The 2020 Speed Energy Stadium Super Trucks were the eighth season of the Stadium Super Trucks and the first in which the series was split into two championships, with the Speed Energy Stadium Super Trucks in the United States and the Boost Mobile Super Trucks in Australia.
Much of the series' calendar after the season-opening Adelaide 500 in February—held as a combination event with the Boost Mobile Super Trucks—was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. After a six-month hiatus, the trucks returned in August at Road America. Standings were not officially tracked by the series, but Robby Gordon was the lone driver to record podium finishes in every race while reigning champion Matthew Brabham won twice.
Drivers Driver Races 2 Sheldon Creed 4–5 7 Robby Gordon All 21 Zoey Edenholm 4–5 25 Arie Luyendyk Jr. 4–5 32 Barry Boes 4–5 44 John Holtger 4–5 57 Bill Hynes All 66 Zane Smith 4–5 66x Jett Noland 4–5 77 Max Gordon 4–5 78 Sara Price 1–3 83 Matthew Brabham All Sources:
Schedule The full schedule was revealed on November 21, 2019, with the series being divided into the American Speed Energy Stadium Super Trucks and the Australian Boost Mobile Super Trucks; both championships intended to run three combination rounds.
Round Track Location Date Supporting 1 Adelaide Street Circuit Adelaide, South Australia February 21–23 Adelaide 500 2 Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 8 Henry 180 Combination races with Boost Mobile Super Trucks listed in bold
Races canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic Track Location Supporting Ref Long Beach Street Circuit Long Beach, California Grand Prix of Long Beach Wanneroo Raceway Neerabup, Western Australia Perth SuperNight Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario Honda Indy Toronto Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon Grand Prix of Portland Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio Honda Indy 200 Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Queensland Gold Coast 600 Lake Elsinore Diamond Lake Elsinore, California Standalone
Season summary
The 2020 season began with a combination race weekend with the Boost Mobile Super Trucks at Adelaide Street Circuit. The weekend, which was promoted as an "Australia v USA Series", saw eight Australian drivers and three Americans (defending champion Matthew Brabham holds dual citizenship with both countries). Robby Gordon and Bill Hynes, who ran the full 2019 schedule, returned for Adelaide; fellow American Sara Price made her SST return after last racing in 2017. Gordon won Race 1 after starting first (he did not set a qualifying time due to steering problems, placing him on pole position due to an inverted grid) and holding off a charge by Toby Price on the final turn. Matt Mingay and Paul Morris dominated the second race until Gordon and Brabham passed them late in the event; the two ran side by side to the finish with Brabham winning by just 0.0361 seconds. Shae Davies, a series newcomer, won the final race after avoiding early wrecks and distancing himself from the field as they fought for position.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grand Prix of Long Beach, originally scheduled for April 18–19, was canceled, ending a nine-year streak for SST at the street circuit dating back to the series' inaugural season in 2013. The combination Perth SuperNight at Wanneroo Raceway on May 16–17 was postponed; although SST intended to commit to ae rescheduled date, the event was never rescheduled. Another combination weekend with the Gold Coast 600 on October 31–November 1 was excluded from the revised Supercars schedule in May. On May 18, Honda Indy Toronto was removed from its July 11–12 date after local legislation expanded the city's ban on major events through the month, with race officials originally planning to find a new date; the event was also never rescheduled. The Grand Prix of Portland, planned for September 5–6, was called off on July 27, followed by the Honda Indy 200 (August 7–9) at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course being postponed on August 1.
After a six-month dormancy, the season resumed in early August at Road America as a support event for the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Five drivers made their series debuts during the weekend: Barry Boes (Trans-Am Series), Gordon's son Max, Jett Noland and Zane Smith (NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series), and Zoey Edenholm (Formula 4 United States Championship). John Holtger, whose SST debut came at the track in 2019, Arie Luyendyk Jr., and two-time SST champion Sheldon Creed also returned to the trucks. Luyendyk won the first race after rolling over early in the event, while Brabham beat out Gordon to win the second.
The series initially planned to return to Lake Elsinore Diamond, which held races in 2017 and 2018, in October before it was called off.
Results and standings Race results Round Race Event Fastest qualifier Pole position Most laps led Winning driver Ref 1 1 Adelaide Matthew Brabham Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Robby Gordon 2 Matt Mingay Paul Morris Matthew Brabham 3 Greg Gartner Greg Gartner Shae Davies 2 4 Road America Matthew Brabham Zoey Edenholm Arie Luyendyk Jr. Arie Luyendyk Jr. 5 Bill Hynes Matthew Brabham Matthew Brabham
Drivers' championship Points are approximate based on the points system and unofficial as the series did not track standings for the 2020 season.
Rank Driver ADE ROA Points 1 Robby Gordon 1* 2 2 3 2 147 2 Matthew Brabham 3 1 3 11 1* 133 3 Bill Hynes 7 11 9 10 10 58 4 Sheldon Creed 2 3 55 5 Arie Luyendyk Jr. 1* 9 44 6 Jett Noland 6 4 35 7 Sara Price 10 8 10 35 8 Zane Smith 5 6 34 9 John Holtger 4* 11 32 10 Max Gordon 9 5 28 11 Barry Boes 8 7 27 12 Zoey Edenholm 7 8 27 Boost Mobile Super Trucks drivers Toby Price 2 5 6 Shae Davies 4 10 1 Paul Morris 6 3* 5 Paul Weel 5 4 7 Greg Gartner 8 12 4* Luke van Herwaade 9 7 8 Matt Mingay 12 6 12 Shaun Richardson 11 9 11 Rank Driver ADE ROA Points
Points Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th Heat 12 10 8 7 5 4 3 2 1 Final 25 22 20 18 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 Most laps led 3 Position gained 1 Fastest qualifier 1
See also Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on motorsport
Notes
References