The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship concluded the 2020 season Saturday with the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Two championships were up for grabs in the DPi and GTD classes. Acura Team Penske’s Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves won the pole in the DPi class, Patrick Kelly for PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports won the LMP2 pole.
Kelly already won the LMP2 title a couple of weeks ago at Laguna Seca. Wright Motorsports Porsche driver Jan Heylen won the pole in the GTD class, and Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia won the pole in the GTLM class. Garcia already won the GTLM championship.
Wayne Taylor Racing’s Renger Van Der Zande was penalized for switching lanes before crossing the start/finish line and was issued a drive-through penalty at the drop of the flag. The DPi championship leaders Team Penske had a mechanical issue and had to go to the garage.
It turned out that the turbo booster needed replacement in the car. They were able to fix the car and get it back out on the track; however, they were down nine laps. The first caution of the day came out one hour into the race for debris when the LMP2 No. 8 GEAR Racing powered by GRT Grasser of John Farano, hit the tire wall exiting turn 17.
Once the debris was picked up, the race resumed with ten hours and forty-six minutes left. Pipo Derani was leading in the DPi category, Patrick Kelly was leading the LMP2, Connor De Phillippe in the GTLM, and Ryan Hardwick in the GTD. The race went over an hour before the second caution came out for debris on the front stretch. During the caution, teams from all classes made pit stops.
The caution would extend a bit longer due to the No. 11 GEAR Racing powered by GRT Grasser Lamborghini of Richard Heistand had a puff of smoke come off his car exiting off of pit road and came to a complete stop. The car suffered a broken driveshaft and had to go to the garage for repairs. The race resumed with nine hours and twenty-four minutes left.
The restart lasted seven minutes before the No. 4 Corvette of Oliver Gavin’s car left fluid on the track at turn 17, causing both AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus cars, who were running one and two to crash at turn 17, along with Hardwick and Andrew Davis to bring out the third caution.
During the caution, teams from all classes went to pit road while track crews were repairing the tire wall. The race restarted with eight hours and fifty-eight minutes left with Ryan Briscoe leading in DPi, Simon Trummer in LMP2, Earl Bamber in GTLM, and Darren Turner in GTD. The restart lasted 45 minutes before Jakub Smiechowski, who was leading in the LMP2 class, crashed into the tire wall exiting off of turn 17 to bring out the fourth caution.
Ryan Briscoe led the field back to green with under eight hours to go. The rest of the leaders on the restart were Scott Huffaker in LMP2, Fred Makowiecki in GTLM, and Alessandro Balzan in GTD. With a little over seven hours to go, Oliver Jarvis spun Scott Dixon at turn ten, cutting Dixon’s right rear tire. Dixon was able to hobble back to pit road. The tire shreds of Dixon’s car brought out the fifth caution.
During the caution, all four classes went to pit road. The race resumed with six hours and forty-six minutes left in the race with Pipo Derani leading in DPi, Patrick Kelly in LMP2, Nicky Catsburg in GTLM, and Cooper MacNeil in GTD. The sixth caution came out for Misha Goikhberg brushing the wall, knocking a sign-off that landed on the No. 44 GRT Magnus Lamborghini of John Potter.
During the caution, all four classes went to pit road. The race restarted with under six hours left in the race. Patrick Kelly spun out Catsburg at turn 17, cutting the right rear tire of Catsburg and leaving debris on the track to bring out the caution for the seventh time.
No one went to pit road during the caution. The race resumed with five hours and fifty-one minutes to go. With just five hours left, teams from all classes were making another round of pit stops. Sebastian Bourdais led in DPi, followed by Simon Trummer in LMP2, Catsburg in GTLM, and Roman De Angelis in GTD.
With three and a half hours left, the No. 4 Corvette was able to get back on the track after repairing the engine. However, Oliver Gavin lost control of the car at turn 17, telling his crew the suspension failed. The team took the car back to the garage for repairs and were able to fix the suspension and get Gavin back out on the track. This would be his final full-time ride.
The race resumed with three hours and twenty minutes left. Teams were starting to get aggressive in the final two hours and forty minutes left in the race. Pipo Derani squeezed by Juan Pablo Montoya at turn three to take the lead. His team needed to win the race to win the DPi championship.
Montoya would get the lead back a short time later before Derani spun Montoya out to regain the lead. After that chaos took place, Oliver Pla passed Derani for the lead. Derani had to serve a drive-through for the incident.
A half an hour later, Matt McMurry passed Alessandro Balzan for the lead in GTD. In the DPi class, both Mazda Motorsports teammates were sitting in the top two positions. With under a half-hour left, Oliver Jarvis in the No. 77 Mazda, who was running in first, braked late into turn seven and went off the track with a thirty-second lead. His car then suffered a flat left rear tire, and he made his way back to pit road. Parts of the tire came off and sat on the track to bring out the ninth caution with 26 minutes left.
Harry Tinknell led the field back to green with 17 minutes left in the race with Dane Cameron behind him. The other leaders were Connor De Phillippi in GTD, Nick Tandy GTLM, and Scott Huffaker in LMP2. In the GTD class, Connor De Phillippi was hit from behind by Lawson Aschenbach before hitting the No. 63 of Alessandro Balzan. De Phillippi’s car cut the right rear tire and limped to pit road. The incident led Patrick Long and the No. 16 Porsche to take the lead.
The leads remained unchanged for the rest of the race as Tinknell won in DPi, Nick Tandy in GTLM, Scott Huffaker in LMP2, and Patrick Long in GTD. Mario Farnbacher with Heinricher Racing w/Meyer Shank Racing Acura finished in third place to win the GTD championship, and Acura Team Penske’s Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves won the DPi championship.
