2012 24 Hours of Le Mans explained

The 80th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 80e 24 Heures du Mans) was a 24-hour automobile endurance race for teams of three drivers each entering Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 16 to 17 June 2012 at the Circuit de la Sarthe close to Le Mans, France before 240,000 spectators. It was the 80th running of the event, as organised by the automotive group, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) since 1923. The race was the third round of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship, with 30 of the race's 56 entries contesting the championship. A test day was held two weeks prior to the race on 3 June.

A Audi R18 e-tron quattro driven by André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyer started from pole position after Lotterer set the fastest overall lap time in the third qualifying session. The team were untroubled in the opening hours of the race until a Toyota TS030 Hybrid shared by Alexander Wurz, Kazuki Nakajima and Nicolas Lapierre took the lead. Toyota relinquished it during a safety car period for a major accident at the start of the sixth hour. Audi's other team of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello became their teammate's lead challengers until McNish crashed while lapping slower traffic in the 22nd hour and providing Lotterer, Fässler and Tréluyer with a lead they maintained to the end of the race. It was Lotterer, Fässler and Tréluyer's second Le Mans win, Audi's eleventh and the first for a hybrid electric vehicle. The second Audi finished one lap behind in second place and a R18 ultra of Oliver Jarvis, Marco Bonanomi and Mike Rockenfeller completed an Audi sweep of the podium positions in third.

The Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class was won by the Starworks Motorsport team of Enzo Potolicchio, Ryan Dalziel and Tom Kimber-Smith in a HPD ARX-03b after they led the final 215 laps of the event. The trio finished ahead of Thiriet by TDS Racing's Oreca 03 car shared by Pierre Thiriet, Mathias Beche and Christophe Tinseau and PeCom Racing's Luís Pérez Companc, Pierre Kaffer and Soheil Ayari. Giancarlo Fisichella, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander in an AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 held a three-lap lead in Le Mans Grand Touring Professional (LMGTE Pro) over Luxury Racing's trio of Frédéric Makowiecki, Jaime Melo and Dominik Farnbacher. The Le Mans Grand Touring Amateur (LMGTE Am) category was won by Larbre Compétition's Chevrolet Corvette C6.R of Patrick Bornhauser, Pedro Lamy and Julien Canal after Lamy overtook Anthony Pons, Nicolas Armindo and Raymond Narac's IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 997 GT3-RSR in the final hour.

Due to the result of the race, McNish, Kristensen and Capello were elevated to the lead of the Drivers' Championship, 6½ points over the race winners Lotterer, Fässler and Tréluyer in second position. The leaders entering the event, Romain Dumas and Loïc Duval fell to third. Marc Gené was in fourth place and the Rebellion trio of Nick Heidfeld, Neel Jani and Nico Prost completed the top five after finishing in fourth position. Audi continued to lead the non-scoring Toyota in the Manufacturers' Championship with five races left in the season.

Background

The 24 Hours of Le Mans was first held in 1923 after the automotive journalist Charles Faroux, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) general secretary Georges Durand and the industrialist Emile Coquile agreed to hold a test of vehicle reliability and durability. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is considered one of the world's most prestigious motor races and is part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport.[1]

The ACO moved the 2012 Le Mans schedule forward by one week in order to avoid a date conflict with races in the 2012 Formula One World Championship and to allow teams to establish their facilities at the Circuit de la Sarthe close to Le Mans, France.[2] [3] It was the 80th annual edition of the event, as well as the third of eight automobile endurance races of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).[4]

After the preceding 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Audi drivers Romain Dumas and Loïc Duval led the Drivers' Championship with 43 points, two ahead of their teammates Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish in second place. Marc Gené was in third position with 25 points, the trio of Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer were in fourth place with points and Timo Bernhard was fifth with 18 points.[5] Audi led the non-scoring Toyota in the Manufacturers' Championship by 52 points.

Regulation changes

With the introduction of hybrid electric vehicles for the first time at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012, the ACO and the world governing body of motor racing, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), created seven zones on the Circuit de la Sarthe for those cars to recuperate electrical energy under braking. Each zone was situated 50m (160feet) before the entry to a corner. The ACO and the FIA imposed a mandatory limit of 500kJ to restrict the amount of energy capable of being harvested by an energy recovery system between two braking zones and to regulate the capital needed to develop such systems.[6]

Entries

Automatic entries

Automatic entries were earned by teams which won their class in the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans. Teams who won Le Mans-based series and events such as the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), Le Mans Series (LMS), and the Petit Le Mans were also invited. Some second-place finishers were also granted automatic entries in certain series. Entries were also granted for the winners of the Michelin Energy Endurance Challenge in both the ALMS and the LMS. A final entry was granted to the champion in the LMS' Formula Le Mans category, and the winner received their invitation in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2). As automatic entries were granted to teams, teams were allowed to change their cars from the previous year to the next, but not their category. Automatic invitations in the two GTE categories could be swapped between the two based on the driver line-ups chosen by those teams. As the ALMS did not separate between the Pro and Am categories, only a single GTE invitation was granted for their class champion.[7]

On 24 November 2011, the list of automatic entries was announced by the ACO.[7] Peugeot Sport chose not to accept their automatic invitation as they withdrew from sports car racing in January 2012 due to financial difficulties.[8] BMW Team RLL and Pegasus Racing were the other two teams who did not take up their entries because both teams elected to focus on their respective series during the 2012 season.[7]

+Automatic entries for the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mansscope=col Reason Enteredscope=col LMP1scope=col LMP2scope=col LMGTE Proscope=col LMGTE Am
1st in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Audi Sport Team Joest Larbre Compétition
1st in the Le Mans Series Rebellion Racing Greaves Motorsport AF Corse
2nd in the Le Mans Series Pescarolo Team Strakka Racing AF Corse
1st in the American Le Mans Series Dyson Racing TeamNot Awarded BMW Team RLL
2nd in the American Le Mans SeriesNot Awarded Corvette Racing
1st in the Petit Le Mans Peugeot Sport Total Level 5 Motorsports AF Corse Krohn Racing
1st in Le Mans Series Energy Endurance Challenge Pescarolo Team AF Corse
Dyson Racing Team
1st in Le Mans Series FLM category Pegasus Racing

Entry list

In conjunction with the announcement of entries for the 2012 FIA WEC, the ACO announced the full 56-car entry list and nine-vehicle reserve list at a press conference in Paris on 2 February.[9] In addition to the 30 guaranteed entries from the WEC, 5 came from the ALMS, 3 from the LMS, while the rest of the field was filled with one-off entries only competing at Le Mans.[10]

Garage 56

For the 56th and final entry for the 2012 Le Mans race, the ACO promoted cars which featured advancements in technology, either for performance or ecological improvement. Three projects were submitted to the ACO, with the automatic entry being granted to an American group by the name of Project 56 who developed the DeltaWing concept originally proposed for the American IndyCar Series. The extremely lightweight car features a layout that is far removed from the style of Le Mans Prototypes. The project was backed by Highcroft Racing, All American Racers and the Panoz Group.[11] Two other entries had been granted reserve status if the DeltaWing team withdrew: the Swiss-developed GreenGT LMP-H2, which utilized a hydrogen fuel cell to run electric motors within a Le Mans Prototype style body,[12] and the French Courage 0.12 used stored energy to drive electric motors.[13]

