2020 24 Hours of Le Mans

2020 24 Hours of Le Mans
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Layout of the Circuit de la Sarthe
Layout of the Circuit de la Sarthe

The 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 88e 24 Heures du Mans) was a 24-hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) cars fielded by teams of three drivers each held from 19 to 20 September 2020 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, close to Le Mans, France. It was the 88th running of the event, as organised by the automotive group, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) since 1923. The race, held behind closed doors, was the seventh in the 2019–20 FIA World Endurance Championship, having been postponed from June to September as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in France.

A Toyota TS050 Hybrid shared by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López started from pole position after Kobayashi set the overall fastest lap time in the Hyperpole session. The trio led most of the race's first half until Kobayashi was required to drive their car into the garage with mechanical issues dropping them to fourth in the LMP1 class. Their teammates Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima took over the lead, which they maintained until the finish. It was Buemi and Nakajima's third Le Mans victory, Hartley's second and Toyota's third in succession. A Rebellion R13 driven by Gustavo Menezes, Norman Nato and Bruno Senna was the highest-placed non-hybrid LMP1 car in second and Conway, Kobayashi and López finished third.

The United Autosports team of Filipe Albuquerque, Phil Hanson and Paul di Resta won the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category with Jota Sport's António Félix da Costa, Anthony Davidson and Roberto González finishing almost 33 seconds later in second place. Panis Racing's Julien Canal, Nico Jamin, and Matthieu Vaxivière completed the category podium in third. Aston Martin won the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro) category with an Aston Martin Racing-run Vantage GTE shared by Alex Lynn, Maxime Martin and Harry Tincknell finishing ahead of AF Corse's James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Daniel Serra. The British marque also won the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur (LMGTE Am) class with the TF Sport team of Jonathan Adam, Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluç beating the Dempsey-Proton Racing squad of Matt Campbell, Riccardo Pera and Christian Ried by 49 seconds.

The result moved Buemi, Hartley and Nakajima to the lead of the LMP Drivers' Championship by seven points over Conway, Kobayashi and López whose third-place finish demoted them to second. Menezes, Nato and Senna remained in third position while Albuquerue and Hanson remained in fourth, having won the LMP2 Endurance Trophy for Drivers because of their class victory with their co-driver Di Resta fifth. In the GTE Drivers' Championship Lynn and Martin moved to within 15 points of their teammates Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim. Toyota and Aston Martin left Le Mans as the respective LMP1 Teams' and GTE Manufacturers' champions with one race left in the season.


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