The 60th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring was a 12-hour automobile endurance race for teams of three drivers each fielding sports prototype and grand touring cars held on March 17, 2012, at the Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida before more than 90,000 spectators. It was the 60th 12 Hours of Sebring and the first round of both the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the 2012 American Le Mans Series (ALMS). Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Le Mans Prototype Challenge (LMPC), Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE), and Grand Touring Challenge (GTC) cars competed in the race.
An Audi R18 TDI shared by Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer started from pole position after Lotterer set the fastest overall lap time during qualifying. The car lost the race lead on the opening lap to a sister Audi driven by Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen, and Allan McNish. The trio led all but 66 laps and finished first, four laps ahead of their teammates Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, and Loïc Duval. It was Kristensen's sixth Sebring victory, Capello's fifth, McNish's fourth and Audi's tenth. Ryan Dalziel, Enzo Potolicchio and Stéphane Sarrazin of Starworks Motorsport's HPD ARX-03b car in third overall won the WEC LMP2 category and the Level 5 Motorsports HPD entry of João Barbosa, Christophe Bouchut and Scott Tucker won the ALMS' P2 class. The Pescarolo Team of Jean-Christophe Boullion, Emmanuel Collard, and Julien Jousse in a Pescarolo 01 car completed the WEC LMP1 class podium. The only classified finisher in the ALMS' P1 category was Chris Dyson, Steven Kane, and Guy Smith in a Lola B12/60 car.
The CORE Autosport Oreca FLM09 vehicle shared by Burt Frisselle, Alex Popow and E. J. Viso won the PC class by one lap over the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports team of Ken Dobson, Rudy Junco Jr. and Butch Leitzinger. BMW Team RLL's trio of Joey Hand, Dirk Müller and Jonathan Summerton in a BMW M3 GT2 overcame a final lap collision with an AF Corse entered Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 to win the GT class from Corvette Racing's C6.R entry of Antonio García, Jan Magnussen and Jordan Taylor. After losing the opportunity to win outright in GT due to a last lap spin, AF Corse's Olivier Beretta, Andrea Bertolini, and Marco Cioci won the LMGTE Pro category. The LMGTE Am class was led by the No. 50 Larbre Compétition Corvette until driver Pedro Lamy suffered a driveshaft failure in the final hour, handing the victory to Team Felbermayr-Proton's Porsche 997 GT3-RSR of Christian Ried, Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti. Alex Job Racing won their eighth Sebring category with Townsend Bell, Dion von Moltke, and Bill Sweedler's Porsche 997 GT3 Cup leading the GTC category by one lap over teammates Louis-Philippe Dumoulin, Leh Keen, and Cooper MacNeil.
Background
Preview The 2012 12 Hours of Sebring was the opening round of both the 2012 American Le Mans Series (ten races) and the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship (eight races), as well as the race's 60th running. It was the first and only event involving both the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the only North American round of the WEC season, and the series' debut race. On March 17, 2012, the round was held at the 17-turn Sebring International Raceway road course in Sebring, Florida. The event was sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), with officials from both the ALMS and the WEC on site.
Entry list The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) track homologation meant that the event had a 64-car entry limit. Only full-season ALMS and WEC entries were permitted to compete, and no one-time entries were permitted due to the combined ALMS and WEC field. The race included five car types: Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Le Mans Prototype Challenge (LMPC), Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE), and Grand Touring Challenge (GTC). The nine car categories racing at Sebring were the ALMS' P1, P2, PC, GT, GTC, and the WEC's LMP1, LMP2, LMGTE Pro, and LMGTE Am. The race's defending winners, Peugeot, did not return to defend their title after withdrawing from endurance racing. Audi Sport Team Joest (the only factory LMP1 manufacturer after Peugeot's withdrawal) fielded three one-year-old R18 TDI cars, while Rebellion Racing entered two 2011 Lola B11/60s. OAK Racing and Pescarolo Team each entered a 2011 Pescarolo 01, while JRM, Muscle Milk Pickett Racing and Strakka Racing each entered one HPD ARX-03a. The Lola B12/60 made its début at Sebring, and Dyson Racing Team fielded one. Toyota did not enter its TS030 Hybrid car due to time constraints.
LMP2 had 13 teams from five different manufacturers. Oreca had three 03 cars in LMP2 run by Pecom Racing, ADR-Delta, and Signatech Nissan. Lola Cars also fielded three B12/80s, with two from Gulf Racing Middle East, and one by Lotus. There were also three HPD ARX-03b cars with two run by Level 5 Motorsports, and one by Starworks Motorsport. OAK Racing and Conquest Endurance each entered a single Morgan LMP2 car. Greaves Motorsport also fielded one Zytek Z11SN car. The one-make PC class included nine Oreca FLM09 vehicles, including two from CORE Autosport. PR1 Mathiasen Racing, Muscle Milk Pickett Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, RSR Racing, and Dempsey Racing each ran one car.