Reserves

Nine reserves were initially nominated by the ACO, limited to the LMP2 (five) and both of the LMGTE (four) categories.[10] The Dyson Racing teams withdrew both of their Lola B12/60-Mazda cars from the entry list on 16 April, citing a financial difficulty preventing the team from obtaining the necessary budget to compete at Le Mans and a desire to focus on the ALMS. This promoted the 30 Status Grand Prix Lola B12/80 and the No. 48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03-Nissan cars to the race entry list.[14] That same day, the ACO released a revised entry list confirming the withdrawal of the Dyson entries as well as the Jetalliance, Hope Racing, Lotus Cars and Aston Martin Racing reserve entries. By the event's start, three reserved entries had not been promoted to the race entry.[15]

Testing and practice

A test day was held on 3 June, two weeks prior to the race, and required all race entrants to participate in eight hours of track time divided into two sessions.[16] A second Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b for Scott Tucker, the No. 32 Lotus Lola B12/80 and IMSA Performance's Porsche 997 GT3-RSR reserve entries took part. Sébastien Loeb Racing and two DAMS-entered Le Mans Prototype Challenge Oreca-FLM09s also participated.[17] Toyota's Stéphane Sarrazin was unable to take part in testing after sustaining facial injuries from a bike accident on the afternoon of 2 June.[18]

Duval set the fastest lap in the first session at 3 minutes, 27.738 seconds in the No. 3 Audi R18 Ultra.[19] McNish later improved to a 3 minutes, 25.927 seconds lap in the No. 2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro though he crashed at Tertre Rouge corner with one hour remaining and was unable to continue.[20] He was followed by Lotterer's No. 1 Audi in second and Duval fell to third. The fastest Toyota TS030 Hybrid was fourth courtesy of a lap from Alexander Wurz and the fastest privateer LMP1 entry was Danny Watts' No. 21 Strakka Racing HPD ARX-03a car in sixth.[20] At the end of the first session, Guillaume Moreau crashed the No. 15 OAK Racing Pescarolo car heavily against a concrete barrier in the Porsche Curves, sustaining a fracture to the T12 vertebrae on his spinal cord. He underwent an operation at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Angers to reduce the pressure on his spinal cord and was ruled out of the race.[21] His place was taken by former Peugeot driver Franck Montagny.[22] Olivier Pla's OAK Morgan LMP2 car led in LMP2 as Frédéric Makowiecki in the No. 59 Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 was the fastest driver in LMGTE Pro and Allan Simonsen helped Aston Martin to be fastest in LMGTE Am.[20] Separate crashes from Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Rui Águas, Jordan Taylor, Pierre Thiriet and Gianmaria Bruni led to disruptions during the second session.[23]

After the test several prototype teams, including all Audi, Toyota, Pescarolo and Starworks Motorsports cars participated in an unofficial test on the shorter Bugatti Circuit on 6 June to ensure car components were working efficiently before the race.[24] Official practice was held on 13 June with the full 56-car field on track for four hours.[16] Audi led from the start once again, with Duval and later Tréluyer setting the early pace. Kristensen went faster before a lap of 3 minutes, 25.163 seconds from Lotterer at the end of the session made him quickest and Audi took the first four places. Kazuki Nakajima was the fastest Toyota driver in fifth and his teammate Anthony Davidson was sixth. A powertrain issue stopped the No. 8 Toyota on the Mulsanne Straight and it required an engine change. Watts was the fastest LMP1 privateer in seventh and Sébastien Bourdais's No. 17 Pescarolo Dome-Judd placed eighth. The No. 16 Pescarolo car of Jean-Christophe Boullion spun and crashed into a guardrail at 268km/h, damaging his ribs and leaving him unable to compete for the rest of the race meeting.[25] Tom Kimber-Smith in the No. 44 Starworks HPD ARX-03b vehicle led in LMP2 with a 3 minutes, 39.669 seconds lap, ahead of the No. 38 Jota Zytek Z11SN car of Sam Hancock and Warren Hughes' No. 48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca entry.[26] [27] The LMGTE Pro category was led by the No. 97 Aston Martin of Darren Turner with a time of 3 minutes, 57.036 seconds and Patrick Pilet in the No. 79 Flying Lizard Porsche was fastest in LMGTE Am and was within 1.2 seconds of Turner's pace.[27] The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari caused a stoppage after Giancarlo Fisichella pirouetted and heavily damaged the car's rear-left corner in the Porsche Curves. The ACO and the FIA applied force majeure and allowed the car's chassis to be transported to AF Corse's factory in Piacenza for reconstruction.[28]

Qualifying

The first of three two-hour qualifying sessions to determine the race's starting order through the quickest laps set by each team's fastest driver began late 13 June night under clear conditions.[16] [29] Audi led from the first minutes of the session with a flying lap from Oliver Jarvis in the No. 4 Audi, followed by Kristensen overtaking Jarvis soon after. He was followed by Lotterer whose final timed lap of 3 minutes, 25.453 seconds earned the No. 1 Audi team provisional pole position. Kristensen's time put the No. 2 car second and Duval's No. 3 entry finished the session third. The No. 7 Toyota of Nicolas Lapierre was 1.7 seconds adrift of the fastest Audi in fourth.[30] Mike Rockenfeller's No. 4 Audi took fifth and Davidson's No. 8 Toyota in sixth was the slowest of all the hybrid cars. Watts, driving the No. 21 Strakka HPD, was the top non-hybrid LMP1 vehicle in seventh. Mathias Beche drove the No. 46 Thiriet by TDS Oreca to provisional pole in LMP2 with a lap of 3 minutes, 39.252 seconds ahead of the Murphy Oreca car of Brendon Hartley and Kimber-Smith's Starworks HPD vehicle. Keiko Ihara crashed the No. 29 Gulf Racing Middle East Lola car at the Dunlop Curves and was extricated from a barrier by recovery vehicles. The Pro class of LMGTE had Chevrolet lead from the start with the fastest lap set by Oliver Gavin in the No. 74 C6.R at 3 minutes, 55.910 seconds. Ferrari, Aston Martin and Porsche all had cars within two seconds of the Corvette. Pilet's Flying Lizard Porsche set the pace in LMGTE Am, followed by Sean Edwards' No. 75 Prospeed Competition car and Simonsen's Aston Martin. The experimental DeltaWing car driven by Michael Krumm suffered a heavy jolt on a kerb that activated its onboard fire extinguisher and the master electrical switch, disabling the engine.[31]

The weather was clear for the second session on the evening of 14 June. Duval's Audi R18 Ultra was quickest in the session with a lap of 3 minutes, 24.098 seconds on 30 minutes to go and passed Lotterer's No. 1 Audi for provisional pole position. McNish's No. 2 car finished the session third at the conclusion of a final six-lap stint as Davidson prevented Audi from taking the first four positions in the No. 8 Toyota. The No. 4 Audi of Marco Bonanomi fell to fifth and Toyota's No. 7 entry driven by Nakajima dropped to sixth after Lapierre lost control of its rear and spun into some grass entering the Ford Chicane. Watts' Strakka HPD improved its best lap to ensure it remained the fastest non-hybrid LMP1 vehicle in seventh with Neel Jani's No. 12 Rebellion Lola-Toyota eighth.[32] One second covered the first six vehicles in LMP2 as Pla gave OAK's Oreca car provisional pole in class at the session's conclusion with a time of 3 minutes, 38.598 seconds despite a driver error into a gravel trap at Indianapolis corner. Nelson Panciatici's No. 26 Signatech car was second. In LMGTE Pro, Makowiecki moved the No. 59 Luxury Ferrari to the provisional category pole position. Turner helped Aston Martin to finish the session second and Tommy Milner's No. 74 Corvette took third.[33] The No. 58 Luxury Ferrari was the fastest LMGTE Am car of the session yet it was more than 1.2 seconds behind the Flying Lizard Porsche's pole lap.[32]

