We are now into the final hour of the final race of the 2020 IMSA season. Sebring at night, is the centerpiece of the championship. We are seeing final pit stops play out. LMP2 and GTLM championships were decided at Laguna Seca, and in the next 53 minutes we will know the DPi champion and the GTD champion. Pit stop time for the #25 BMW M8 GTE, Connor De Philippi is in the final stop of the night and the same is true for the #7 Acura. Wayne Taylor is looking for help from other Cadillac teams. Jeff Westphal will finish this race for the #63 GT Daytona Ferrari. Patrick Long and Lawson Aschenbach are back there. Mario Farnbacher has been serviced and sent as well.
Jeff Westphal has 11 seconds on Patrick Long in GTD, and Lawson Aschenbach is coming, fast. Gar Robinson and Marc Miller have helped out. Lawson Aschenbach makes the move on Patrick Long. Aschenbach and company want a race win. They don't care about a championship. They just want to go for it. Easy pass through Sunset Bend. Does Patrick Long have braking issues on that car? Mazda run 1-2 at the top of the shop. This race has had the most dramatic twists and turns. Lawson Aschenbach did get by the three-time champion. There is a broken left rear shock on the #16 Porsche. That's the bumps at Sebring and the car lays over on the left rear shock in the corners.
The #16 is bouncing up and down in turn 17 with the left rear corner leaning over. He is on a rodeo ride, hanging onto a bucking bronco. 45 minutes remaining in this motor race. Ryan Hardwick smashed himself to pieces in a Lamborghini at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and went through a huge rehab program to get well and fit again. He has been doing very well with John Wright, team boss of Wright Motorsports. They haven't won, but they get into the points paying places. He has learned a bunch. Factory Porsche inane, perhaps for the final time, from the lead, Nick Tandy in the car.
Scott Huffaker in the class leading LMP2 #52 PR1/Mathiasen car, ahead of Mikkel Jensen in the #8 Tower Motorsports by Starworks car, and third in class is the #38 Performance Tech Racing car, Guy Cosmo at the controls along with Patrick Byrne and Don Yount. We reminisce back to the Audi era of their LMP1 machines that dominated this race. So many great drivers on that team. Rinaldo Cappello, Allan McNish, nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, Emmanuelle Pirro, Frank Biela, and more. 20 years ago, Audi won their first race here, and they dominated for a good number of years.
Mazda #77 is in the pit lane for service. Oliver Jarvis is in the car. It's a 2.0 liter turbo 4 cylinder car of course, and they pit for the final time, with just 38 minutes left to run. Scott Andrews, the Australian, making his first DPi start after winning in Prototype Challenge. It is his first 12 Hours of Sebring and the first time in a Cadillac DPi. John Church, owner of JDC-Miller Motorsports, has been high on this bloke. He won the Aussie Holden Commodore Cup. Now, Mazda #55 is in the lane. This is the Bomarito/Tincknell/Hunter-Reay car. The #10 Cadillac is in as well. A driver change as Ryan Briscoe replaces Renger van der Zande for the final stint.
Wayne Taylor is still working a deal to get the #10 one more point in the championship. Only three cars on the lead lap. Will there be favors done at Cadillac? It is hard to say. Cadillac #85 has made another pit stop. Headlights still pierce the gloom from overhead her at Sebring. Just a little over half an hour to go. Oliver Jarvis leads and has had no wins. They have been on the podium and their sister car in second has won, but the sister car is second, 30 seconds behind. Oliver Jarvis was a part of the tail end of the Audi factory program, racing at Le Mans as well.
Mazda were really quick in the most recent race at Laguna Seca. Mazda have had the pace, but they have only found victory lane once, with the #55 and not with the #77. It is nerve racking for a driver to be on the pit box, listening to the radio chatter. You hope and pray things go the right way. Oliver Jarvis does not have to run 100% but he can't just lay back and cruise either. That's not going to work. Oliver Jarvis is off the road! Now, what was that all about? Did something break on the car. Flat left rear tire. Oh boy! This is hearbreaking for the #77 Mazda!
He was so hopeful of a win! They have changed the tire. Now, he could be back in the game. They will have to start at the tail end of the DPi field as we work our ninth Full Course Yellow with 26 minutes to go. Oliver Jarvis' Mazda has shredded bodywork and the safety car is out while the field is crawling. 19 minutes to go in the motor race. Helio Castroneves is not on the Penske pit box. He is very nervous. Harryt Tincknell leads over Danbe Cameron and Oliver Jarvis. The Farnbacher/McMurry Acura will be running for a title and the Wright Motorsports Porsche is chasing.
17 minutes to go and we are back to green. Harry Tincknell leads and Oliver Jarvis is right behind Dane Cameron. Trouble for the #63 WeatherTech Ferrari and now the #25 BMW M8 is in trouble with a tire. #25 spins with Connor De Philippi at the wheel of it. Does the #16 Porsche assume the lead in GTD? The #74 Mercedes has trouble. There is suspension damage on the #25 BMW. The two Porsche's might get a hat trick and three straight on the season, and here at Sebring. Drive throughpenalty for Lawson Aschenbach! Patrick Long will take the GT Daytona lead!
