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 . 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.

Background and event

After winning the preceding 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Toyota's Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López led the LMP Drivers' Championship with 137 points, with their teammates Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima in second. Rebellion's Gustavo Menezes, Norman Nato and Bruno Senna were third with 109 points, with Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson of United Autosports fourth with 54 points and Paul di Resta in fifth with 46 points. In the GTE Drivers' Championship, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim led for Aston Martin with 127 points over Michael Christensen and Kévin Estre of Porsche in second, and AF Corse's James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi in third. Toyota led the LMP1 Teams' Championship over Rebellion, while Aston Martin was ahead of Porsche in the GTE Manufacturers' Championship.

The 2020 race, the 88th edition of the event, was to be held at the Circuit de la Sarthe close to Le Mans, France, from 13 to 14 June; because of the COVID-19 pandemic leading France to impose a national lockdown to slow the spread of the virus, the ACO and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) rescheduled it to 19 and 20 September. The ACO wanted to establish new dates for the race as soon as French officials imposed the lockdown; they wanted to avoid the shorter daylight hours and poor weather late in the year, and had to take global travel limitations into account. It was also made the seventh and penultimate round of the 2019–20 FIA World Endurance Championship instead of ending the season as originally planned. Pierre Fillon, the ACO president, said that the race was not cancelled since many teams built their economic models around it.

Although there were plans to admit a limited number of ticket holders to Le Mans in ten social bubbles dubbed "fan villages" of 5,000 people each, it was held behind closed doors following discussions with the local Sarthe Prefecture because of an increase of COVID-19 cases in France in the preceding month. All teams were mandated to remain in bubbles and not communicate with other squads. Only 5,000 individuals could be admitted to the track, and all had to test negative for the virus and wear a face mask for safety reasons.

Circuit changes

Modifications were made to the circuit at the exit of Mulsanne Corner. The gravel traps at the corner were extended. Updated safety fencing enabled the fence line to be moved back at different points in the turn. A larger, wider and thicker layer of asphalt was laid at both sides of the turn at the FIA's request to decrease the amount of disruption caused by a car going off. Work began in March 2020 and ended three months later in June.

Entries The ACO received 75 applications for the 18 December 2019 entry deadline. It granted 62 invitations to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Entries were divided between the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur (LMGTE Am) categories.

Automatic entries

Teams that won their class in the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, or won championships in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS), and the Michelin Le Mans Cup (MLMC) earned an automatic entry invitation. The second-place finishers in the 2019 ELMS in LMP2 and LMGTE championships also earned automatic invitations. The ACO chose two participants from the IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA) to be automatic entries regardless of their performance or category. As invitations were granted to teams, they could change their cars from the previous year but not their category. The LMGTE class invitees from the ELMS and ALMS could choose between the Pro and Am categories. ELMS' LMP3 (Le Mans Prototype 3) champion is required to field an entry in LMP2, while the 2019–20 ALMS LMP3 champion was permitted to choose between LMP2 or LMGTE Am. The 2019 MLMC Group GT3 (GT3) champion was invited to the LMGTE Am category.

On 25 February 2020, the ACO announced the final list of automatic entries.

+Automatic entries for the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans Reason invited LMP1 LMP2 LMGTE Pro LMGTE Am 1st in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Toyota Gazoo Racing Signatech Alpine Matmut AF Corse Team Project 1 1st in the European Le Mans Series (LMP2 and LMGTE) IDEC Sport Luzich Racing 2nd in the European Le Mans Series (LMP2 and LMGTE) G-Drive Racing Dempsey-Proton Racing 1st in the European Le Mans Series (LMP3) EuroInternationalIMSA SportsCar Championship at-large entries Cameron Cassels Richard Heistand 1st in the Asian Le Mans Series (LMP2 and GT) G-Drive Racing with Algarve HubAuto Corsa 1st in the Asian Le Mans Series (LMP2 Am) Rick Ware Racing 1st in the Asian Le Mans Series (LMP3) Nielsen Racing – or – Nielsen Racing 1st in the Michelin Le Mans Cup (GT3) Kessel Racing

Entry list

The ACO announced the full 62 car entry list, plus ten reserves on 28 February. In addition to the 30 guaranteed WEC entries, 18 came from the ELMS, seven from IMSA, five from the ALMS and two one-off Le Mans entries. There were 30 cars in the two LMP classes, 31 in both LMGTE categories and one innovative entry. The Richard Mille Racing Team entered the first all-woman team in LMP2 at Le Mans, joined by a second all-female Iron Lynx squad in LMGTE Am, meaning that for the first time since there were two all-female line-ups in the race.

Garage 56 The ACO intended to continue the Garage 56 concept, started in 2012, which allows an additional entry to test new technologies at the race. Association SRT 41 founded by quadruple amputee racing driver Frédéric Sausset entered into an operational agreement with Graff Racing for one Oreca 07-Gibson car converted into an adapted automobile. The team intended to field three physically impaired drivers in the first all-disabled line-up in Le Mans history but withdrew from the event in April 2020 because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving it without adequate preparation. Sausset filed an entry request to the ACO for the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Reserves In addition to the 62 entries given invitations for the race, 10 were put on a reserve list to replace any withdrawn or unconfirmed invitations. The first reserve entry replaced the first withdrawal from the race, regardless of the class and entry, and so on. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic's economic impact, Porsche withdrew both of their CORE Autosport-ran 911-RSR 19s in May, reducing their representation in LMGTE Pro from four to two entries. That same month, Corvette Racing withdrew their two C8.Rs, meaning the team would be absent from Le Mans for the first time since . On 18 June, the ACO released a revised entry list confirming the withdrawal of the Porsche and Corvette entries. The Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, the ByKolles CLM P1/01-Gibson, the IDEC Sport and High Class Racing Orecas and the Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR were promoted to the race entry.

Team LNT withdrew one of its Ginetta G60-LT-P1 cars, reducing the LMP1 class to six entries. Performance Tech Motorsports pulled its Oreca 07 from the entry list. Rick Ware Racing withdrew its Riley Mk. 30 car, and GEAR Racing withdrew its LMGTE Pro-class Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. High Class Racing reduced its involvement to a single LMP2 vehicle. The DragonSpeed, Iron Lynx and Team Project 1 teams each had one car added to the entry list while the D'Station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE and the Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P217 cars were deleted from the reserve list. In August, WeatherTech Racing moved its Ferrari 488 GTE Evo from the LMGTE Am to the LMGTE Pro category following a driver lineup change. Carlin's Dallara P217 and Kessel Racing's LMGTE Am Ferrari withdrew later that month as Iron Lynx added a third Ferrari to the LMGTE Am class. On 11 September, the remaining Team LNT Ginetta G60-LT-P1 entry withdrew because of uncertainties related to UK COVID-19 quarantine measures, and its effect on Ginetta's business model. This reduced the entry list to 59 cars.

Testing

For the first time since the race, the ACO did not hold an official test day for teams to test car aerodynamic updates at Le Mans. The ACO cancelled it because of the compression of international motor racing calendar schedules, and did not want to strain participants by holding too many events, like the test day, close to each other. Thus, drivers who had not entered the event within the preceding five years were required to drive at least ten laps during the first two practice sessions and attend a simulator test.

Pre-race balance of performance changes