In the third session, Lotterer in the No. 1 R18 e-tron quattro set a new fastest lap of 3 minutes, 23.787 seconds after 13 minutes and held the top of the time sheets to take pole position for Audi.[34] Audi was the first manufacturer to earn pole position with a hybrid electric vehicle at Le Mans and took its seventh overall pole at the race.[35] Duval improved the No. 3 Audi's lap to sit alongside the No. 1 car on the grid's front row.[36] The No. 8 Toyota of Davidson closed to almost within a second of the pole sitting Audi with 15 minutes remaining to take third position.[37] Kristensen separated the two Toyota entries in fourth place as Nakajima qualified the No. 7 TS030 Hybrid fifth. The final manufacturer vehicle was Jarvis' No. 4 Audi in sixth. Watts' Strakka won against the Rebellion car of Jani to be the fastest non-hybrid LMP1 car in seventh. Seiji Ara in the No. 17 Pescarolo Dome car made impact with a barrier at the Porsche Curves and brought out the sole stoppage of 10 minutes in all three sessions. In LMP2, John Martin's No. 26 ADR-Delta Oreca vehicle set a time of 3 minutes, 38.181 seconds in the first minutes of the session to move the team to pole position and its lap was unchallenged thereafter. Pla's OAK Oreca car fell to second and Panciatici's Signatech vehicle started from third after an error during the session. The No. 97 Aston Martin of Turner was unable to better the car's time to displace Makowiecki's No. 59 Luxury Racing Ferrari at the top of LMGTE Pro and Milner's No. 74 Corvette remained third in category. The lead in LMGTE Am remained with the Flying Lizard Porsche, 0.012 seconds ahead of the No. 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Pro category car.

Qualifying results

Pole position winners in each class are indicated in bold. The fastest time set by each entry is denoted in gray.

! scope=col
scope=col Teamscope=col Carscope=col Classscope=col Qualifying 1scope=col Qualifying 2scope=col Qualifying 3scope=col scope=col
scope=row 11Audi Sport Team JoestAudi R18 e-tron quattroLMP13:25.4533:24.9973:23.787
scope=row 23Audi Sport Team JoestAudi R18 ultraLMP13:26.6943:24.0783:27.578+0.291
scope=row 38Toyota RacingToyota TS030 HybridLMP13:28.2953:26.1513:24.842+1.055
scope=row 42Audi Sport Team JoestAudi R18 e-tron quattroLMP13:26.5363:26.0383:25.433+1.646
scope=row 57Toyota RacingToyota TS030 HybridLMP13:27.1913:26.5023:25.488+1.701
scope=row 64Audi Sport North AmericaAudi R18 ultraLMP13:27.5543:26.4203:26.600+2.633
scope=row 721Strakka RacingHPD ARX-03a-HondaLMP13:32.7503:29.6223:37.253+5.835
scope=row 812Rebellion RacingLola B12/60-ToyotaLMP13:33.2113:29.8373:34.476+6.050
scope=row 913Rebellion RacingLola B12/60-ToyotaLMP13:33.1403:31.8663:41.533+8.079
scope=row 1017Pescarolo TeamDome S102.5-JuddLMP13:34.7163:34.9253:33.066+9.279
scope=row 1122JRMHPD ARX-03a-HondaLMP13:37.088No Time3:35.421+11.634
scope=row 1215OAK RacingOAK Pescarolo 01-JuddLMP13:38.4143:37.3673:35.584+11.797
scope=row 1316Pescarolo TeamPescarolo 03-JuddLMP1No Time3:37.4853:48.716+13.698 
scope=row 1425ADR-DeltaOreca 03-NissanLMP23:41.7913:40.1743:38.181+14.394
scope=row 1524OAK RacingMorgan LMP2-JuddLMP23:40.9023:38.5983:40.310+14.811
scope=row 1626Signatech-NissanOreca 03-NissanLMP23:42.1573:39.1523:44.622+15.365
scope=row 1746Thiriet by TDS RacingOreca 03-NissanLMP23:39.2523:41.9753:41.990+15.465
scope=row 1849PeCom RacingOreca 03-NissanLMP23:41.9163:39.7113:40.292+15.924
scope=row 1948Murphy PrototypesOreca 03-NissanLMP23:39.8773:40.6523:42.057+16.090
scope=row 2035OAK RacingMorgan LMP2-NissanLMP23:41.7213:39.8993:41.707+16.112
scope=row 2130Status Grand PrixLola B12/80-JuddLMP23:41.4513:42.5183:40.280+16.493
scope=row 2244Starworks MotorsportHPD ARX-03b-HondaLMP23:40.6393:41.8633:40.471+16.684
scope=row 2345Boutsen Ginion RacingOreca 03-NissanLMP23:40.7273:43.7633:42.949+16.940
scope=row 2442Greaves MotorsportZytek Z11SN-NissanLMP23:42.1253:40.7383:43.230+16.951
scope=row 2538JotaZytek Z11SN- NissanLMP23:41.2873:41.428No Time+17.500
scope=row 2623Signatech-NissanOreca 03-NissanLMP23:44.4953:42.5813:41.982+18.195
scope=row 2733Level 5 MotorsportsHPD ARX-03b-HondaLMP23:42.224No Time3:42.696+18.437
scope=row 2841Greaves MotorsportZytek Z11SN-NissanLMP23:47.4083:43.4063:42.292+18.505
scope=row 290Highcroft RacingDeltaWing-NissanCDNT3:42.6123:48.1423:50.903+18.825
scope=row 3040Race PerformanceOreca 03-JuddLMP23:48.1243:43.6193:46.200+19.832
scope=row 3131LotusLola B12/80-LotusLMP23:48.067No Time3:45.664+21.877
scope=row 3228Gulf Racing Middle EastLola B12/80-NissanLMP23:50.5263:47.2444:15.649+23.457
scope=row 3343Extrême Limite ARICNorma MP200P-JuddLMP23:51.0123:53.5603:48.025+24.238
scope=row 3459Luxury RacingFerrari 458 Italia GT23:56.0763:55.3933:58.647+31.606
scope=row 3597Aston Martin RacingLMGTE Pro3:57.4663:55.8703:56.036+32.083
scope=row 3674Corvette RacingChevrolet Corvette C6.RLMGTE Pro3:55.9103:58.2143:57.981+32.123
scope=row 3771AF CorseFerrari 458 Italia GT2LMGTE Pro3:57.5093:58.9603:56.484+32.697
scope=row 3873Corvette RacingChevrolet Corvette C6.RLMGTE Pro3:57.1813:59.4333:59.471+33.394
scope=row 3979Porsche 997 GT3-RSRLMGTE Am3:57.5944:09.7624:03.420+33.807
scope=row 4077Team Felbermayr-ProtonPorsche 997 GT3-RSRLMGTE Pro3:57.6483:57.6064:19.147+33.819
scope=row 4175Prospeed CompetitionPorsche 997 GT3-RSRLMGTE Am3:58.0359:51.5933:59.739+34.248
scope=row 4280Flying Lizard MotorsportsPorsche 997 GT3-RSRLMGTE Pro3:58.7174:00.0113:59.372+34.930
scope=row 4399Aston Martin RacingAston Martin Vantage GTELMGTE Am3:58.7254:00.958No Time+34.938
scope=row 4458Luxury RacingFerrari 458 Italia GT2LMGTE Am4:00.8493:58.800No Time+35.013
scope=row 4529Gulf Racing Middle EastLola B12/80-NissanLMP24:14.086No Time3:58.895+35.108
scope=row 4688Team Felbermayr-ProtonPorsche 997 GT3-RSRLMGTE Am3:59.5293:59.1813:59.971+35.394
scope=row 4750Larbre CompétitionChevrolet Corvette C6.RLMGTE Am3:59.1924:05.4264:13.459+35.405
scope=row 4866JMW MotorsportFerrari 458 Italia GT2LMGTE Pro4:00.8833:59.6384:10.192+35.851
scope=row 4951AF CorseFerrari 458 Italia GT2LMGTE ProNo TimeNo Time4:00.025+36.238
scope=row 5081AF CorseFerrari 458 Italia GT2LMGTE Am4:04.4934:00.2884:00.924+36.501
scope=row 5167IMSA Performance MatmutPorsche 997 GT3-RSRLMGTE Am4:00.3324:00.8294:07.180+36.545
scope=row 5261AF Corse-WaltripFerrari 458 Italia GT2LMGTE Am4:04.8614:00.6914:08.217+36.904
scope=row 5357Krohn RacingFerrari 458 Italia GT2LMGTE Am4:04.6984:04.0754:02.323+38.536
scope=row 5483JMB RacingFerrari 458 Italia GT2LMGTE Am4:04.4164:02.4614:20.082+38.674
scope=row 5570Larbre CompétitionChevrolet Corvette C6.RLMGTE Am4:03.0214:02.9694:09.709+39.182
scope=row 5655JWA-AvilaPorsche 997 GT3-RSRLMGTE Am4:08.1704:03.6614:03.705+39.874

