The 2020 MOTUL 100% Synthetic Grand Prix was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in Concord, North Carolina on October 10, 2020. This race was the eighth round of the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the sixth round of the 2020 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

The overall race was won by the #3 team of Jordan Taylor and Antonio García, the duo's fifth of the season. The Turner Motorsport team of Robby Foley and Bill Auberlen took victory in the GTD class, their second win of the season.

Background The race replaced the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park due to travel issues regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in Connecticut, meaning the race would be run as part of a triple-header weekend and a double-header Saturday evening with the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series. The race was the shortest of the 2020 season, as the race was scheduled for the length of the Detroit and Long Beach rounds that had been cancelled because of the pandemic as two-hour races (1 hour, 40 minutes) in length, and was one of two events that included only entries from the GTLM and GTD classes (as it was moved from Lime Rock). The race also marked the first time since 2000 that an IMSA series raced at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In late September, Motul was announced as the primary sponsor of the event. The event was the eighth of eleven sports car races of 2020 by IMSA, and the event was the sixth of seven races on the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. The race was held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval on October 10, 2020.

On October 2, 2020, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin regarding the Balance of Performance for the race. In the GTLM class, the Porsche 911 received a 15 kilogram weight reduction, while no other changes were made to other cars in the class. In GTD, the Ferrari 488 received a 6.7 horsepower increase, a 5 kilogram increase in minimum weight, and a one-liter increase in fuel capacity.

Before the race, Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 226 points, ahead of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner with 209 points, and Connor De Phillippi and Bruno Spengler with 204 points. With 176 points, Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry led the GTD Drivers' Championship, ahead of Aaron Telitz. Chevrolet and Lexus were leading their respective Manufactures' Championships while Corvette Racing and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entries

A total of 18 cars took part in the event, the lowest number of entries that season, but because the two prototype classes were not scheduled to participate in this event, there were more cars between the two participating classes for this race than the previous round at Mid-Ohio. There were six cars in the GTLM class, two more than at Mid-Ohio, when the CORE Autosport-run Porsche GT Team skipped the previous round due to novel coronavirus concerns within the Porsche factory camp following the 24 Heures du Mans, and twelve cars in the GTD class, the same as the preceding event. Jeff Kingsley made his series debut in the Compass McLaren. Despite the BoP break, Scuderia Corsa missed their second consecutive event, with driver Cooper MacNeil focusing on a championship in the Ferrari Challenge. Frankie Montecalvo was replaced in the #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan entry by Michael De Quesada, as the former was getting married (originally, this race was to have been held at Lime Rock Park on July 17–18, and later rescheduled to October 30–31 before being moved to Charlotte where promoters moved the dates to be part of the NASCAR weekend after state authorities rejected the event over travel restrictions).

Practice There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, one on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session lasted one hour on Friday while the second session on Saturday lasted 75 minutes.

Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 7:30 pm ET on Friday and ended with Jesse Krohn topping the charts for BMW Team RLL, with a lap time of 1:15.482. Mario Farnbacher set the fastest time in GTD. The session was red flagged for 13 minutes after Michael De Quesada in the #12 Lexus crashed at turn 8. IMSA extended the session by ten minutes as compensation. ClassTeamDriverTime1GTLM24BMW Team RLLJesse Krohn1:15.482_2GTLM25BMW Team RLLBruno Spengler1:15.551 +0.0693GTLM911Porsche GT TeamNick Tandy1:15.606 +0.124Sources:

Practice 2 The second and final practice session took place at 9:45 am ET on Saturday and ended with Tommy Milner topping the charts for Corvette Racing, with a lap time of 1:14.935. The GTD class was topped by the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 of Bill Auberlen with a time of 1:19.475. Lawson Aschenbach was second in the Riley Motorsports entry and Jack Hawksworth rounded out the top 3. The session was red flagged with 22 minutes remaining after the #22 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo of Marc Miller suffered a loose wheel after crashing at turn 7 and stopped on the track. ClassTeamDriverTime1GTLM4Corvette RacingTommy Milner1:14.935_2GTLM911Porsche GT TeamFrédéric Makowieck1:15.103 +0.1683GTLM24BMW Team RLLJesse Krohn1:15.125 +0.190Sources:

Qualifying

Saturday's afternoon qualifying was broken into two sessions, with one session for the GTLM and GTD classes, which lasted for 15 minutes each, and a ten-minute interval between the sessions. The rules dictated that all teams nominated a driver to qualify their cars, with the Pro-Am (GTD) class requiring a Bronze/Silver Rated Driver to qualify the car. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order. IMSA then arranged the grid to put the GTLMs ahead of the GTD cars.

The first was for cars in the GTD class. Aaron Telitz qualified on pole for the class driving the #14 car for AIM Vasser Sullivan, besting Robby Foley in the Turner Motorsport entry. Telitz suffered minor contact with the outside wall coming out of the final chicane while Kingsley and Rob Ferriol made contact coming into said chicane. The session ended early when, Misha Goikhberg, driving the #57 Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian, hit the wall at turn 7 and was unable to get his car going again. For causing the red flag, Goikhberg had his best two laps from the session deleted. Ryan Hardwick completed two flaps under the red flag and served a five-minute-stop-and-hold penalty.

The final session of qualifying was for cars in the GTLM class. Jordan Taylor qualified on pole driving the #3 car for Corvette Racing, beating Frédéric Makowiecki in the #911 Porsche GT Team by less than one-tenth of a second. The session saw one incident when, Laurens Vanthoor driving the #912 Porsche GT Team entry, broke his Porsche's rear suspension in an accident at turn 7 that drew a red flag. Vanthoor had his best two laps from the session deleted for causing a red flag, effectively leaving him with no time set. As the session came to a close, Jesse Krohn knocked the mirror off his BMW in turn 1.

Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1GTLM3 Corvette Racing Jordan Taylor 1:14.278 _ 12 GTLM 911 Porsche GT Team Frédéric Makowiecki 1:14.334 +0.056 23 GTLM 25 BMW Team RLL Bruno Spengler 1:14.730 +0.452 34 GTLM 24 BMW Team RLL Jesse Krohn 1:14.824 +0.546 45 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin 1:15.067 +0.789 56GTD14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Aaron Telitz1:17.954 +3.67677 GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley 1:18.077 +3.799 88 GTD 86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Matt McMurry 1:18.091 +3.813 99 GTD 76 Compass Racing Jeff Kingsley 1:18.147 +3.869 1010 GTD 16 Wright Motorsports Ryan Hardwick 1:18.232 +3.954 1111 GTD 74 Riley Motorsports Gar Robinson 1:18.540 +4.262 1212 GTD 22 Gradient Racing Till Bechtolsheimer 1:18.725 +4.447 1313 GTD 12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Michael De Quesada 1:18.923 +4.645 1414 GTD 23 Heart of Racing Team Ian James 1:19.299 +5.021 1515 GTD 44 GRT Magnus John Potter 1:20.102 +5.824 1616 GTD 30 Team Hardpoint Rob Ferriol 1:21.235 +6.957 1717 GTD 57 Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian Misha Goikhberg 1:22.908 +8.630 1818 GTLM 912 Porsche GT Team Laurens Vanthoor no time– 6Sources:

The No. 57 Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian entry had its two fastest laps deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session. The No. 912 Porsche GT Team entry had its two fastest laps deleted as penalty for causing a red flag during its qualifying session.

Race

Post-race With a total of 261 points, García and Taylor's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Gavin and Milner in the GTLM Drivers' Championship to 24 points. The result Farnbacher and McMurry atop the GTD Drivers' Championship while Hardwick and Long advanced from fourth to third. Bell jumped from sixth to fifth. Chevrolet and Lexus continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Corvette Racing and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian kept their respective advantages in their respective of Teams' Championships with three rounds remaining in the season.

Results Class winners are denoted in bold and .

Pos Class Team Drivers Chassis Laps Time/Retired Engine 1 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Jordan Taylor Antonio García Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 62 1:40:08.170 Chevrolet 5.5L V8 2 GTLM 24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards Jesse Krohn BMW M8 GTE 62 +1.474 BMW S63 4.0L Turbo V8 3 GTLM 25 BMW Team RLL Connor De Phillippi Bruno Spengler BMW M8 GTE 62 +2.059 BMW S63 4.0L Turbo V8 4 GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley Bill Auberlen BMW M6 GT3 61 +1 Lap BMW 4.4L Turbo V8 5 GTD 16 Wright Motorsports Ryan Hardwick Patrick Long Porsche 911 GT3 R 61 +1 Lap Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 6 GTD 23 Heart of Racing Team Ian James Roman De Angelis Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 61 +1 Lap Aston Martin 4.0L Turbo V8 7 GTD 12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Michael De Quesada Townsend Bell Lexus RC F GT3 61 +1 Lap Lexus 5.0L V8 8 GTD 57 Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian Álvaro Parente Mikhail Goikhberg Acura NSX GT3 Evo 61 +1 Lap Acura 3.5L Turbo V6 9 GTD 30 Team Hardpoint Rob Ferriol Spencer Pumpelly Audi R8 LMS Evo 61 +1 Lap Audi 5.2L V10 10 GTD 86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Mario Farnbacher Matt McMurry Acura NSX GT3 Evo 61 +1 Lap Acura 3.5L Turbo V6 11 GTD 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Jack Hawksworth Aaron Telitz Lexus RC F GT3 61 +1 Lap Lexus 5.0L V8 12 GTD 76 Compass Racing Jeff Kingsley Paul Holton McLaren 720S GT3 60 +2 Laps McLaren M840T 4.0L Turbo V8 13 GTD 74 Riley Motorsports Lawson Aschenbach Gar Robinson Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 60 +2 Laps Mercedes-AMG M159 G.2L V8 14 DNF GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 54 Accident Chevrolet 5.5L V8 15 DNF GTD 44 GRT Magnus John Potter Andy Lally Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 25 Tire Failures Lamborghini 5.2L V10 16 DNF GTD 22 Gradient Racing Till Bechtolsheimer Marc Miller Acura NSX GT3 Evo 22 Accident Acura 3.5L Turbo V6 17 DNF GTLM 911 Porsche GT Team Frédéric Makowiecki Nick Tandy Porsche 911 RSR-19 8 Accident Porsche 4.2L Flat-6 18 DNF GTLM 912 Porsche GT Team Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 911 RSR-19 4 Accident Porsche 4.2L Flat-6Sources:

Standings after the race NOTE: Only classes that participated in this race are listed.

+GTLM Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Antonio García Jordan Taylor 261 2 Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner 237 3 Connor De Phillippi Bruno Spengler 234 4 John Edwards Jesse Krohn 231 5 1 Frédéric Makowiecki Nick Tandy 197

+GTD Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Mario Farnbacher Matt McMurry 200 2 Aaron Telitz 196 3 1 Ryan Hardwick Patrick Long 196 4 1 Jack Hawksworth 194 5 1 Townsend Bell 183

Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.