15 minutes to go at the 12 Hours of Sebring. 15 minutes to go in the season. Mercedes #74 in the pit lane. A mechanic is looking at the front grill with a torch and it seems there is little work to be done on that car as the #25 BMW has also made a stop. It is game over though for the #74 Mercedes. Something has gone wrong before or because of the contact they suffered. A win has evaporated for BMW and Porsche leads GTLM. They lead GT Daytona as well. Mario Farnbacher leads Jeff Westphal in GTD points, actually, Farnbacher and McMurry can win still, but two points behind are now the #16 boys, Ryan Hardwick and Patrick Long.
Helio Castroneves is now on the pit box at Team Penske. Castroneves will run six races at Meyer Shank Racing in IndyCar with Englishman Jack Harvey. So we shall see how that turns out. Mazda #55 has inherited third in the points championship. Tincknell collided with the Team Pneske Acura at the Rolex 24 and the Penske team worked tirelessly to get back on track. They are going to finish last in class again, but they are going win a championship in five or so minutes. Five minutes to go. Dane Cameron is going to keep digging. Penske could still steal Mazda's thunder.
Harry Tincknell leads by 9.4 seconds. Stephen Simpson respectfully moves over for the leaders as the headlights blaze through the darkness. Less than three minutes on the board before we end this race and the season as well, but this is not the end of the highlights of IMSA 2020. More races will come your way as the abbreviated off season starts. White flag next time around. Dane Cameron gets held up by the #63 Ferrari. Two minutes to go. Oliver Jarvis is monstering Dane Cameron to make it a Mazda 1-2 at Sebring. White flag. One lap to go.
3 and 3/4 miles and this race and the season is done and dusted. Titles will be decided in DPi and GTD. Ryan Hunter-Reay will get his first win in the overall at Sebring after winning LMP2 a number of years ago. Harry Tincknell is holding his breath for sure. Helio Castroneves has tears in his eyes. We'll tell you who the champs are in a minute. Mazda Motorsports wins an enduro and the #55 does it! Harry Tincknell, Jonathan Bomarito, and Ryan Hunter-Reay win. No 1-2 for Mazda as the #6 Acura gets second. In GT Daytona, Wright Motorsports win the race, but not the title. For Jim Meyer, Mike Shank and Acura, they defend their championship.
Nick Tandy is the winner in GTLM. Acura sweeps manufacturers titles in DPi and GTD. The Porsche gang are ready to celebrate after having bad luck early in the year. Three in a row. Nick Tandy, Fred Makowiecki, and Earl Bamber, who drove in both Porsche's. What a swansong for Porsche and for Acuras Team Penske. The fireworks explode in the night sky. The #3 Corvette team have clinched their championship. Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves are the champions, and kudos to Alexander Rossi for playing his part as well. Again, the fireworks explode in the night sky over Sebring.
Overall/DPi: #7 Castroneves/Taylor/Rossi Acura ARX-05 DPi
LMP2: #52 Huffaker/Kelly/Trummer Oreca 07
GT Le Mans: #911 Tandy/Makowiecki/Bamber Porsche 911 RSR-19
GT Daytona: #16 Long/Hardwick/Heylen Porsche 911 GT3R
The factory Porsche team goes out in style. Congratulations to Wright Motorsports for their GTD win. They will be a threat in 2021. Nick Tandy is thrilled to win Porsche's swansong after seven years of this program since the beginning of the WeatherTech Championship in 2014. Fred Makowiecki is extremely happy as well. He thanks his team. Earl Bamber finishes both first and second. Earl Bamber is not in victory lane. Hmmm. Amazingly, the #16 Porsche finishes the race without a rear shock. PatrickLong, Ryan Hardwick, and Jan Heylen, are GT Daytona winners.
Jan Heylen scores his first career GT Daytona win and he and Patrick Long have known each other for two decades. Wright Motorsports might just be the GTD team to beat for 2021. Mario Farnbachwer and Matt McMurry win the championship for MSR by two points. Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry have two championships and Matt McMurry, he has two titles in two years in two different divisions. Wow. Amazing. The boys at MSR are very happy. They open a new chapter in DPi next year.
Helio is the champion in IMSA for 2020, his first ever championship. He and Ricky Taylor are champions. Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor are champions in GT Le Mans for Corvette. We don't know where Antonio Garcia is. He may be celebrating or may be asleep already. So, the 2020 IMSA season is over. We have a couple more races to talk about, that I have not blogged yet, to hear about. So you will hear about more racing during the off season.
What an emotional day, swansongs for Team Penske as champs and for Porsche. We look ahead to the 2021 season, starting with the 59th Rolex 24 at Daytona, Saturday and Sunday, January 30th and 31st. We'll see you from Daytona in January. So long, everyone.
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