Notes:

Warm-up

The cars took to the circuit on the morning of 16 June for a 45-minute warm-up session on a waterlogged track. The No. 3 Audi driven by Duval set the fastest lap of 4 minutes, 3.933 seconds with the sister No. 2 car of Capello second and the pole sitting No. 1 of Lotterer third.[39] Jarvis' No. 4 Audi was fourth and the quickest Toyota was fifth after a lap from Wurz. The fastest LMP2 lap was recorded by the No. 42 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Nissan car of Lucas Ordóñez. AF Corse's No. 51 Ferrari driven by Toni Vilander was the fastest car in LMGTE Pro while Joël Camathias of JWA-Avila helped Porsche to lead in LMGTE Am.[40] [41] During the session, where several cars aquaplaned on the track, Marc Rostan spun the No. 29 Gulf Racing Middle East Lola car on the start/finish straight and Jan Charouz beached the No. 25 ADR-Delta Oreca vehicle in a gravel trap at Dunlop Curve leading to the session being stopped for ten minutes.[39]

Race

Start

The weather was dry and sunny before the race with an air temperature between 10.5C21C and the track temperature from 15.5C26C.[42] Approximately 240,000 spectators attended the race.[4] The French tricolour was waved at 15:00 Central European Summer Time,[16] by Takeshi Uchiyamada, the vice president and director of Toyota, to start the race,[43] led by the starting pole sitter Lotterer.[44] A total of 56 cars planned to take the start but the No. 16 Pescarolo 03-Judd car underwent an engine change in the pit lane after it failed during the warm-up session and the No. 21 Strakka HPD vehicle had a gearbox oil leak caused by a seal connecting the driveshaft and the gearbox failing. Lotterer maintained his lead on the opening lap and he pulled away from the rest of the field. McNish's No. 2 Audi overtook Sarrazin's No. 8 Toyota for third and he held off a counter-challenge from Sarrazin to keep the position. Light rain that fell on the north section of the track did not affect the race.

In LMP2, John Martin led the first nine laps until Pla's OAK car passed him during pit stop rotation. The No. 59 Luxury Racing Ferrari of Jaime Melo fell to fifth in the opening laps as LMGTE Am began as a multi-car battle between representatives of Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin with the lead of the class changing multiple times during the first hour.[45] The LMGTE classes continued to be closely contested in the second hour with the No. 97 Aston Martin of Stefan Mücke, AF Corse's No. 51 Ferrari of Bruni and Gavin's No. 74 Corvette duelling for the head of the Pro category. Kimber-Smith was lapping faster than Soheil Ayari's No. 49 PeCom vehicle in the LMP2 category at the time and he moved the Starworks team to second in class. The hour had the first retirement with Rostan's No. 29 Gulf Racing Middle East Lola car sustaining a broken front-left wheel alignment from an accident leaving the Porsche Curves. Pilet and later Spencer Pumpelly's No. 79 Flying Lizard car took a clear lead in LMGTE Am after the No. 99 Aston Martin of Simonsen developed a misfire.[46] [47] LMGTE Pro continued to be a close battle between Milner's No. 74 Corvette, Turner's No. 97 Aston Martin and Bruni's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari with the three cars nose-to-tail on the circuit and the lead changed frequently. The Ferrari was subsequently able to remain on track for longer than its competitors during a sequence of pit stops.[48]

Nearly four hours into the race, Kristensen's No. 2 Audi returned to the garage so that the team's mechanics could remove a large amount of rubber debris lodged in its right-rear suspension arm and created a vibration. Kristensen returned to the race in fifth position and a routine pit stop for Duval's No. 3 car promoted the Toyota cars of Lapierre and Buemi to second and third.[49] [50] Although Toyota had less fuel economy than Audi,[49] Buemi and later his teammate Lapierre were able to attack in the fourth hour and lowered Tréluyer's lead to twenty seconds. Jody Firth in the No. 48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca-Nissan vehicle passed Ryan Dalziel's Starworks HPD car for third in LMP2 and he pulled away from Dalziel to lead him by twenty seconds. Lapierre sustained damage to the No. 7 Toyota's right rear wing endplate which later detached and he continued in second position.[51] Not long after Dumas was lapping the LMGTE-Am leading No. 79 Flying Lizard Porsche of Seth Neiman at the first Mulsanne Straight chicane and he understeered heavily into a tyre barrier with the No. 4 Audi's front-right corner.[49] [52] The car sustained heavy damage to its front bodywork, and required a 26-minute and 34-second pit stop to replace it and dropping the car down the race order.[53] The fifth hour ended with Lapierre prevailing against Tréluyer in a duel for the lead.

Evening to night

At the start of the sixth hour Davidson in third was lapping Perazzini's No. 81 AF Corse Ferrari when the left-rear of the No. 8 Toyota made contact with the front-right of the Ferrari at the end of the Mulsanne Straight.[54] The Toyota rotated through 360 degrees,[55] lifted into the air after its right-rear wheel detached in the collision with the Ferrari and allowed air to penetrate its floor, It struck the tarmac with its front-left corner and hurtled upright at high speed towards a tyre wall at Mulsanne corner. Perrazzini's Ferrari made heavy side contact with an armco metal barrier that deformed it and the vehicle was turned onto its roof. The safety cars were deployed to slow the race as marshals worked for 70 minutes to replace and repair the damaged barriers and extricate the two cars from the track.[53] Both Davidson and Perrazzini vacated their vehicles without external assistance;[54] Davidson was transported to a local hospital from the circuit's medical centre complaining of shock and back pain. Davidson fractured his T11 and T12 vertebrae while Perrazzini was unhurt.[56]

Half a minute after racing resumed the overall leading No. 1 Audi of Fässler was delayed by slower traffic, causing Nakajima's No. 7 Toyota to collide with the left-hand corner of the No. 0 DeltaWing car of Satoshi Motoyama and sent the latter into a concrete barrier beside the circuit.[57] The DeltaWing sustained damage to its steering arm, powertrain and rear bodywork; track marshals pushed it behind the wall to allow mechanics from Highcroft Racing to advise Motoyama on how to repair the car. He spent 90 minutes repairing the car with garage equipment though he was unable to make it mobile and retired.[58] [59] Brendon Hartley was the fastest LMP2 driver at the time and he brought the No. 48 Greaves Oreca to the lead of the category. The No. 7 Toyota was driven into the pit lane for repairs to its rear and the crash promoted Audi to the first three positions. Pedro Lamy in the No. 50 Larbre Compétition got involved in a battle with Nicolas Armindo's No. 67 IMSA Performance Porsche for the lead of LMGTE Am.[57] Maxime Martin returned OAK's No. 24 Oreca car to the lead in LMP2 until a puncture during his first lap out of the pit lane after a routine stop allowed the No. 48 Murphy Oreca-Nissan vehicle of Hughes back to the front of the category.[60]

