2012 6 Hours of Castellet explained

The 2012 6 Hours of Castellet (6 Heures du Castellet) was the opening round of the 2012 European Le Mans Series season. It took place at Circuit Paul Ricard on 1 April 2012. Previously known as the Le Mans Series, it was the first race in the series' history where LMP1 was not contested in as LMP2 has taken over as the top prototype class. The Formula Le Mans (FLM) spec class has been renamed to Le Mans Prototype Challenge (LMPC), the same name used in the American Le Mans Series. A new Grand Touring class was meant to participate in the opening round which was Grand Touring Challenge (GTC), but lack of entrants meant it did not participate.

Qualifying result

Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold.

Pos	Class	Team	Driver	Lap Time	Grid
1	LMP2	No.46 Thiriet by TDS Racing	Mathias Beche	1:48.171	1
2	LMP2	No.17 Status GP	Yelmer Buurman	1:48.482	2
3	LMP2	No.1 Greaves Motorsport	Tom Kimber-Smith	1:48.882	3
4	LMP2	No.24 OAK Racing	Guillaume Moreau	1:48.977	4
5	LMP2	No.10 Pecom Racing	Pierre Kaffer	1:49.068	5
6	LMP2	No.18 Murphy Prototypes	Warren Hughes	1:49.122	6
7	LMP2	No.19 Sébastien Loeb Racing	Stéphane Sarrazin	1:49.157	7
8	LMP2	No.38 JOTA	Sam Hancock	1:49.687	8
9	LMP2	No.11 Race Performance	Michel Frey	1:50.193	9
10	LMPC	No.40 Boutsen Ginion Racing	Massimo Vignali	1:55.338	10
11	LMPC	No.42 CURTIS Racing Technologies	Phil Keen	1:55.410	11
12	GTE-Pro	No.83 JMB Racing	Jaime Melo	1:57.630	12
13	GTE-Am	No.75 Prospeed Competition	Marc Goossens	1:58.388	13
14	GTE-Am	No.67 IMSA Performance Matmut	Nicolas Armindo	1:58.428	14
15	GTE-Pro	No.66 JMW Motorsport	James Walker	1:58.517	15
16	GTE-Am	No.69 Gulf Racing	Stuart Hall	1:58.532	16
17	GTE-Am	No.60 AF Corse	Marco Cioci	1:58.803	17
18	GTE-Pro	No.61 Kessel Racing	Philipp Peter	1:59.082	18
19	GTE-Am	No.99 JMB Racing	Alain Ferté	2:00.182	19
20	LMP2	No.44 Extrême Limite ARIC	No Time	20
21	LMP2	No.45 Boutsen Ginion Racing	No Time	21

Race

Race result

Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).^[1]

