The 2012 FIA Formula Two Championship was the fourth and the last of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The season started on 14 April at Silverstone and finished on 30 September at Monza. The 2012 calendar saw the addition of two new races.

In the opening round at Silverstone, the first pole of the season was claimed by Mathéo Tuscher, the youngest driver to have taken part in the series. Tuscher was overtaken by Christopher Zanella on the first lap of the opening race; Zanella was later joined by Mihai Marinescu and Luciano Bacheta out front, with Bacheta eventually prevailing over Zanella with series debutant Alex Fontana in third. Marinescu claimed pole position for the second race, but could not stop Bacheta taking his second win of the weekend; Fontana again completed the podium, behind Marinescu.

Drivers Driver Rounds 3 Max Snegirev 2–5, 7–8 4 Luciano Bacheta All 5 Parthiva Sureshwaren 1–4 6 Vittorio Ghirelli 4 7 David Zhu All 8 Plamen Kralev All 9 Mihai Marinescu All 10 Alex Fontana All 11 Kourosh Khani 1–2, 4–5 12 Mathéo Tuscher All 13 José Luis Abadín 1 14 Mauro Calamia 1–6 15 Victor Guerin 2 18 Dino Zamparelli All 19 Christopher Zanella All 20 Daniel McKenzie All 22 Axcil Jefferies 3–8 23 Samuele Buttarelli 1 24 Kevin Mirocha All 27 Markus Pommer All 33 Harald Schlegelmilch 8 35 Hector Hurst All 51 Richard Gonda 7

Driver changes Entering/Re–Entering FIA Formula Two Championship Samuele Buttarelli switched from Auto GP to the championship. Formula Renault ALPS driver Mauro Calamia graduated into Formula Two in 2012. European F3 Open champion Alex Fontana graduated to the series. After competing in the first three rounds of the Auto GP World Series, Victor Guerin joined the series ahead of the Portimão round. Daniel McKenzie moved into the series from the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. After competing in the GP2 Series in 2011, Kevin Mirocha switched to the FIA Formula Two Championship. After finishing seventh in the German Formula Three Championship, Markus Pommer graduated into Formula Two in 2012. Formula Pilota China champion Mathéo Tuscher and eighth-placed David Zhu moved into the championship. Formula Renault BARC champion Dino Zamparelli as well as fourth-placed Kourosh Khani and thirteenth-placed Hector Hurst all joined the championship.

Leaving FIA Formula Two Championship Alex Brundle joined Carlin in the GP3 Series. Jack Clarke and Benjamin Lariche switched to sportscar racing, joining the European Le Mans Series and FIA GT1 World Championship respectively. Armaan Ebrahim moved to the United States to compete in Firestone Indy Lights. Jordan King switched to the Formula Renault Eurocup with Manor MP Motorsport. Jon Lancaster graduated to the GP2 Series with Ocean Racing Technology.

Race calendar and results An eight-race calendar was published by the FIA World Motor Sport Council on 7 December 2011. Round Circuit/Location Country Date Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Report 1 R1 Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire 14 April Mathéo Tuscher Mihai Marinescu Luciano Bacheta Report R2 15 April Mihai Marinescu Luciano Bacheta Luciano Bacheta 2 R1 Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Portimão 28 April Luciano Bacheta Mathéo Tuscher Luciano Bacheta Report R2 29 April Mathéo Tuscher Luciano Bacheta Luciano Bacheta 3 R1 Nürburgring 26 May Mihai Marinescu Mihai Marinescu Mihai Marinescu Report R2 27 May Christopher Zanella Christopher Zanella Christopher Zanella 4 R1 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps 23 June Markus Pommer Markus Pommer Markus Pommer Report R2 24 June Luciano Bacheta Luciano Bacheta Luciano Bacheta 5 R1 Brands Hatch, Kent 14 July Luciano Bacheta Mihai Marinescu Kevin Mirocha Report R2 15 July Mihai Marinescu Christopher Zanella Mihai Marinescu 6 R1 Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet France 21 July Mathéo Tuscher Christopher Zanella Mathéo Tuscher Report R2 22 July Markus Pommer Luciano Bacheta Markus Pommer 7 R1 Hungaroring, Mogyoród 8 September Kevin Mirocha Alex Fontana Alex Fontana Report R2 9 September Markus Pommer Markus Pommer Markus Pommer 8 R1 Autodromo Nazionale Monza 29 September Mathéo Tuscher Christopher Zanella Mathéo Tuscher Report R2 30 September Markus Pommer Luciano Bacheta Christopher ZanellaSources:

