The 2020 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia on August 22, 2020. This race was the fifth round of the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the fourth round of the WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

The overall race was won by the #3 Corvette Racing team of Antonio García and Jordan Taylor, the duo's third and the team's fourth victories of the season. In GTD, Bill Auberlen collected his record-breaking 61st career IMSA victory, as Turner Motorsport scored their first class victory of the season.

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. The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR was the fifth of eleven sports car races of 2020 by IMSA, and the fourth of seven races on the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. The race was held at the Virginia International Raceway on August 22, 2020. Much like in previous years, the event was a GT only round, in which the GTLM and GTD classes were scheduled to compete. Due to a clash with the Indianapolis 500, the event was moved from August 23, 2020, to August 22, 2020.

Due to Virginia's COVID-19 gathering restrictions, fans were barred from attendance for the first time this season. The previous three rounds had limited attendance, but the VIR round was the first to outright prevent any fans from entering the grounds. Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy entered the race as defending champions, although only Tandy participated in the 2020 iteration.

On August 14, 2020, IMSA released the latest technical bulleting, outlining the BoP for the race. In GTLM, the BMW M8 GTE received a five kilogram weight reduction, while the Corvette and Porsche received 20 kilogram weight increases. The Porsche also received a five-liter fuel capacity increase. In GTD, the Audi received a 20 kilogram weight reduction, while the Lexus (which had won the previous three events) had 15 kilograms of ballast added to its total weight.

Before the race, Antonio García and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 130 points, ahead of Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor with 120 points, and Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner with 117 points. With 87 points, Jack Hawksworth led the GTD Drivers' Championship, 1 point ahead of Townsend Bell and Frankie Montecalvo in second followed by Aaron Telitz in third. Chevrolet and Lexus were leading their respective Manufactures' Championships while Corvette Racing and AIM Vasser Sullivan each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entries

A total of 20 cars took part in the event, split across two classes. 6 were entered in GTLM, while 14 were entered in GTD. The lone change from the previous round was the return of Paul Miller Racing's Lamborghini Huracan, which had been absent since the opening race at Daytona.

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

Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 8:00 am ET on Friday and ended with Laurens Vanthoor topping the charts for Porsche GT Team, with a lap time of 1:41.550. The GTD class was topped by the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth with a time of 1:45.264. Patrick Long was second in the Wright Motorsports entry and Bryan Sellers rounded out the top 3. The session was red flagged four minutes in after Roman De Angelis in the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin hit the barrier at turn 4. ClassTeamDriverTime1GTLM912Porsche GT TeamLaurens Vanthoor1:41.550_2GTLM911Porsche GT TeamNick Tandy1:41.936 +0.3863GTLM3Corvette RacingAntonio García1:42.036 +0.486Sources:

Practice 2 The second and final practice session took place at 12:00 pm ET on Friday and ended with Oliver Gavin topping the charts for Corvette Racing, with a lap time of 2:03.700. Aaron Telitz set the fastest time in GTD. Twelve of the twenty entries did not get a time in due to heavy rain. ClassTeamDriverTime1GTLM4Corvette RacingOliver Gavin2:03.700_2GTLM912Porsche GT TeamLaurens Vanthoor2:04.385 +0.6853GTLM911Porsche GT TeamFrédéric Makowieck2:04.818 +1.118Sources:

Qualifying Friday'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 GTD class. Corey Fergus qualified on pole for the class driving the #76 car for Compass Racing, beating Robby Foley in the Turner Motorsport entry by less than one-tenth of a second. The #12 Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo was third followed by Matt McMurry in the #86 Acura.

The final session of qualifying was for the GTLM class. Frédéric Makowiecki qualified on pole driving the #911 car for Porsche GT Team, beating teammate Laurens Vanthoor in the sister #912 Porsche GT Team entry by over one-tenth of a second.

Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1GTLM911 Porsche GT Team Frédéric Makowiecki1:40.389_ 12 GTLM 912 Porsche GT Team Laurens Vanthoor 1:40.519 +0.130 23 GTLM 25 BMW Team RLL Connor De Phillippi 1:41.095 +0.706 34 GTLM 3 Corvette Racing Jordan Taylor 1:41.228 +0.839 55 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin 1:41.662 +1.273 66 GTLM 24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards 1:41.716 +1.327 47GTD76 Compass Racing Corey Fergus1:45.236 +4.847 78 GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Robby Foley 1:45.310 +4.921 89 GTD 12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Frankie Montecalvo 1:45.397 +5.008 910 GTD 86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Matt McMurry 1:45.434 +5.045 1011 GTD 48 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow 1:45.453 +5.064 1112 GTD 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Aaron Telitz 1:45.524 +5.135 1213 GTD 63 Scuderia Corsa Cooper MacNeil 1:45.565 +5.176 1314 GTD 57 Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian Misha Goikhberg 1:45.570 +5.181 1415 GTD 22 Gradient Racing Till Bechtolsheimer 1:46.196 +5.807 1516 GTD 23 Heart of Racing Team Ian James 1:46.391 +6.002 1617 GTD 74 Riley Motorsports Gar Robinson 1:46.391 +6.002 1818 GTD 16 Wright Motorsports Ryan Hardwick 1:46.459 +6.070 1719 GTD 30 Team Hardpoint Rob Ferriol 1:46.726 +6.337 2020 GTD 44 GRT Magnus John Potter 1:48.186 +7.797 19Sources:

The No. 3 Corvette Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires). The No. 4 Corvette Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTLM field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires). The No. 74 Riley Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires). The No. 30 Team Hardpoint entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires). The No. 44 GRT Magnus entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).