Lotterer had an anxious moment when he made a driver error during the first third of a lap in the No. 1 Audi; he returned to the track without losing the overall lead. Further down the field the fuel efficiency of the Ferrari 458 Italia allowed the No. 51 AF Corse of Bruni to remain in contention with the LMGTE Pro leading Corvette of Milner.[61] As it turned 17 June, the No. 48 Murphy Oreca-Nissan relinquished the lead of LMP2 when driver Hughes entered the pit lane with a right-rear puncture that sent the car into a spin at the exit to Arnage corner and caused damage to its rear wheel arch and deck.[62] [63] Pla retook the class lead in the No. 24 OAK Oreca until he too was forced to slow and enter the pit lane with a sudden loss of oil pressure that was unable to be rectified and forced the car's retirement,[64] returning the No. 44 Starworks HPD car of Kimber-Smith and later Dalziel to the category lead.[62] In the eleventh hour, Westbrook had just relieved Milner in the No. 74 Corvette when its left-rear tyre detached in the Dunlop Esses and slowing him for the rest of the lap en route to the pit lane for repairs to the car's bodywork and underwent a change of brake discs.[65] The car relinquished the lead of LMGTE Pro it had held for 66 consecutive laps to the No. 51 AF Corse.[66]

Toyota lost its one remaining entry when the No. 7 car retired after 10½ hours with an engine failure.[4] The No. 74 Corvette emerged on the track soon after though it was once again involved in an incident when Westbrook crashed at the first Mulsanne Straight chicane and necessitating repairs to its bodywork and a change of differential and halfshaft. A major accident for Frankie Montecalvo's No. 58 Luxury Racing Ferrari caused the car to retire with heavy left-hand side damage and its front wing removed.[65] As the race approached half distance, the No. 1 Audi of Fässler led Kristensen's No. 2 car by 40 seconds before a driver change, Bonamoni's No. 3 entry was in third position and the recovering No. 4 driven by Dumas was fourth after contact with the No. 70 Larbre Corvette at the Ford Chicane. Makowiecki lost ground to the LMGTE Pro leading AF Corse Ferrari of Fisichella in the No. 59 Luxury Racing car after a driver error put him into a gravel trap at Indianapolis corner.[67] McNish took over the No. 2 Audi and lapped in the 3 minutes and 30 seconds range to which Fässler's No. 1 entry responded to stabilise a gap to 1 minute and 20 seconds at the conclusion of the 13th hour.[68]

Morning to early afternoon

In the early morning the No. 1 Audi of Fässler spun in the Porsche Curves and made contact with the rear of the car against a barrier, relinquishing first place to McNish's No. 2 car.[69] During this period a broken left-rear transmission on Hartley's No. 48 Murphy Oreca-Nissan failed and caused one of the car's rear wheels to lock before track marshals pushed it towards the pit lane for it to be retired from the event.[70] Abdulaziz Al Faisal spun and crashed backwards against a concrete barrier in the Porsche Curves causing enough damage to retire the vehicle and required the deployment of the safety cars for the second time in the race.[69] When racing resumed Harold Primat's No. 13 Rebellion Lola car spun on cold tyres exiting the Porsche Curves; he avoided contact with a circuit barrier. The car lost a large amount of time while it was recovered by track marshals and Primat continued in sixth overall. The safety cars allowed Lotterer's No. 1 Audi to return to the lead after McNish entered the pit lane for a routine pit stop.[71] Mücke, holding second place in LMGTE Pro, lost control of the No. 97 Aston Martin, went straight on and made contact with the car's right-hand side against a tyre wall to the right of the track.[72] The car sustained minor damage and after repairs which dropped it four laps, returned to the track third in class.[73] AF Corse had their lead in LMGTE Pro further strengthened when Makowiecki's Luxury Racing Ferrari picked up a right-rear puncture and required the team's mechanics to replace it.[72] [73]

Duval in the No. 3 Audi became the lead challenger to the No. 12 Rebellion Lola car, twice resetting the race's fastest lap and passing the Rebellion for fourth overall.[74] Brian Vickers made minor contact against a wall at Tetre Rouge corner and the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari sustained a left-front puncture. As he entered the pit lane, the front-left wheel caught fire, which fire marshals extinguished. The car was transported into the garage for repairs to its bodywork.[75] Over three hours after reclaiming the race lead, Fässler encountered the No. 74 Corvette, which spun at Mulsanne corner. He damaged the No. 1 Audi's rear bodywork against a barrier in avoidance. Audi told Fässler to remain on the circuit until his next scheduled stop to replace the damaged component. Repairs took more than two minutes to complete and allowed Kristensen's No. 2 car to reclaim the lead following a pit stop for fuel. Kristensen overhauled Fässler in a duel for the lead on the Mulsanne Straight after a driver error sent the latter into a gravel trap.[76] Separate pit stop strategies for the No. 1 and 2 Audi cars saw the lead exchange several times, while the No. 13 Rebellion car was forced into the pit lane for a clutch change and forfeiting sixth place to the No. 22 JRM HPD vehicle.[77] Ayari, driving the No. 49 PeCom Oreca, held second place in LMP2 until he ran wide at Indianapolis corner and beached the car in a gravel trap. The car dropped to fourth after recovery vehicles extricated it from the gravel and Ayari made a pit stop to remove debris from it.[78]

Bonanomi's No. 4 Audi twice stopped on the circuit with a transmission fault that he rectified by resetting the ignition system and kept the car in third position.[79] [80] Not long after an accident for Simon Dolan's No. 38 Jota Zytek in the Porsche Curves caused its retirement in the garage due to extensive damage to its rear.[80] The race-leading No. 1 Audi of Tréluyer spun at the entry to the pit lane as he slowed to comply with the pit lane speed limit. He lost the lead to McNish's No. 2 car who extended it to 47 seconds.[81] Audi suffered two accidents in the 22nd hour that warranted the third deployment of the safety cars. Gené in the No. 3 Audi repeated his co-driver Dumas' accident from the fifth hour, understeering into a wall at the exit to the first Mulsanne Straight chicane and damaged the car's front bodywork and front-right suspension. McNish's No. 2 car had rear oversteer while lapping the No. 59 Luxury Racing Ferrari and punctured a hole on an armco metal barrier in the Porsche Curves. Repairs to the No. 2 Audi dropped McNish one lap behind Lotterer and Gené fell behind the No. 13 Rebellion car in fourth place.[82] [83] After racing resumed, Anthony Pons' No. 76 IMSA Performance Porsche ceded the lead of LMGTE Am to Lamy's No. 50 Larbre Corvette which it maintained to the finish to earn the team's fifth victory in the class after Pons sustained a left-rear puncture on the final lap.[84] [85]