The WEC LMGTE field included twelve cars from four different manufacturers, with five in the Pro category and seven in the Am class. AF Corse was the only two-car team in LMGTE Pro, with two Ferrari 458 Italias, while Luxury Racing had one. There was one Aston Martin Vantage GTE from Aston Martin Racing and one Porsche 997 GT3-RSR from Team Felbermayr-Proton. Ferrari had three cars in LMGTE Am, with one 458 Italia entered by Krohn Racing, Luxury Racing, and AF-Corse-Waltrip. Larbre Compétition fielded two Chevrolet Corvette C6.Rs, and JWA-Avila and Felbermayr-Proton each fielded one Porsche 997 GT3-RSR. The ten-car ALMS GT field featured two C6.Rs from Corvette Racing, two Ferrari 458 Italias from Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM), four Porsche 997 GTE-RSRs from Flying Lizard Motorsports (two) and Team Falken Tire and Paul Miller Racing (one each), and two BMW M3 GT2s from Team RLL. Risi Competizione missed Sebring due to the economic climate and the resulting lack of preparation. The one-make GTC class included nine Porsche 997 GT3 Cup cars. Alex Job Racing (AJR) and NGT Motorsports had two cars and one each by Green Hornet Racing, JDX Racing, Competition Motorsports, GMG Racing, and TRG.
Balance of performance changes The balance of performance goal for both the ALMS and the WEC was to achieve parity in all classes. The Audi R18 TDi's performance was lowered because its air restrictor was 7% smaller, its turbocharger boost was reduced, and it lost in fuel capacity. The GT-category Chevrolet Corvette C6.R received a larger air restrictor and more flexibility in its rear wing placement, as did the Aston Martin Vantage GTE and the BMW M3 GT2. The WEC LMGTE Am-class Porsche 997 GTE-RSR lost of ballast, while the Black Swan Lola B11/80 gained of ballast, affecting their handling.
Testing The teams had two four-hour test sessions on March 12 and two one-hour test sessions the next day. On the first day, 61 of the 64 entered cars competed, with Audi leading with a 1:47.187 lap set by Allan McNish's No. 2 car. During the afternoon session, McNish's co-driver Tom Kristensen damaged the No. 2 car's front-left corner in a collision with Romain Dumas' sister No. 3 vehicle. The No. 1 Audi was four-tenths of a second faster than the No. 3 entry, which was more than a second slower. The highest-placed petrol-powered car was the No. 6 Muscle Milk HPD entry in fourth. Level 5's No. 95 car led LMP2 in the afternoon session with a time of 1:52.055, almost 1.5 seconds faster than the sister No. 055 entry. On the bumpy turn 17, OAK team owner Jacques Nicolet lost control of the No. 24 Morgan car, which incurred severe damage in a high-speed accident. Luxury's No. 59 Ferrari set the quickest afternoon session lap at 2:00.830. The No. 45 Flying Lizard Porsche was 0.325 seconds slower, while Dominik Farnbacher's No. 58 Luxury Ferrari led LMGTE Am with a 2:02.893 lap time. Dempsey Racing topped LMPC with a 1:55.540 lap time from PR1 Mathiasen Racing, while Green Hornet's No. 34 car led the GTC class with a time of 2:06.899 from NGT Motorsport's No. 30 car.
Testing's second day saw all 64 cars compete, and Audi again led with Kristensen's lap of 1:48.138, 0.272 seconds quicker than Timo Bernhard's No. 3 car. The No. 1 Audi was third after a lap by Marcel Fässler and the highest-placed ALMS LMP1 entry was the fourth-placed Muscle Milk HPD car. Soheil Ayari's No. 49 Pecom Oreca car led LMP2 with a 1:53.527 lap in the afternoon session. After a lap by João Barbosa, the No. 055 Level 5 car was second and the top ALMS LMP2 entry, and Ryan Dalziel's No. 44 Starworks HPD entry was third, the top three LMP2 cars were within 0.362 seconds of each other. Giancarlo Fisichella's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari led GT with a 2:01.097 lap, 0.043 seconds faster than Jaime Melo's No. 59 Luxury car. The top ALMS GT entry was Flying Lizard's No. 45 Porsche. Krohn's No. 57 Ferrari led LMGTE Am with a 2:02.991 lap time from Niclas Jönsson. Colin Braun lapped quickest in the LMPC-class CORE entry at 1:55.473, while Sean Edwards's No. 30 NGT car set the fastest GTC lap at 2:07.841.
Practice The first practice session lasted one hour and was held on March 15 in the morning. Dumas was fastest at 1:48.626, 1.136 seconds ahead of Klaus Graf's highest-placed No. 6 Muscle Milk ALMS LMP1 entry. Graf was three-seconds ahead of Fässler in third and Andrea Belicchi's No. 13 Rebellion Lola was fourth overall. Barbosa set the quickest LMP2 lap of 1:52.680 for Level 5. John Martin's No. 25 ADR-Delta Oreca was second, 0.404 seconds slower, with the second Level 5 car third. David Heinemeier Hansson spun and stranded the No. 37 Conquest car at turn ten, stopping practice for five minutes. Practice was stopped again when Scott Tucker crashed the No. 055 Level 5 entry into the turn 17 tire barrier. Nine cars came within a second of Oliver Gavin's No. 4 Corvette's quickest GT lap of 2:01.514. With Jonathan Summerton's quickest lap, the No. 56 RLL BMW was second, and Toni Vilander's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari was third, separated by a tenth of a second. Farnbacher led LMGTE Am with a 2:02.988 lap, followed by Paolo Ruberti's No. 88 Felbermayr-Proton Porsche and Krohn's No. 57 Ferrari of Jönsson. Muscle Milk's Memo Gidley led LMPC with a 1:55.881 lap, 0.137 seconds quicker than No. 6 CORE's Alex Popow. Michael Guasch's No. 5 Muscle Milk car stopped at turn ten, resulting in a five-minute delay. Alex Job's No. 022 car led GTC with Leh Keen's 2:07.308 lap, ahead of Henrique Cisneros' No. 30 NGT car.