2012 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps

Background

The 2012 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps was confirmed as part of the FIA World Endurance Championship season at the FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in New Delhi on 7 December 2011. It was the second of eight scheduled rounds of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship and the race's debut appearance in the series. The event was held at the 7.004 km Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium on 5 May 2012.

Before the race, Audi Sport Team Joest drivers Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish led the World Endurance Drivers' Championship with 25 points, seven ahead of their teammates Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Loïc Duval. Audi were unopposed in the LMP1 Manufacturers' World Championship with 25 points. With 33 points each, Ferrari and Porsche led the LMGTE Manufacturers' World Cup. Pescarolo Team led Strakka Racing in the Endurance Trophy for LMP1 Teams by seven points. A similar gap separated Starworks Motorsport and OAK Racing in the Endurance Trophy For LMP2 Teams as well as between AF Corse and Team Felbermayr-Proton in the Endurance Trophy For LMGTE Pro Teams. Proton led Larbre Compétition by seven points in the Endurance Trophy For LMGTE Am Teams.

Entry list

The event included 42 cars divided into 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) classes. There were 27 Le Mans Prototype (LMP) cars and 15 Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) cars competing. Following the cancellation of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) event at Circuit Zolder due to a lack of entries, eight ELMS teams received one-off entries to the Spa-Francorchamps race in order to prepare for the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans.{{refn|ELMS teams did not require any technical alterations to their cars since they were the same as the WEC's but were ineligible for ELMS championship points since Spa was a non-ELMS event. The WEC put all entries in the Formula One pitlane building rather than the former pit lane because Radical cars were there.

Audi were the only LMP1 manufacturer. It debuted two diesel-powered R18 Ultras (one by Audi Sport Team Joest and one by Audi Sport North America) and two Joest-entered hybrid R18 e-tron quattros. Rebellion Racing introduced the 2012 bodywork for its two Lola B12/60-Toyotas at Spa, while Strakka Racing and JRM both had HPD ARX-03a-Honda cars. OAK Racing fielded a single OAK Pescarolo 01-Judd car, while the Pescarolo Team debuted the Judd-powered Dome S102.5. Henri Pescarolo withdrew intentions to run his team's Pescarolo 03-Judd car at Spa because it was not ready for the race due to a production delay caused by late payment for car components delivered from England.

LMP2 had 18 entries from five manufacturers due to the inclusion of six full-season ELMS teams. Oreca entered seven 03 vehicles in the class, with Signatech Nissan fielding two (expanding from one) and ADR-Delta, Race Performance, Boutsen Ginion Racing, Murphy Prototypes and Pecom Racing fielding one apiece. Lola had five Lola B12/80 vehicles at Spa with two each for Gulf Racing Middle East and Lotus and one for Status GP. OAK Racing expanded to running two Morgan LMP2-Judds for the first time in the season. Zytek was represented by two Zytek Z11SN cars with one each for Jota and Greaves Motorsport. Extrême Limite ARIC entered one Judd-powered Norma M200P and Starworks Motorsport fielded the lone HPD ARX-03b.

Spa's LMGTE field included 14 vehicles from four different car brands. LMGTE Pro featured the same five cars from the season-opening 12 Hours of Sebring. Ferrari had the most cars in the category, with three 458 Italias, two of which were run by AF Corse and one by Luxury Racing. Aston Martin Racing fielded an Aston Martin Vantage GTE, while Porsche had a single Porsche 997 GT3-RSR entered by Team-Felbermayr Proton. LMGTE Am included nine cars because of two ELMS teams competing. There were four 2011 Ferrari 458 Italias in the class, one each from AF Corse, AF Corse-Waltrip, Luxury Racing and Krohn Racing. Porsche were represented by three one-year-old 997 GT3-RSRs, one each by JWA-Avila, Team-Felbermayr Proton and IMSA Performance Matmut. Larbre Compétition were the sole Chevrolet team, fielding two Chevrolet Corvette C6.Rs.

Balance of performance changes

The Porsche 911 GT3-RSR had a 10 kg weight increase, while the Ferrari 458 Italia received a 15 kg ballast addition to improve handling in the LMGTE Pro balance of performance changes. The Aston Martin Vantage GTE and all LMGTE Am vehicles received no performance updates.

