The 2020 Petit Le Mans (formally known as the 2020 MOTUL Petit Le Mans for sponsorship reasons) was the 23rd running of the Petit Le Mans, and was held on October 17, 2020. It was the 9th race in the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, and the 3rd race of the 2020 Michelin Endurance Cup, and was run at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. The race was won overall by the #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac Cadillac DPi-V.R after the #7 Acura Team Penske and #31 Whelen Engineering Racing entries made contact and spun out in the closing minutes of the race.
Background
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. It was the seventh consecutive year it was part of the IMSA SCC, and the 23rd Petit Le Mans. The 2020 Petit Le Mans was the ninth of eleven sports car races of 2020 by IMSA, and the third of four races of the Michelin Endurance Cup (MEC). The race took place at the 12-turn, Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. The event was one of the first postponed by IMSA as a result of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic, with the organization citing CDC regulations on public gatherings as the official cause of postponement. The race was rescheduled from running on October 10, 2020, to October 17, 2020. Due to the 12 Hours of Sebring getting postponed, Petit Le Mans would not be the season finale for the first time in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Before the race, Ryan Briscoe and Renger van der Zande led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 180 points, ahead of Pipo Derani in second with 177 points, and Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor with 175 points. In LMP2, Patrick Kelly led the Drivers' Championship with 98 points, 6 points ahead of Dwight Merriman and Kyle Tilley. Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 261 points, 24 points ahead of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in second, and Connor De Phillippi and Bruno Spengler in third. With 200 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry, ahead of Aaron Telitz. Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Lexus were leading their respective Manufactures' Championships while Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian each led their own Teams' Championships.
Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani entered the race as defending winners.
Entries
A total of 31 cars took part in the event split across 4 classes. 8 cars were entered in DPi, 4 in LMP2, 6 in GTLM, and 13 in GTD. In DPi, Tristan Vautier replaced João Barbosa in the Mustang Sampling Racing/JDC-Miller MotorSports entry. In LMP2, Inter Europol Competition made their IMSA SportsCar Championship debut. Era Motorsport withdrew from the event after Dwight Merriman suffered a back injury at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mikkel Jensen replaced Ryan Dalziel in the Tower Motorsport By Starworks entry. Job van Uitert made his IMSA SportsCar Championship debut joining Mikkel Jensen and John Farano in the Tower Motorsport By Starworks entry. Colin Braun joined Matthew Bell and James McGuire in the Performance Tech Motorsports entry. In GTD, Pfaff Motorsports made their first appearance since the season opening race at Daytona. Scuderia Corsa returned after skipping the previous two rounds. Team Hardpoint expanded its campaign to include running at Petit Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring. GRT Grasser Racing Team skipped the event due to a clash with the ADAC GT Masters round at the Red Bull Ring.
Practice
There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, all three one on Thursday. The first session on Thursday morning lasted one hour. The second session on Thursday afternoon lasted 75 minutes. The final session on Thursday evening lasted 90 minutes.
Practice 1
The first practice session took place at 11:15 am ET on Thursday and ended with Ricky Taylor topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:10.086. Mikkel Jensen was fastest in LMP2 with a time of 1:11.078. Laurens Vanthoor set the fastest time in GTLM with a time of 1:17.008. The GTD class was topped by the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Bryan Sellers with a time of 1:19.946. The session was stopped for four minutes when Chris Miller, driving the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports entry, spun at turn 5 and came to a stop facing oncoming traffic.