Finish

The No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Fässler, Lotterer and Tréluyer maintained the race lead without trouble for the final two hours of the race,[4] taking the trio's second consecutive win and Audi's eleventh overall in a distance of 5151.8km (3,201.2miles) and 378 laps.[86] Audi completed a sweep of the podium positions with the No. 2 and No. 4 cars in second and third.[4] The Audi R18 e-tron quattro was the first hybrid electric and non-permanent four-wheel drivetrain vehicle to win the 24 Hour race.[4] [86] The Starworks Motorsport team was undaunted in LMP2 and maintained the first-place position it had held for 215 consecutive laps to win,[66] earning Kimber-Smith his third victory in the class and Dalziel and Pottolicchio's first.[87] The Thiriet by TDS Racing and PeCom Racing teams were second and third in LMP2. AF Corse held their three-lap lead over Luxury Racing in LMGTE Pro and took their first class win. It gave Bruni his second category win, and Fisichella and Vilander's first. Aston Martin came third in the category. The IMSA Performance team were able to secure a second-place finish in LMGTE Am after the team's late event puncture and the Krohn Racing squad followed in third.[88] There were eighteen outright lead changes amongst three cars during the race. The No. 1 Audi's 326 laps led was more than any other car.[66]

Post-race

The top three teams in each of the four classes appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in the later press conferences. Lotterer said Audi's victory over Peugeot in the 2011 edition provided him with the confidence to challenge Toyota, "For me, I'm more new in Le Mans so to be in that situation was amazing, so this year we had a bit more confidence within the team. We know we can trust each other even more and this gave us good potential. But you come to Le Mans and you can't expect to win, you just do your best and hope that it will work."[89] McNish apologised for the accident that caused the crew of the No. 2 Audi to lose a chance at victory, "I'm sorry for our team: Dindo, Tom, the engineers and the mechanics. They did a perfect job throughout the race. Despite a few problems we were in contention for victory up to my accident."[90] Capello revealed that he said to McNish that the crash could have occurred to any driver, "For sure I felt disappointed when I saw the car in the wall, but as a driver immediately my thoughts went to Allan because I know he was giving 100% to try to close the gap as much as possible to the #1 car."[91]

Davidson was flown back to his home in Oxford on 20 June to begin a three-month recovery period.[92] He attributed the design of his race seat and head rest to saving him from paralysis, "It held me, supported me and arguably was the thing that saved me from further compression and maybe the worst case scenario of being paralysed now instead. When you look at everything involved, I think I got away with it the lightest I was ever going to."[93] Members of the Toyota team went to the Nissan garage to apologise for the collision that resulted in the retirement of the DeltaWing.[94] The team principal, Pascal Vasselon, stated Toyota's pace in the first half of the race was a realistic of what it could achieve, "We were not looking for an aggressive start and leading for 10 minutes. I know some people were expecting us to try to do that at the start, but no. The drivers knew they had to be safe at the start, then at the beginning the balance was not perfect. It was changing, the track was changing. We started on a very green track [because of the rain overnight] and it's important to be balanced for when the grip builds up, that was our target."[95]

Due to the result of the event, McNish, Kristensen and Capello moved to the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 77 points, 6½ ahead of the race winners Lotterer, Fässler and Tréluyer in second place. Dumas and Duval fell from first to third with 67 points, Gené stood in fourth position with 49 points and the Rebellion trio of Nick Heidfeld, Jani and Nico Prost rounded out the top five with 42½. Audi continued to maintain their lead over the non-scoring Toyota in the Manufacturers' Championship with five races left in the season.

Race results

Class winners are marked in bold. Cars failing to complete 70 per cent of winner's distance (264 laps) are marked as Not Classified (NC).[96]