Practice

The first two 90 practice sessions took place on 3 May and the third one-hour session was held the following day. The first session took place in overcast weather on a damp circuit. Audi took the first four overall positions, with Benoît Tréluyer's No. 1 Audi e-tron quattro setting the fastest lap of 2:04.434 early in the session. Duval's No. 3 Audi R18 ultra was 0.044 seconds slower. Capello's No. 2 Audi e-tron quattro was third with Marco Bonanomi's No. 4 Audi R18 ultra fourth. The fastest petrol-powered LMP1 car was Andrea Belicchi's No. 13 Rebellion Lola-Toyota in fifth. Soheil Ayari's No. 49 Pecom Oreca led LMP2 with a time of 2:10.646. Alexander Sims' Status GP Lola-Judd and Stéphane Sarrazin's Starworks HPD cars were second and third in class. Gianmaria Bruni's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari led the LMGTE Pro class with a 2:20.916 lap, beating Marc Lieb's No. 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche by four-tenths of a second. Paolo Ruberti's No. 88 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche paced LMGTE Am with a 2:23.135 lap. With 20 minutes remaining, Nick Leventis locked the No. 21 Strakka HPD car's brakes on oil through the La Source hairpin and crashed into the tyre barrier leaving the turn. The car received minor damage and was placed behind the tyre wall.

The second 90-minute practice session was delayed due to marshals replacing a barrier at Blanchimont corner damaged by a Radical car during the second Radical European Masters practice session and ended early to comply with mid-week noise rules. André Lotterer's No. 1 Audi set the pace on new tyres with a 2:03.075 lap in the final third of practice. He was three-tenths of a second faster than McNish's sister No. 2 car, ahead of Oliver Jarvis' No. 4 entry and Duval. Nick Heidfeld's No. 12 Rebellion car was the highest-placed petrol powered car in fifth. OAK led in LMP2 with a 2:10.058 lap from Olivier Pla's No. 24 Morgan car, Three different manufacturers had the first three fastest laps in LMGTE Pro. Lieb led the category with a 2:19.668 lap ahead of Darren Turner's No. 97 Aston Martin and Luxury's No. 59 Ferrari. Nicolas Armindo's IMSA Porsche paced LMGTE Am at 2:21.872 from Jean-Philippe Belloc's No. 30 Luxury Ferrari and AF Corse-Waltrip's Ferrari.

During a simulated driver change, Gulf Racing Middle East owner Frédéric Fatien got his foot snagged on a wheel behind him, fell, and broken his lower leg in three places. He was hospitalised and withdrew from the race, leaving Jean-Denis Delétraz and Keiko Ihara to drive the No. 29 Lola car. The final session was held in sunny weather with intermittent rain. Marcel Fässler No. 1 Audi posted the quickest lap, 2:01.998, right before the session finished. He was three-tenths of a second quicker than Bonanomi with Marc Gené's No. 3 Audi and McNish in second through fourth. Ayari lapped fastest in LMP2 at 2:09.170, with Pla second and James Rossiter's No. 32 Lotus Lola third. Stefan Mücke's No. 97 Aston Martin led LMGTE Pro with a lap of 2:19.785, almost one second quicker than Frédéric Makowiecki's No. 59 Luxury Ferrari, and Giancarlo Fisichella's No. 51 AF Corse came third. Belloc's lap of 2:22.073 paced LMGTE Am. Anthony Pons' IMSA Porsche and the No. 58 Luxury Ferrari were second and third in class. When Rob Kauffman locked up at Les Combes corner and lost control of his AF Corse-Waltrip Ferrari, he hit the rear of Pons (who had passed him on the Kemmel straight) and rear-ended the barrier. Starworks ended practice early because driver Enzo Potolicchio lost control of the HPD LMP2 car and failed to restart.

Qualifying

Friday afternoon's qualifying session was split into two 20-minute groups. The first session was for all LMGTE cars, while the second was for all LMP entries. A threat of rain had passed, and there was a gentle breeze, with the temperature rising. McNish qualified the No. 2 Audi fastest overall with a 2:01.967 lap, which he then improved to 2:01.579 to clinch pole position on the R18 e-tron quattro's debut. Bonanomi was faster in the first sector but encountered traffic and failed to lap faster. Fässler was too slow on his warm-up lap, attempting to avoid traffic, and qualified the No. 1 Audi third. Duval's two quick laps were hampered by traffic, putting the No. 3 Audi fourth. The fastest petrol-powered car was Neel Jani's No. 12 Rebellion Lola-Toyota in fifth place, followed by Danny Watts' Strakka HPD in sixth.

John Martin drove the ADR-Delta Oreca Judd car to pole position for the first time in LMP2 with a lap of 2:09.302 after his team removed aerodynamics to allow him to go faster on the straights. Rossiter qualified the No. 32 Lotus Lola car second in class after slowing on his penultimate fast timed lap and being 0.041 seconds behind Martin. Sam Hancock qualified the Jota Zytek car third, with Pla's OAK Morgan LMP2 car fourth, ensuring that four manufacturers filled the first four starting positions in class. Armindo secured the class pole position with his first quick lap of 2:21.660 in the IMSA Porsche with three minutes remaining. He demoted Marco Cioci's No. 81 AF Corse Ferrari to second place, while Gunnar Jeannette's No. 58 Luxury Ferrari took third.