Calendar changes As in 2011, the series will take place over sixteen races at eight rounds, but the overall length of the calendar has been shortened from seven months to six. Two new rounds are to be introduced for the 2012 season, with races due to take place at Circuit Paul Ricard and the Hungaroring. After being removed from the 2011 calendar, the series will return to the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal. The races at the Red Bull Ring, Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours and Circuit de Catalunya will be discontinued to make way for new and returning races.

Championship standings Pos. Driver SIL ALG NÜR SPA BRH LEC HUN MNZ Points 1 Luciano Bacheta 1 1 1 1 2 6 Ret 1 3 6 2 5 3 8 4 3 2 Mathéo Tuscher 6 5 2 2 5 3 3 8 2 Ret 1 2 Ret 2 1 5 210 3 Christopher Zanella 2 8 6 4 3 1 5 4 6 2 8 3 5 6 2 1 4 Markus Pommer 8 7 4 3 9 4 1 2 5 5 5 1 NC 1 8 14 169 5 Mihai Marinescu 4 2 10 Ret 1 2 4 12 4 1 7 7 Ret 7 6 4 161 6 Kevin Mirocha 12 11 3 8 4 10 Ret 3 1 4 6 4 2 4 3 2 159.5 7 Alex Fontana 3 3 7 10 6 5 8 5 Ret 7 14 Ret 1 5 9 6 115 8 Dino Zamparelli 9 6 8 5 13 7 7 10 Ret 3 4 6 6 3 7 7 106.5 9 Daniel McKenzie 5 4 13 6 8 8 2 18 10 8 3 8 4 9 11 10 95 10 Hector Hurst 7 10 9 7 10 11 9 9 7 12 9 Ret Ret 14 Ret Ret 27 11 David Zhu 11 9 5 12 7 9 10 13 Ret 13 13 12 10 11 12 11 22 12 Axcil Jefferies 14 DNS Ret 7 8 9 10 10 Ret 10 10 8 17 13 Harald Schlegelmilch 5 9 12 14 Vittorio Ghirelli 6 6 12 15 Max Snegirev 17 15 Ret 14 Ret 16 Ret 14 7 15 14 12 6 16 Richard Gonda 8 12 4 17 Plamen Kralev 15 15 15 13 11 DNS 13 17 11 Ret 12 9 9 13 13 13 4 18 Mauro Calamia 14 12 12 11 15 13 12 14 9 11 11 11 2 19 Victor Guerin 11 9 2 20 Kourosh Khani 10 13 14 Ret Ret 15 Ret 10 2 21 Parthiva Sureshwaren 16 14 16 14 12 12 11 11 0 22 José Luis Abadín 13 16 0 Samuele Buttarelli Ret Ret 0 Pos Driver SIL ALG NÜR SPA BRH LEC HUN MNZ PointsSources:Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap † – Retired, but classified

Spa Race 2 ran only four laps, and the race was red-flagged because of rain and crashes on Lap 3 that resulted in a caution. The race was subsequently red-flagged, and under the count-back rule in red flag situations, the race lasted only three laps for a total time of 9:38.007, much less than the 30 minutes required in the 40-minute race, so only half points are awarded as the race did not reach the 75% required for full points.

References

External links The official website of the FIA Formula Two Championship