 42.
It almost never happens in Formula One. I guess Jenson Button's championship came after a long and unusual path, but Button was 29 years old. For Button, it was more about finally living up to the expectations the British public set when he broke in at 20 years old. Before that, you have to look back to Nigel Mansell's championship in 1992 at 39 years old after 13 years trying and a handful of years where a title slipped through his grasp.
In NASCAR, we had Jimmie Johnson collect seven titles, but all the champions in-between over the last 15 years have been in the prime of their careers and none of them made up for a career of futility. If Denny Hamlin were to win a championship, he would fit the mold, but it has been a while since NASCAR had that champion. Mark Martin was notable for five runner-up championship finishes and never earning that long-awaited championship. I think NASCAR really hasn't had that type of champion since Bobby Allison in 1983, when he won the title at 44 years old in his 20th season.
The closest recent example I can think of was when Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Loïc Duval won the 2013 World Endurance Drivers' Championship. For Kristensen and McNish, becoming world champions was a bow on their illustrious careers. However, it was only the second FIA World Endurance Championship season and there had not been a world sports car championship for almost the entirety of their careers. McNish had won three American Le Mans Series championships. Kristensen won Formula Three championships in Germany and Japan. Neither driver needed that WEC champion to complete their careers, but with all of their success at Le Mans and Sebring and in the world of endurance racing, it made sense if those two could call themselves world champions.
Castroneves' title is to motorsports almost what Ray Bourque's Stanley Cup victory in 2001 with the Colorado Avalanche was to hockey. Bourque had been one of the best defensemen for two decades, but the Stanley Cup remained the one item missing from his résumé. Castroneves had three Indianapolis 500s, 30 IndyCar victories, four vice-championships and been in the top five of the championship 14 times.
Yes, Castroneves' championship came in sports cars, the second act of his career, but his form never dropped after the switch. His stint in sports car has ended with a hard-earned championship against a slew of talented drivers, maybe against some of the strongest driver combinations North American sports car racing has ever seen. It was the final touch to an already stellar career.
Gavin's Goodbye
While Castroneves' career is not over after his championship success, one driver is taking a significant step back after the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Oliver Gavin announced prior to the 2020 IMSA finale he would be stepping out of the full-time seat at Corvette Racing, a place he had held since 2002.
Gavin was one of a handful of drivers who will be remembered for donning the Corvette yellow. In a similar image as Jan Magnussen, Johnny O'Connell and Ron Fellows, it felt like Gavin would never leave the American team. Every silly season, when you used pencil to draft every other entry, you could write down Gavin next to Corvette in pen.
Five is the magic number for Gavin's career. He had five Le Mans class victories, five Sebring class victories and between ALMS and the post-merger IMSA, five class championships.
He had accomplished it all in sports car racing, and though the 2020 season was not going to have the same championship ending as Castroneves, Gavin was going out on top having been a part of Corvette's resurgence in the debut season for the mid-engine Corvette C8.R.
We were getting to the point where Gavin would eventually walk away from competition. He is 48 years old. Magnussen was let go after 2019 and he is a year younger than Gavin. Fellows was 49 years old in his final year with Corvette. O'Connell was 48. Corvette has been fair to all its drivers. It has given many lengthy careers and they have all succeeded. Based on the past, Gavin went the distance. He accomplished everything Corvette could have asked and then some.
It will be sad seeing Gavin not on the grid full-time. Hopefully, he gets a few endurance race opportunities, but we are onto the next wave of Corvette drivers. Antonio García and Tommy Milner will continue to be around. Jordan Taylor has what it takes to carry the next generation of Corvette drivers and all signs point to Nick Tandy replacing Gavin. Tandy is already one of the best in the world and Corvette has made another smart hire.
Castroneves and Gavin were rivals in the 1995 British Formula Three championship. Gavin took the title while Castroneves was third. Twenty-five years later, Castroneves won his first championship while Gavin ended the GT Le Mans season third in that championship.
More 2020 Tidbits
With another month coming to a close, many championships have concluded and there are some notes from around the world worth sharing.
A driver that finished last place three of the four IMSA class championships won a championship somewhere else this year.
Mike Conway was last place in the Daytona Prototype international championship and Conway won the World Endurance Drivers' Championship.
Alessandro Pier Guidi shared last place in the GT Le Mans championship with James Calado, Daniel Serra and Davide Rigon. Pier Guidi won the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Championship.
Nicki Thiim shared last place in the GT Daytona championship with Alex Riberas and Thiim won the World Endurance GTE Championship.
Joan Mir won the MotoGP championship with one victory. That is the fewest victory for a premier class grand prix motorcycle champion ever.
Mir also became only the second premier class champion not to have a pole position in a championship season joining Wayne Rainey who did it in 1992.
Austin Cindric won NASCAR Grand National Series championship with six victories, while Chase Briscoe had the most victories in the season with nine. The last time the NASCAR Grand National Series champion had the most victories was in 2009 with Kyle Busch.
René Rast won his third Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters championship in the last four seasons. Rast has won seven races in the last three seasons. He has 24 career DTM victories, which puts him fourth all-time, one behind Mattias Ekström and one ahead of Gary Paffett. Rast is 13 victories behind Klaus Ludwig in second and 22 victories behind Bernd Schneider's all-time record.
December Preview
Formula One season ends after a six-month sprint to complete 17 rounds.
After this week's Bahrain Grand Prix, the teams will remain at the Bahrain International Circuit for the Sakhir Grand Prix, which will take place on the perimeter circuit. It will be the third different configuration of the Bahrain International Circuit to host a Formula One grand prix. The 2.202-mile perimeter circuit will be the fifth shortest to host a Formula One round behind Zeltweg, Long Beach, Monaco and Jarama. It will be an 87-lap race.
A week after the second Bahrain round, the season will conclude from Abu Dhabi.
Lewis Hamilton could end up with 97 career victories. Hamilton has three Bahrain Grand Prix victories and one more would tie him with Sebastian Vettel for the most in event history. A victory in the Sakhir Grand Prix would be his 29th different grand prix won. Hamilton already has five victories at Abu Dhabi, and it could become the sixth different grand prix Hamilton has won at least six times.
Valterri Bottas is 27 points ahead of Max Verstappen for second in the championship. Sergio Pérez is now fourth in the championship on 100 points after his podium finish in Turkey. Charles Leclerc is three points behind Pérez and Daniel Ricciardo is four points back.
Carlos Sainz, Jr. sits on 75 points, one point ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris and Alexander Albon is four points back.
Pierre Gasly sits in tenth on 63 points, four points ahead of Lance Stroll and 23 points ahead of Esteban Ocon. Sebastian Vettel finds himself on 33 points after his third-place finish in Turkey. Daniil Kvyat is on 26 points with unattached Nico Hülkenberg on ten points. Alfa Romeo teammates Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi are tied on four points. Romain Grosjean has two points, one more than Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen. Williams teammates Nicholas Latifi and George Russell are both scoreless.
Mercedes has clinched the World Constructors' Championship on 504 points. Red Bull is solidly in second on 240 points. Racing Point is third on 154 points, five ahead of McLaren. Renault has 136 points, six ahead of Ferrari. AlphaTauri has settled into seventh on 89 points. Alfa Romeo has eight points; Haas has three and Williams is on zero.
Other events of note in December:
Super Formula has three races left, a doubleheader at Suzuka and the finale at Fuji.
The Kyalami 9 Hours might take place.
Rally Monza closes out the World Rally Championship season.