Qualifying result

Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold.

Warm-up

Overnight torrential rain eased to a drizzle by morning, by which time standing water was on the track and the second Radical European Masters support race removed much of it in time for the 20-minute morning warm-up session on 5 May but visibility-hindering spray remained an issue. Teams thus had to change the setup of the cars quickly. Rain returned to the circuit midway through warm-up, catching some drivers off guard and causing damage to their vehicles. Tréluyer's No. 1 Audi lapped in 2:22.121, followed by teammates Capello, Bonanomi and Duval. Warren Hughes' Murphy Oreca-Nissan led LMP2 with a time of 2:30.417, while Lieb's No. 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche paced LMGTE Pro and Larbre's No. 50 Corvette led LMGTE Am. Vickers was unhurt but the car was withdrawn from the race because the chassis was bent and repairs could not completed before the start.

Race

Start and early hours

Conditions improved but the track remained wet and the air was cool under gloomy weather following the morning rain shower, which tapered off 30 minutes before the race start. The air temperature ranged from 8.1 to and the track temperature was between 10 and. An anticipated race-long downpour did not materialise. 40 cars were due to take the start, but Karun Chandhok was unable to main tyre temperature in the JRM HPD car and hit the tyre barrier atop Eau Rouge corner on a reconnaissance lap going to the starting grid on the wet track. He returned the car to the pit lane, where it began after replacing the car's front bodywork, which had been pierced by a dive plane and parts of the right-rear suspension. Lotus' No. 31 LMP2 entry changed engines and began a lap down in the pit lane. Makowiecki spun the LMGTE Pro pole-sitting No. 59 Luxury Ferrari leaving La Source hairpin on the formation lap but was able to rejoin the field.

The race began before 31,000 spectators at 14:30 local time, with all cars on wet-compound tyres in heavy spray. With the circuit damp from the earlier rain showers,{{cite web|last=Wittemeier

Following pit stops, Ayari took up the LMP2 lead when Gené in the non-hybrid No. 3 Audi began to gain on Lotterer and later Tréluyer in the race-leading No. 1 car by switching to slick tyres while his teammates stayed on intermediate tyres. The Murphy Oreca received a stop-and-go penalty for breaking the rule that LMP2 and LMGTE Am teams must start the race with the driver who qualified the car, despite getting written permission to start Jody Firth. Martin's ADR-Delta car spun around after colliding with Chandhok's HPD entry near the pit lane entry, but remained third in LMP2 after regaining control of the vehicle. When Ayari collided with IMSA's GTE Porsche and spun, he lost the class lead to Martin. He drove the Pecom Oreca into the pit lane for six minutes to replace the detached front bodywork. Fisichella's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari led LMGTE Pro for four laps after Lieb's No. 77 Felbermayr-Proton Porsche made a routine pit stop before its own stop as Lieb began catching Fisichella quickly.

Late afternoon to finish

Duval took over the No. 3 Audi from Gené and drew in on Tréluyer's No. 1 car, passing him for the lead at La Source hairpin. Simon Dolan used the Jota Zytek car's fuel efficiency to pass the Orecas and take the LMP2 lead. McNish ran wide into the gravel trap at Stavelot corner due to a tyre he disliked, but he rejoined the track without causing significant damage to the No. 2 Audi. The race was slowed by two safety cars for nine minutes, and no on-track overtaking was permitted. The safety cars had closed the field, and some cars made pit stops, while others were held at the exit of the pit lane waiting to be released. The No. 31 Lotus struck the turn nine tyre barrier after the safety cars were withdrawn. Philippe Haezebrouck lost control of the Extreme Limite Aric Norma car at high speed after leaving the pit lane on cold tyres and following two laps at race speed. He struck the tyre barrier atop the hill at Raidillon corner with the car's rear. Haezebrouck was unhurt and was taken to the medical centre as the safety cars were deployed for the second time to repair the wall and remove the wrecked car.

After the safety cars were recalled, Hancock's LMP2-leading Jota Zytek was given a 30-second stop-and-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane and lost the category lead to Tor Graves' ADR-Delta Oreca entry. In the duel for third overall, Bonanomi's No. 4 Audi was a second behind McNish's sister No. 2 car, as Hughes endured two slow laps trying to conserve fuel, which prevented him from generating tyre temperature in the Murphy Oreca. The top four LMP2 cars were separated by 55 seconds, with Hancock gaining on class leader Graves and Hughes closing in on third-placed Leinders. Both safety car periods separated the race-leading No. 3 Audi from the No. 1 car, allowing Dumas to extend his lead over Fässler. Late in the fourth hour, Bonamoni passed Capello for third place as the No. 2 Audi appeared to suffer more with understeer than the sister No. 1 car due to a setup adjustment that resulted in tyres that wore out faster. Jordan Tresson activated the reserve fuel pump while deactivating the Signatech Nissan traction control system at Stavelot corner, damaging the car's left-front corner at the Bus Stop chicane. After becoming briefly partially stopped in the small pit lane entry due to a lack of steering lock, he was pulled into the pit lane by marshals for 48 minutes of substantial repairs in the pit lane. Robbie Kerr was faster than Hughes' Murphy Oreca and drove the ADR-Delta car into second in LMP2 as Hancock reclaimed the class lead.