!rowspan=2
ClassTeamDriversscope=col ChassisTyreTime
Engine
1LMP11 Audi Sport Team Joest André Lotterer
Marcel Fässler
Benoît Tréluyer
Audi R18 e-tron quattro37824:01'16.128
Audi TDI 3.7 L Turbo V6
(Hybrid Diesel)
2LMP12 Audi Sport Team Joest Allan McNish
Rinaldo Capello
Tom Kristensen
Audi R18 e-tron quattro377+1 Lap
Audi TDI 3.7 L Turbo V6
(Hybrid Diesel)
3LMP14 Audi Sport North America Oliver Jarvis
Marco Bonanomi
Mike Rockenfeller
Audi R18 ultra375+3 Laps
Audi TDI 3.7 L Turbo V6
(Diesel)
4LMP112 Rebellion Racing Nico Prost
Nick Heidfeld
Neel Jani
Lola B12/60367+11 Laps
Toyota RV8KLM 3.4 L V8
5LMP13 Audi Sport Team Joest Marc Gené
Romain Dumas
Loïc Duval
Audi R18 ultra366+12 Laps
Audi TDI 3.7 L Turbo V6
(Diesel)
6LMP122 JRM David Brabham
Peter Dumbreck
Karun Chandhok
HPD ARX-03a357+21 Laps
Honda LM-V8 3.4 L V8
7LMP244 Starworks Motorsport Enzo Potolicchio
Ryan Dalziel
Tom Kimber-Smith
HPD ARX-03b354+24 Laps
8LMP246 Thiriet by TDS Racing Pierre Thiriet
Mathias Beche
Christophe Tinseau
Oreca 03353+25 Laps
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
9LMP249 PeCom Racing Luís Pérez Companc
Pierre Kaffer
Soheil Ayari
Oreca 03352+26 Laps
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
10LMP226 Signatech-Nissan Pierre Ragues
Nelson Panciatici
Roman Rusinov
Oreca 03351+27 Laps
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
11LMP113 Rebellion Racing Andrea Belicchi
Jeroen Bleekemolen
Harold Primat
Lola B12/60350+28 Laps
Toyota RV8KLM 3.4 L V8
12LMP241 Greaves Motorsport Christian Zugel
Elton Julian
Ricardo González
Zytek Z11SN348+30 Laps
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
13LMP225 ADR-Delta John Martin
Tor Graves
Jan Charouz
Oreca 03346+32 Laps
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
14LMP235 OAK Racing
Bas Leinders
Maxime Martin
Morgan LMP2341+37 Laps
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
15LMP242 Greaves Motorsport Alex Brundle
Martin Brundle
Lucas Ordóñez
Zytek Z11SN340+38 Laps
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
16LMP223 Signatech-Nissan Jordan Tresson
Franck Mailleux
Olivier Lombard
Oreca 03340+38 Laps
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
17LMGTE
Pro
51 AF Corse Giancarlo Fisichella
Gianmaria Bruni
Toni Vilander
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2336+42 Laps
Ferrari 4.5 L V8
18LMGTE
Pro
59 Luxury Racing Frédéric Makowiecki
Jaime Melo
Dominik Farnbacher
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2333+45 Laps
Ferrari 4.5 L V8
19LMGTE
Pro
97 Aston Martin Racing Stefan Mücke
Adrián Fernández
Darren Turner
332+46 Laps
Aston Martin 4.5 L V8
20LMGTE
Am
50 Larbre Compétition Patrick Bornhauser
Julien Canal
Pedro Lamy
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R329+49 Laps
Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
21LMGTE
Am
67 IMSA Performance Matmut Anthony Pons
Nicolas Armindo
Raymond Narac
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR328+50 Laps
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
22LMGTE
Pro
71 AF Corse Andrea Bertolini
Olivier Beretta
Marco Cioci
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2326+52 Laps
Ferrari 4.5 L V8
23LMGTE
Pro
73 Corvette Racing Antonio García
Jan Magnussen
Jordan Taylor
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R326+52 Laps
Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
24LMP245 Boutsen Ginion Racing Bastien Brière
Shinji Nakano
Jens Petersen
Oreca 03325+53 Laps
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
25LMGTE
Am
57 Krohn Racing Tracy Krohn
Niclas Jönsson
Michele Rugolo
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2323+55 Laps
Ferrari 4.5 L V8
26LMP240 Race Performance Michel Frey
Jonathan Hirschi
Ralph Meichtry
Oreca 03320+58 Laps
Judd HK 3.6 L V8
27LMGTE
Am
79 Seth Neiman
Spencer Pumpelly
Patrick Pilet
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR313+65 Laps
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
28LMGTE
Am
70 Larbre Compétition Christophe Bourret
Pascal Gibon
Jean-Philippe Belloc
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R309+69 Laps
Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
29LMP243 Extrême Limite ARIC Fabien Rosier
Philippe Haezebrouck
Philippe Thirion
Norma MP200P308+70 Laps
Judd HK 3.6 L V8
30LMP121 Strakka Racing Nick Leventis
Jonny Kane
Danny Watts
HPD ARX-03a303+75 Laps
Honda LM-V8 3.4 L V8
31LMGTE
Am
61 AF Corse-Waltrip Robert Kauffman
Brian Vickers
Rui Águas
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2294+84 Laps
Ferrari 4.5 L V8
32LMGTE
Am
83 JMB Racing Manuel Rodrigues
Philippe Illiano
Alain Ferté
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2292+86 Laps
Ferrari 4.5 L V8
33LMGTE
Am
55 JWA-Avila Paul Daniels
Joël Camathias
Markus Palttala
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR290+88 Laps
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
LMGTE
Pro
74 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin
Richard Westbrook
Tommy Milner
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R215Insufficient distance
Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
LMP117 Pescarolo Team Nicolas Minassian
Sébastien Bourdais
Seiji Ara
Dome S102.5203Insufficient distance
Judd DB 3.4 L V8
LMP238 Jota Sam Hancock
Simon Dolan
Haruki Kurosawa
Zytek Z11SN271Accident
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
LMP233 Level 5 Motorsports Scott Tucker
Christophe Bouchut
Luis Díaz
HPD ARX-03b240Fuel
Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6
LMP230 Status Grand Prix Alexander Sims
Yelmer Buurman
Romain Iannetta
Lola B12/80239Retired
Judd HK 3.6 L V8
LMGTE
Am
88 Team Felbermayr-Proton Christian Ried
Gianluca Roda
Paolo Ruberti
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR222Retired
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
LMP115 OAK Racing Franck Montagny
Dominik Kraihamer
Bertrand Baguette
OAK Pescarolo 01219Engine
Judd DB 3.4 L V8
LMGTE
Pro
66 JMW Motorsport Jonny Cocker
James Walker
Roger Wills
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2204Retired
Ferrari 4.5 L V8
LMP248 Murphy Prototypes Jody Firth
Warren Hughes
Brendon Hartley
Oreca 03196Suspension/Accident
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
LMGTE
Pro
77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Richard Lietz
Marc Lieb
Wolf Henzler
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR185Retired
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
LMGTE
Am
75 Prospeed Competition Abdulaziz Al-Faisal
Bret Curtis
Sean Edwards
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR180Accident
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
LMP231 Lotus Thomas Holzer
Mirco Schultis
Luca Moro
Lola B12/80155Gearbox
Lotus (Judd) 3.6 L V8
LMGTE
Am
58 Luxury Racing Pierre Ehret
Gunnar Jeannette
Frankie Montecalvo
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2146Accident damage
Ferrari 4.5 L V8
LMP224 OAK Racing Jacques Nicolet
Matthieu Lahaye
Olivier Pla
Morgan LMP2139Oil pump
Judd HK 3.6 L V8
LMP17 Toyota Racing Alexander Wurz
Kazuki Nakajima
Nicolas Lapierre
Toyota TS030 Hybrid134Engine
Toyota 3.4 L V8
(Hybrid)
LMGTE
Pro
80 Flying Lizard Motorsports Jörg Bergmeister
Marco Holzer
Patrick Long
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR114Accident damage
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
LMP228 Gulf Racing Middle East Fabien Giroix
Ludovic Badey
Stefan Johansson
Lola B12/8092Accident
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
LMP18 Toyota Racing Anthony Davidson
Sébastien Buemi
Stéphane Sarrazin
Toyota TS030 Hybrid82Accident
Toyota 3.4 L V8
(Hybrid)
CDNT0 Highcroft Racing Marino Franchitti
Michael Krumm
Satoshi Motoyama
DeltaWing75Accident
Nissan 1.6 L Turbo I4
LMGTE
Am
81 AF Corse Piergiuseppe Perazzini
Niki Cadei
Matt Griffin
Ferrari 458 Italia GT270Accident
Ferrari 4.5 L V8
LMGTE
Am
99 Aston Martin Racing Christoffer Nygaard
Kristian Poulsen
Allan Simonsen
Aston Martin Vantage GTE31Accident damage
Aston Martin 4.5 L V8
LMP116 Pescarolo Team Emmanuel Collard
Stuart Hall
Pescarolo 0320Power steering
Judd DB 3.4 L V8
LMP229 Gulf Racing Middle East Keiko Ihara
Jean-Denis Delétraz
Marc Rostan
Lola B12/8017Accident
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
Key
Symbol Tyre manufacturer
Dunlop
Michelin
Pirelli

Championship standings after the race

+World Endurance Drivers' Championship standings+/–DriverPoints
1 1 Allan McNish
Tom Kristensen
Rinaldo Capello
77
2 2 André Lotterer
Benoît Tréluyer
Marcel Fässler
70.5
3 2 Romain Dumas
Loïc Duval
67
4 1 Marc Gené49
5 3 Nick Heidfeld
Neel Jani
Nico Prost
42.5
+World Endurance Manufacturers' Championship standings+/–ConstructorPoints
1 Audi103
2 Toyota0

