2012 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge Explained

The 2012 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge was a multi-class sports car and GT motor race held at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Ohio, United States on August 4, 2012. It was the sixth round of the 2012 American Le Mans Series season and the 41st race in the combined history of sportscar races associated with the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge. The race was held over a two-hour-and-45-minute time period, during which 123 laps of the 3.6 kilometre circuit were completed for a race distance of 447 kilometres.

The race was won by the Muscle Milk Pickett Racing team. German drivers Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf driving a HPD ARX-03a Honda sports car won by over a lap from their season long P1 class rivals, the Dyson Racing Team run Lola B12/60 sports car. It was the fifth consecutive victory for Luhr and Graf.[1] It was Luhr third outright win at Mid-Ohio and Graf's second. The second Dyson Racing Team Lola-Mazda was in third place near the end of the race when the gearbox failed.[2]

Level 5 Motorsports took their fifth win of the season taking a seven second win in their HPD ARX-03b over their season long rivals, the Conquest Endurance team Morgan LMP2. It was Scott Tucker's fifth win of the season and Christophe Bouchut's fourth win.[1]

Fifth was the second Level 5 Motorsports HPD-Honda ahead of the Prototype Challenge class winners, the PR1/Mathiasan Motorsports pair of Rudy Junco and Marino Franchitti in their Oreca FLM09. It was the team's third victory in the Prototype Challenge class adding to wins at Road America and Road Atlanta in 2011.

Eleventh outright was the GT class winners, Corvette Racing pair of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in their Chevrolet Corvette. Gavin had to endure twenty minutes of pressure from Jörg Bergmeister in the Flying Lizard Motorsports. The margin of victory was just 0.2 seconds.[1]

The GT Challenge class winners, Tim Pappas and Jeroen Bleekemolen, claimed JDX Racing's first win of the year. It was Bleekemolen's second win after the year after winning in Monterey in May with TRG. TRG was second in class with new driver Al Carter and Spencer Pumpelly.

29 of the 32 entries were running at races conclusion.

Race

Race result

Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of their class winner's distance are marked as Not Classified (NC).[3]

PosClassNoTeamDriversChassisTireLaps
Engine
1P16 Muscle Milk Pickett Racing Lucas Luhr
Klaus Graf
HPD ARX-03a123
Honda 3.4 L V8
2P116 Dyson Racing Team Chris Dyson
Guy Smith
Lola B12/60122
Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4
(Isobutanol)
3P2055 Level 5 Motorsports Scott Tucker
Christophe Bouchut
HPD ARX-03b121
Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6
4P237 Conquest Endurance Martin Plowman
David Heinemeier Hansson
Morgan LMP2121
Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
5P295 Level 5 Motorsports Scott Tucker
Ricardo González
HPD ARX-03b120
Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6
6PC52 PR1/Mathiasan Motorsports Rudy Junco, Jr.
Marino Franchitti
Oreca FLM09118
Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8
7PC06 CORE Autosport Alex Popow
Ryan Dalziel
Oreca FLM09118
Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8
8PC8 Merchant Services Racing Kyle Marcelli
Antonio Downs
Oreca FLM09116
Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8
9P227 Dempsey Racing Patrick Dempsey
Joe Foster
Dane Cameron
Lola B12/87116
Judd-BMW HK 3.6 L V8
10PC9 RSR Racing Bruno Junqueira
Tomy Drissi
Oreca FLM09115
Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8
11GT4 Corvette Racing Oliver Gavin
Tommy Milner
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R115
Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
12GT45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Jörg Bergmeister
Patrick Long
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR115
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
13
DNF
P120 Dyson Racing Team Michael Marsal
Eric Lux
Lola B11/66114
Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4
(Isobutanol)
14GT55 BMW Team RLL Jörg Müller
Bill Auberlen
BMW M3 GT2114
BMW 4.0 L V8
15PC25 Dempsey Racing Henri Richard
Duncan Ende
Oreca FLM09114
Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8
16GT17 Team Falken Tire Wolf Henzler
Bryan Sellers
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR114
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
17GT56 BMW Team RLL Joey Hand
Dirk Müller
BMW M3 GT2114
BMW 4.0 L V8
18GT01 Extreme Speed Motorsports Scott Sharp
Johannes van Overbeek
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2113
Ferrari 4.5 L V8
19GT44 Flying Lizard Motorsports Seth Neiman
Marco Holzer
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR113
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
20GT02 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ed Brown
Guy Cosmo
Ferrari 458 Italia GT2112
Ferrari 4.5 L V8
21PC05 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett
Colin Braun
Oreca FLM09112
Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8
22GT48 Paul Miller Racing Bryce Miller
Sascha Maassen
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR112
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
23GT91 SRT Motorsports Kuno Wittmer
Dominik Farnbacher
SRT Viper GTS-R111
Dodge 8.0 L V10
24
DNF
GT23 Lotus / Alex Job Racing Bill Sweedler
Townsend Bell
Lotus Evora GTE109
Toyota-Cosworth 3.5 L V6
25GT93 SRT Motorsports Marc Goossens
Tommy Kendall
SRT Viper GTS-R109
Dodge 8.0 L V10
26GTC11 JDX Racing Tim Pappas
Jeroen Bleekemolen
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup108
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
27GTC66 TRG Al Carter
Spencer Pumpelly
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup107
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
28GTC33 Green Hornet Racing Bob Faieta
Patrick Huisman
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup107
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
29GTC22 Alex Job Racing Cooper MacNeil
Leh Keen
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup107
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
30GTC34 Green Hornet Racing Peter LeSaffre
Damien Faulkner
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup106
Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
31GT3 Corvette Racing Jan Magnussen
Antonio García
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R105
Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
32
DNF
PC7 Merchant Services Racing Tony Burgess
James Kovacic
Oreca FLM0988
Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Luhr, Graf Win Again at Mid-Ohio for Muscle Milk . . 2012-08-04 . 2012-08-30.
  2. Web site: 200th Podium For Dyson Racing . . 2012-08-05 . 2012-08-30.
  3. Web site: Official Race Results . PDF . . 2012-08-09 . 2012-08-30.