| Oct. 21, 2020 By Mark Robinson IMSA Wire Service  WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, Calif. Oct. 30 – Nov. 1, 2020 Fast Facts:Race Day/Time: Sunday, November 1 – 4:05 p.m. ET TV Broadcast on NBCSN: Same day delay at 6:30 p.m. ET TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 4 p.m. ET IMSA.com/TV Live Qualifying Stream: Sunday, November 1 – 11:25 a.m. IMSA Radio: All sessions live on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com; SiriusXM live race coverage begins Sunday at 4 p.m. (Sirius channel 217, XM 202, Internet 972) Circuit Type: 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course Race Length: Two hours, 40 minutes Track Social Media: Twitter/Instagram/Facebook: @WeatherTechRcwyEvent Hashtags: #IMSA, #IMSAMonterey WeatherTech Championship Track Records Qualifying: DPi: Ricky Taylor, Acura DPi, 1:15.035 / 107.373 mph, September 2019 LMP2: Kyle Masson, ORECA LMP2, 1:16.817 / 104.882 mph, September 2019 GTLM: Jesse Krohn BMW M8 GTE, 1:21.557 / 98.787 mph, September 2019 GTD: Katherine Legge, Acura NSX GT3, 1:24.456 / 95.396 mph, September 2018 2019 Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship Winners:DPi: Juan Pablo Montoya/Dane Cameron, No. 6 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi LMP2: Matt McMurry/Dalton Kellett, No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 GTLM: Joey Hand/Dirk Mueller, No. 66 Ford Chip Ganassi Ford Racing GT GTD: Bryan Sellers/Corey Lewis, No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Storylines · Homestretch Run, Different Finish Line: Four the fourth straight year, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca plays host to the penultimate race on the WeatherTech Championship schedule. In the past three seasons, the WeatherTech Raceway event has preceded the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. In this pandemic-influenced year of 2020, however, the schedule has been reshuffled and the season finale will be the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts at Sebring International Raceway on Nov. 14. · DPi Points Battles Rages On: The Daytona Prototype international (DPi) championship is still up for grabs with two races remaining. Renger van der Zande and Ryan Briscoe pushed their lead in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R to eight points following a surprise win in Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans. Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor (No. 7 Acura Team Penske Acura ARX-05 DPi) are second in the standings, four points ahead of Pipo Derani, who shares the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac with Felipe Nasr. A late collision between Taylor and Derani opened the door for van der Zande to win the Motul Petit Le Mans and stoked emotions heading to WeatherTech Raceway. · GTD Championship Wide Open: There’s a new points leader atop the WeatherTech Championship GT Daytona (GTD) standings coming into the Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship. Aaron Telitz has split time between AIM Vasser Sullivan’s two Lexus entries in 2020. He has a two-point lead over Jack Hawksworth, with whom he’s sharing the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 the rest of the season. Hovering just two points behind Hawksworth are No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche GT3R drivers Patrick Long and Ryan Hardwick. In fourth place, seven points from the lead, are last year’s GTD champion Mario Farnbacher and No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 co-driver Matt McMurry. · Sprint Cup Finale: The IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup, consisting of the seven GTD non-endurance races, wraps up with the WeatherTech Raceway event. Holding a sizable 19-point advantage that includes three wins, No. 14 Lexus drivers Hawksworth and Telitz will clinch the Sprint Cup by starting the race on Nov. 1. · Clinchers for LMP2, GTLM? The driver titles in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) and GT Le Mans (GTLM) classes could be decided at WeatherTech Raceway. In LMP2, Patrick Kelly (No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07) has a 34-point lead over Dwight Merriman and Kyle Tilley, who currently are not slated to race. In GTLM, Antonio Garcia and Ricky Taylor (No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R) hold a 