Race

Post-race With a total of 165 points, García and Taylor's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Bamber and Vanthoor in the GTLM Drivers' Championship to 29 points. The result kept Hawksworth atop the GTD Drivers' Championship while Farnbacher and McMurry advanced from fourth to second. Foley and Auberlen jumped from ninth to fifth. Chevrolet and Lexus continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Corvette Racing and AIM Vasser Sullivan kept their respective advantages in their respective of Teams' Championships with six 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 Antonio García Jordan Taylor Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 85 2:40:40.846 Chevrolet 5.5L V8 2 GTLM 25 BMW Team RLL Connor De Phillippi Bruno Spengler BMW M8 GTE 85 +3.521 BMW S63 4.0L Turbo V8 3 GTLM 911 Porsche GT Team Frédéric Makowiecki Nick Tandy Porsche 911 RSR-19 85 +4.200 Porsche 4.2L Flat-6 4 GTLM 4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 85 +1:10.860 Chevrolet 5.5L V8 5 GTD 96 Turner Motorsport Bill Auberlen Robby Foley BMW M6 GT3 83 +2 Laps BMW 4.4L Turbo V8 6 GTD 86 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Mario Farnbacher Matt McMurry Acura NSX GT3 Evo 83 +2 Laps Acura 3.5L Turbo V6 7 GTD 74 Riley Motorsports Lawson Aschenbach Gar Robinson Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 83 +2 Laps Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2L V8 8 GTD 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Jack Hawksworth Aaron Telitz Lexus RC F GT3 83 +2 Laps Lexus 5.0L V8 9 GTD 16 Wright Motorsports Ryan Hardwick Patrick Long Porsche 911 GT3 R 83 +2 Laps Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 10 GTD 57 Heinricher Racing w/ MSR Curb-Agajanian Mikhail Goikhberg Álvaro Parente Acura NSX GT3 Evo 83 +2 Laps Acura 3.5L Turbo V6 11 GTD 44 GRT Magnus Andy Lally John Potter Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 83 +2 Laps Lamborghini 5.2L V10 12 GTD 23 Heart of Racing Team Roman De Angelis Ian James Aston Martin Vantage GT3 83 +2 Laps Aston Martin 4.0L Turbo V8 13 GTD 12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Townsend Bell Frankie Montecalvo Lexus RC F GT3 83 +2 Laps Lexus 5.0L V8 14 GTLM 912 Porsche GT Team Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 911 RSR-19 82 +3 Laps Porsche 4.2L Flat-6 15 GTD 22 Gradient Racing Till Bechtolsheimer Marc Miller Acura NSX GT3 Evo 81 +4 Laps Acura 3.5L Turbo V6 16 GTD 76 Compass Racing Corey Fergus Paul Holton McLaren 720S GT3 74 Engine McLaren M840T 4.0L Turbo V8 17 GTLM 24 BMW Team RLL John Edwards Jesse Krohn BMW M8 GTE 66 +19 Laps BMW S63 4.0L Turbo V8 18 GTD 63 Scuderia Corsa Cooper MacNeil Toni Vilander Ferrari 488 GT3 55 Engine Ferrari F154CB 3.9L Turbo V8 19 GTD 30 Team Hardpoint Rob Ferriol Spencer Pumpelly Audi R8 LMS Evo 27 Crash Audi 5.2L V10 20 GTD 48 Paul Miller Racing Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 83 Disqualified Lamborghini 5.2L V10Sources:

Standings after the race

+DPi Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Ryan Briscoe Renger van der Zande 124 2 Sébastien Bourdais João Barbosa 118 3 Oliver Jarvis Tristan Nunez 117 4 Pipo Derani 115 5 Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell 112

+LMP2 Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Cameron Cassels 64 2 Patrick Kelly 63 3 Henrik Hedman 61 4 Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley 60 5 Spencer Pigot 35

+GTLM Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Antonio García Jordan Taylor 165 2 Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor 146 3 Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner 145 4 1 Frédéric Makowiecki Nick Tandy 143 5 1 John Edwards Jesse Krohn 141

+GTD Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Jack Hawksworth 115 2 2 Mario Farnbacher Matt McMurry 115 3 Aaron Telitz 112 4 2 Townsend Bell Frankie Montecalvo 108 5 4 Robby Foley Bill Auberlen 107

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

+DPi Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R 124 2 #5 Mustang Sampling Racing / JDC-Miller MotorSports 118 3 #77 Mazda Motorsports 117 4 #31 Whelen Engineering Racing 115 5 #55 Mazda Motorsports 112

+LMP2 Teams' Championship standings +/– Team Points 1 #38 Performance Tech Motorsports 64 2 #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports 63 3 #81 DragonSpeed USA 61 4 #18 Era Motorsport 60 5 #8 Tower Motorsport by Starworks 28