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Tyre	Laps
Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Engine	Tyre	Laps
1	LMP2	46	Thiriet by TDS Racing	Pierre Thiriet Mathias Beche	Oreca 03		189
1	LMP2	46	Thiriet by TDS Racing	Pierre Thiriet Mathias Beche	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8		189
2	LMP2	19	Sébastien Loeb Racing	Nicolas Marroc Stéphane Sarrazin Nicolas Minassian	Oreca 03		188
2	LMP2	19	Sébastien Loeb Racing	Nicolas Marroc Stéphane Sarrazin Nicolas Minassian	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8		188
3	LMP2	17	Status GP	Alexander Sims Dean Sterling Yelmer Buurman	Lola B12/80		188
3	LMP2	17	Status GP	Alexander Sims Dean Sterling Yelmer Buurman	Judd-BMW HK 3.6 L V8		188
4	LMP2	1	Greaves Motorsport	Alex Brundle Tom Kimber-Smith Lucas Ordoñez	Zytek Z11SN		188
4	LMP2	1	Greaves Motorsport	Alex Brundle Tom Kimber-Smith Lucas Ordoñez	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8		188
5	LMP2	11	Race Performance	Michel Frey Jonathan Hirschi Ralph Meichtry	Oreca 03		186
5	LMP2	11	Race Performance	Michel Frey Jonathan Hirschi Ralph Meichtry	Judd-BMW HK 3.6 L V8		186
6	LMP2	24	OAK Racing	Jacques Nicolet Guillaume Moreau Dominik Kraihamer	Morgan LMP2		185
6	LMP2	24	OAK Racing	Jacques Nicolet Guillaume Moreau Dominik Kraihamer	Judd-BMW HK 3.6 L V8		185
7	LMP2	10	Pecom Racing	Luís Pérez Companc Pierre Kaffer Gianmaria Bruni	Oreca 03		183
7	LMP2	10	Pecom Racing	Luís Pérez Companc Pierre Kaffer Gianmaria Bruni	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8		183
8	LMPC	42	CURTIS Racing Technologies	Phil Keen John Hartshorne Alex Kapadia	Oreca FLM09		177
8	LMPC	42	CURTIS Racing Technologies	Phil Keen John Hartshorne Alex Kapadia	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8		177
9	LMGTE Pro	66	JMW Motorsport	Jonny Cocker James Walker	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2		176
9	LMGTE Pro	66	JMW Motorsport	Jonny Cocker James Walker	Ferrari 4.5 L V8		176
10	LMGTE Pro	83	JMB Racing	Jaime Melo Marco Frezza	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2		176
10	LMGTE Pro	83	JMB Racing	Jaime Melo Marco Frezza	Ferrari 4.5 L V8		176
11	LMGTE Am	75	Prospeed Competition	Marc Goossens Maxime Soulet	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR		175
11	LMGTE Am	75	Prospeed Competition	Marc Goossens Maxime Soulet	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6		175
12	LMP2	44	Extrême Limite ARIC	Fabien Rosier Philippe Thirion	Norma M200P		175
12	LMP2	44	Extrême Limite ARIC	Fabien Rosier Philippe Thirion	Judd-BMW HK 3.6 L V8		175
13	LMP2	38	JOTA	Sam Hancock Simon Dolan	Zytek Z11SN		174
13	LMP2	38	JOTA	Sam Hancock Simon Dolan	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8		174
14	LMGTE Am	67	IMSA Performance Matmut	Anthony Pons Nicolas Armindo Raymond Narac	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR		174
14	LMGTE Am	67	IMSA Performance Matmut	Anthony Pons Nicolas Armindo Raymond Narac	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6		174
15	LMGTE Pro	61	Kessel Racing	Michał Broniszewski Philipp Peter	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2		174
15	LMGTE Pro	61	Kessel Racing	Michał Broniszewski Philipp Peter	Ferrari 4.5 L V8		174
16	LMGTE Am	99	JMB Racing	Alain Ferté Philippe Illiano	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2		172
16	LMGTE Am	99	JMB Racing	Alain Ferté Philippe Illiano	Ferrari 4.5 L V8		172
17	LMGTE Am	69	Gulf Racing	Roald Goethe Stuart Hall	Aston Martin Vantage GT2		160
17	LMGTE Am	69	Gulf Racing	Roald Goethe Stuart Hall	Aston Martin 4.5 L V8		160
18	LMGTE Am	60	AF Corse	Piergiuseppe Perazzini Marco Cioci Matt Griffin	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2		144
18	LMGTE Am	60	AF Corse	Piergiuseppe Perazzini Marco Cioci Matt Griffin	Ferrari 4.5 L V8		144
DNF	LMPC	40	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Thomas Dagoneau Jean-Marc Merlin Massimo Vignali	Oreca FLM09		111
DNF	LMPC	40	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Thomas Dagoneau Jean-Marc Merlin Massimo Vignali	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8		111
DNF	LMP2	18	Murphy Prototypes	Warren Hughes Jody Firth Luca Moro	MG-Oreca 03		64
DNF	LMP2	18	Murphy Prototypes	Warren Hughes Jody Firth Luca Moro	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8		64
DNF	LMP2	45	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Bastien Brière Jack Clarke Sébastien Buemi	Oreca 03		27
DNF	LMP2	45	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Bastien Brière Jack Clarke Sébastien Buemi	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8		27

Notes and References

Web site: ELMS 6 Heures du Castellet Race Final Classification . . europeanlemansseries.com . PDF . 1 April 2012 . 7 March 2013 . https://archive.today/20130409065438/http://www.europeanlemansseries.com/en/s52_circuits/s52p07_download_doc.php?doc=LMS_2012-6_Heures_du_Castellet_Timing_Data.pdf&id_circuit=19 . 9 April 2013 . dead . dmy-all .