28-point advantage over teammates Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner (No. 4 Corvette). If Garcia and Taylor add seven points to the gap, they will clinch the crown. Who’s Hot? · No. 7 Acura Team Penske: Despite the controversial collision near the end of the Motul Petit Le Mans, Taylor salvaged a second-place finish that came on the heels of three straight wins for him and Castroneves. Their teammates, Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya in the No. 6 Acura, won last year’s event at WeatherTech Raceway on their way to the championship. A win for Taylor and Castroneves could put them in position to do the same and provide Team Penske an appropriate swansong as it exits DPi competition after this season. · WeatherTech, WeatherTech, WeatherTech: Cooper MacNeil and Alessandro Balzan (along with Jeff Westphal) are fresh off a GTD win at Motul Petit Le Mans in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3, and the stars couldn’t seem to be better aligned in the Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship. MacNeil and Balzan will drive in the WeatherTech-sponsored car, at the WeatherTech-named track, in the WeatherTech-sponsored series. Also, Balzan won in a Ferrari at WeatherTech Raceway along with Christina Nielsen in 2017. · Corvette Racing: The class-leading No. 3 of Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia has finished first or second in five of the past six GTLM races. That string might be in jeopardy, however. While the team has more wins (7) at WeatherTech Raceway than any other, Corvette Racing hasn’t been victorious at the track since 2014. Who’s Good Here? · Patrick Long and Oliver Gavin: Long is the leader among entered drivers in past wins at WeatherTech Raceway with five. Gavin is second with four. However, Long hasn’t been victorious at the track in nine years, Gavin in eight. · BMW Team RLL: With three GTLM wins in the past five WeatherTech Raceway events, Team RLL must be considered a favorite. There’s likely extra incentive, since what looked like a certain victory at Saturday’s Motul Petit Le Mans slipped away when the No. 24 BMW had an off-track excursion while leading in the final hour and wound up third. Previous Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship Winners in 2020 Field (22) Patrick Long (5) – ALMS GT2 – 2005, 2009; DP – 2007; ALMS GT – 2010, 2011 Oliver Gavin (4) – ALMS GT1 – 2005, 2007, 2008; ALMS GT – 2012 Dane Cameron (3) – GT – 2012; GTD – 2014; DPi – 2019 Antonio Garcia (3) – DP – 2012; ALMS GT – 2013; GTLM – 2014 John Edwards (2) – GTLM – 2015, 2017Andy Lally (2) – GT – 2007, 2013 Tommy Milner (2) – GT – 2005; ALMS GT – 2012 Spencer Pumpelly (2) – ALMS GT – 2011; GTD – 2015 Renger van der Zande (2) – PC – 2014; P – 2017 Bill Auberlen (1) – ALMS GT – 2005 Alessandro Balzan (1) – GTD – 2017 Ryan Briscoe (1) – GTLM – 2016 Connor De Phillippi (1) – GTLM – 2018 Pipo Derani (1) – P – 2018 Mario Farnbacher (1) – GTD – 2016 Matt McMurry (1) – LMP2 – 2019 Juan Pablo Montoya (1) – DPi/Overall – 2019 Alvaro Parente (1) – GTD – 2018 John Potter (1) – GT – 2013 Bryan Sellers (1) – GTD – 2019 Jordan Taylor (1) – DP – 2013 Nick Tandy (1) – ALMS GTC – 2013 Previous Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship Winning Pole Winners in 2020 Field (15) Ricky Taylor (3) – DP – 2011; P – 2017; DPi – 2019 Jordan Taylor (2) – P – 2015, 2018 John Edwards (1) – GT – 2013 Oliver Gavin (1) – GTLM – 2018 Jesse Krohn (1) – GTLM – 2019 Patrick Long (1) – DP 2006 Spencer Pumpelly (1) – GTD – 2014 Previous Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship Winning Teams in 2020 Field (12) Corvette Racing (7) – ALMS GTS – 2004; ALMS GT1 – 2005, 2007, 2008; ALMS GT – 2012, 2013; GTLM – 2014 Acura Team Penske (4) – ALMS P2 – 2005, 2006, 2007; DPi – 2019BMW Team RLL (3) – GTLM – 2015, 2017, 2018 PR1-Mathiasen Motorsports (3) – ALMS PC – 2013; PC – 2016; LMP2 – 2019 Meyer Shank Racing (2) – P – 2016; GTD – 2018 Wayne Taylor Racing (2) – DP – 2006, 2013 CORE autosport/Porsche GT Team (1) – ALMS PC – 2012 GRT Magnus (1) – GT – 2013 Paul Miller Racing (1) – GTD – 2019 Scuderia Corsa (1) – GTD – 2017 Turner Motorsport (1) – GTD 2014 Previous Hyundai Monterey Sports Car Championship Winning Manufacturers in 2020 Field (10) Porsche – 18 Chevrolet – 11 BMW – 9 Audi – 8 Ferrari – 6 Acura – 5 Mazda – 3 Aston Martin – 2 Lamborghini – 1 Lexus – 1 |