Fisichella led ten laps in LMGTE Pro before being replaced by Richard Lietz at the No. 77 Felbermayr-Proton car's final pit stop, before Lietz passed the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari to retake the class lead. Van Der Zande retired after crashing the No. 31 Lotus Lola into the barriers in the final hour. Dolan had relieved Hancock and began gaining on Kerr's LMP2 leading ADR-Delta car by three or four seconds per lap since Kerr was on worn tyres that had not been replaced during his most recent pit stop. Kerr was able to stabilise the gap to Dolan while Brendon Hartley in the Murphy Oreca was faster and gaining on Dolan. Fässler drove wide in Les Combes corner, struck a kerb, and a puncture necessitated an unscheuled pit stop for a new set of tyres as a precaution, although the No. 1 Audi remained second overall. Capello's sister No. 2 Audi earned a stop-and-go penalty for restarting the engine before his team finished working on it, demoting him to fourth.

Dumas's, Duval's and Gené's non-hybrid No. 3 Audi ultra held the race lead for the final 98 laps, winning by 46.801 seconds over Audi's highest-placed hybrid, the No. 1 car. Kerr's ADR-Delta vehicle finished second, 6.378 seconds behind Jota, earning the team and its drivers the most WEC points since Jota was an ELMS guest entrant. Porsche took their maiden WEC victory, with Lieb's No. 77 Felbermayr-Proton car held off Bruni's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari (whose improved fuel mileage allowed it to make one less pit stop in their four-stop plan) in the final hour to win LMGTE Pro by 0.628 seconds. The German manufacturer also won in LMGTE Am, with the IMSA Performance Matmut team leading all but four laps and finishing 58.781 seconds clear of Felbermayr-Proton's No. 88 car.

Post-race

Audi did not expect the ultra cars to be faster than the e-tron quattros in dry weather, according to Duval, and he was surprised by them. Gené stated that winning on his Audi debut was "very unexpected" because he was not expected to be at Spa-Francorchamps and his car was slower in qualifying. Dumas added that low fuel consumption allowed him to build their advantage, and the good tyre wear meant he did not change his car's tyres at the last pit stop. Despite his disappointment at not winning the race, Lotterer praised the start of the e-tron quattro project. Tréluyer said excess oversteer, driver errors, a lack of front tyre heating causing a lack of frontal grip prevented him from attacking Duval. Fässler claimed that he finished second to gain vital championship points. Bonanomi termed it a "great race" and Jarvis said his team's main goal was to avoid mistakes and cover as much distance as possible.

Joest Racing technical director Ralf Jüttner said the difference between the hybrid and non-hybrid Audis surprised both Audi and Joest Racing. Dolan commented on his LMP2 victory: To win a World Championship race is a dream come true, Spa has always been a good track for us, really. It's even better now." Hancock said a negative setup adjustment he made to the Jota Zytek after free practice made the car quite difficult to control in wet weather but it improved once the circuit dried and Jota switched to slick tyres. Kerr noted that he made a late race fuel stop was because "There's a championship at stake here." Lieb remarked that his team would not have had a chance to win in LMGTE Pro if the event had been held in fully dry conditions, but commended the Porsche's performance on a drying course. Lietz said that he was uncomfortable during his final one-and-a-half stints since his crew had to double stint the tyres and refuel in order to stay ahead of AF Corse. Armindo revealed that the objective of his crew was to complete the race and that if he raced too fast for an extended length of time on the wet track, tyre grip would decrease.

The final result put Dumas and Duval two points ahead of Capello, Kristensen, and McNish in the World Endurance Drivers' Championship. Audi remained unopposed in the LMP1 Manufacturers' World Championship while Porsche led Ferrari by one point in the LMGTE Manufacturers' World Cup. Both Rebellion and ADR-Delta took the lead of the Endurance Trophy for LMP1 and LMP2 Teams, respectively. With six races remaining in the season, Team Felbermayr-Proton was tied for the Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Pro Teams lead with AF Corse, but the squad maintained their lead in the Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams.

Race result

Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of winner's distance (112 laps) marked as Not Classified (NC).

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Championship standings after the race

Footnotes

References

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