Notes and References

  1. Book: O'Kane, Philip. The History of Motor Sport: A Case Study Analysis. Routledge. 2012. 978-0-415-67788-2. Hassan. David. Abingdon, Oxfordshire. 105–109. A History of the 'Triple Crown' of Motor Racing: The Indianapolis 500, the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Monaco Grand Prix. registration. Open Library.
  2. Web site: Le Mans 24 Hours to avoid clash with Formula 1 next year. Beer. Matt. 29 August 2011. Autosport. https://web.archive.org/web/20121011173336/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/94127. 11 October 2012. live. 18 July 2019.
  3. Encyclopedia: 24 Hours of Le Mans. Encyclopædia Britannica. 25 July 2021. Augustyn. Adam. 17 June 2019. C. Shepherd. Melinda. Chauhan. Yamini. Levy. Michael. Lotha. Gloria. Tikkanen. Amy.
  4. News: Audi is first manufacturer to take Le Mans 24 Hours race with hybrid. Richards. Giles. 17 June 2012. The Guardian. 18 July 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20131219075420/http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/jun/17/audi-le-mans-24-hours-race. 19 December 2013. live.
  5. Web site: WEC Classification – 2012 LMP1 Manufacturers' World Championship. FIA World Endurance Championship. https://web.archive.org/web/20121119011917/http://www.fiawec.com/courses/classification.html. 19 November 2012. dead. 15 July 2017.
  6. Web site: Le Mans Braking Zones – 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours. Adcock. Ian. 31 May 2012. Road & Track. https://web.archive.org/web/20190719083351/https://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a21881/le-mans-braking-zones-2012-le-mans-24-hours-35520/. 19 July 2019. live. 19 July 2019.
  7. Web site: 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours – The Automatic Entries. 24 November 2011. DailySportsCar. 18 July 2019. 12 December 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201212161640/http://archive2.dailysportscar.com/viewArticle.cfm@articleUID=D6F52546-1143-FDC9-3573A7317941F00A.html. live.
  8. News: Peugeot quit Le Mans for cost reasons. Frost. Laurence. 18 January 2012. 18 July 2019. Reuters. Baldwin. Alan. Sarkar. Pritha. 12 December 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201212161640/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-motor-racing-lemans-peugeot/peugeot-quit-le-mans-for-cost-reasons-idUSTRE80H1M420120118. live.
  9. Web site: Wittemeier. Roman. 2 February 2012. Le Mans und WEC: Das sind die Starter. Le Mans and WEC: These are the starters. 18 July 2019. motorsport-total.com. de. 12 December 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201212161642/https://www.motorsport-total.com/24-stunden-von-le-mans/news/le-mans-und-wec-das-sind-die-starter-12020207. live.
  10. Web site: List of the Competitors, Cars (V) & Drivers and Callowed to Take Part in the Qualifying Sessions of 13th and 14th of June 2012. 11 June 2012. Automobile Club de l'Ouest. https://web.archive.org/web/20120916065029/http://www.lemans.org/wpphpFichiers/1/1/ressources/Pdf/2012/24-heures-du-mans/entry_list_24_heures_du_mans_2012.pdf. 16 September 2012. dead. 18 July 2019.
  11. Web site: Le Mans: DeltaWing To Build LMP1 Car For 2012 LM24 Race. 9 June 2011. Speed. https://web.archive.org/web/20120326073543/http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/le-mans-deltawing-to-build-lmp1-car-for-2012-24-hour-race/. 26 March 2012. dead. 8 August 2011.
  12. Web site: GreenGT LMP H2 invited as experimental prototype by the ACO to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012. GreenGT. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304121212/http://www.lemans.org/wpphpFichiers/1/1/ressources/Pdf/2011/24heures_du_mans/communique_presse/cp_greengt_gb.pdf. 4 March 2016. dead. 8 August 2011.
  13. Web site: 8 June 2011. Courage 0.12: Objectif Le Mans!. Courage 0.12: Objective Le Mans!. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303173840/http://www.lemans.org/wpphpFichiers/1/1/ressources/Pdf/2011/24heures_du_mans/communique_presse/Communique_de_presse_courage_12.pdf. 3 March 2016. 8 August 2011. Courage Technology. fr.
  14. Web site: Dyson withdraws cars from Le Mans 24 Hours. 16 April 2012. Autosport. https://web.archive.org/web/20120420040010/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98909. 20 April 2012. dead. 18 July 2019.
  15. Web site: Dyson Withdraws From Le Mans: Status And Murphy Join The LMP2 Ranks. 16 April 2012. DailySportsCar. 18 July 2019. 12 December 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201212161644/http://archive2.dailysportscar.com/viewArticle.cfm@articleUID=BB86FCEA-1143-FDC9-354A05849F580C8D.html. live.
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  19. Web site: Loic Duval's Audi sets early Le Mans test day pace. Watkins. Gary. 3 June 2012. Autosport. https://web.archive.org/web/20120606010438/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100097. 6 June 2012. dead. 18 July 2019.
  20. Web site: McNish tops practice charts at Le Mans; Deltawing shows its stuff. Watkins. Gary. 4 June 2012. Autoweek. https://web.archive.org/web/20190718202009/https://autoweek.com/article/alms/mcnish-tops-practice-charts-le-mans-deltawing-shows-its-stuff. 18 July 2019. live. 18 July 2019.
  21. Web site: Moreau out after testing shunt. Salisbury. Matt. 5 June 2012. Crash. https://web.archive.org/web/20190718201957/https://www.crash.net/le-mans/news/180500/1/moreau-ruled-out-after-testing-shunt. 18 July 2019. live. 18 July 2019.
  22. News: Lauraux. Matthieu. 8 June 2012. 24h du Mans 2012 : Montagny remplace Moreau. fr. 24h of Le Mans 2012: Montagny replaces Moreau. TF1. live. 18 July 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190718201959/https://www.tf1.fr/tf1/auto-moto/news/24h-mans-2012-montagny-remplace-moreau-8303533.html. 18 July 2019.
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  25. News: Only two drivers will race for the No.16 Pescarolo. 15 June 2012. 16 June 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120618054838/http://www.lemans.org/en/races/24h/update/only-two-drivers-will-race-for-the-no16-pescarolo_7708.html. 18 June 2012. dead. Automobile Club de l'Ouest.
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  28. Web site: Update on the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia. 14 June 2012. Automobile Club de l'Ouest. https://web.archive.org/web/20190719083351/https://www.lemans.org/en/news/update-on-the-no-51-af-corse-ferrari-458-italia/7642. 19 July 2019. live. 19 July 2019.
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  30. Web site: Codling. Stuart. Last-gasp Lotterer heads Audi 1–2–3 in first qualifying at Le Mans. Autosport. 13 June 2012. 19 July 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20150911224219/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100346. 11 September 2015. dead.
  31. Web site: Interview with Nissan DeltaWing's Michael Krumm and Ben Bowlby. 14 June 2012. Automobile Club de l'Ouest. https://web.archive.org/web/20190719181738/https://www.lemans.org/en/news/interviews-with-nissan-deltawings-michael-krumm-and-ben-bowlby/7644. 19 July 2019. live. 19 July 2019.
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  61. Web site: Le Mans 24 Hours ninth hour: Lotterer leads despite slip. Codling. Stuart. 16 June 2012. Autosport. https://web.archive.org/web/20151024153132/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100439. 24 October 2015. live. 21 July 2019.
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  82. Web site: Salisbury. Matt. McNish crashes out of Le Mans lead. Crash. 17 June 2012. 22 July 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20121006202612/http://www.crash.net/le+mans/news/180927/1/mcnish_crashes_out_of_le_mans_lead.html. 6 October 2012. dead.
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  89. Web site: Andre Lotterer: Two Le Mans victories very different. Beer. Matt. 17 June 2012. Autosport. https://web.archive.org/web/20120622232757/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100472. 22 June 2012. dead. 22 July 2019.
  90. Web site: McNish devastated by late crash. Salisbury. Matt. 18 June 2012. Crash. https://web.archive.org/web/20120622042929/http://www.crash.net/le+mans/news/180959/1/mcnish_devastated_by_late_crash.html. 22 June 2012. dead. 22 July 2019.
  91. Web site: Capello: No hard feelings towards McNish despite Le Mans 24 Hours crash. Strang. Simon. 18 June 2012. Autosport. https://web.archive.org/web/20120714050506/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100483. 14 July 2012. dead. 22 July 2019.
  92. News: Davidson vows to win Le Mans after crash. Baldwin. Alan. 20 June 2012. The Star. 22 July 2019. Reuters. Woodward. Robert. 12 December 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201212161648/https://www.thestar.com.my/sport/other-sport/2012/06/20/davidson-vows-to-win-le-mans-after-crash/#fIZ1ZlHZipaXpAMj.99. live.
  93. Web site: Davidson: Seat saved me from paralysis in Le Mans crash. 23 June 2012. Autosport. https://web.archive.org/web/20151026162751/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100619. 26 October 2015. dead. 22 July 2019.
  94. Web site: Nice Touch. 17 July 2012. DailySportsCar. https://web.archive.org/web/20190723053848/http://archive2.dailysportscar.com/viewArticle.cfm@articleUID%3DFA7F3C2F-1143-FDC9-354DDF9EBC9EC533.html. 23 July 2019. live. 23 July 2019.
  95. Web site: Toyota says pace during early part of the Le Mans 24 Hours was genuine. Beer. Matt. 18 June 2012. Autosport. https://web.archive.org/web/20130119143157/http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100481. 19 January 2013. dead. 23 July 2019.
  96. Web site: FIA WEC 80° Edition des 24 Heures du Mans Race Final Classification . Automobile Club de l'Ouest . 17 June 2012 . 7 March 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130328040207/http://www.lemans.org/wpphpFichiers/1/1/ressources/Pdf/2012/24-heures-du-mans/classification/race/24-heures-du-mans-2012-classifcation-after-24h.pdf . 28 March 2013 .