The 2012 Easter Cup (French: Coupes de Pâques 2012) is a motor race that will be the first of ten rounds in the 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship season. It will take place at the Circuit Paul Armagnac in France on 8 April 2012. The race will be the first time the opening race of the GT1 World Championship season has not taken place at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Eighteen cars representing nine manufacturers will take part in the race, including six new manufacturers and seven new teams. The event will also be the first round of the 2012 FIA GT3 European Championship season.

AF Corse's Toni Vilander and Filip Salaquarda started the qualifying race from pole position. The qualifying race was won by Audi drivers Stéphane Ortelli and Laurens Vanthoor, with team-mates Frank Stippler and Oliver Jarvis in second place.

Qualifying

Qualifying result Qualifying decides the grid order for the Qualifying Race, which in turn decides the grid order for the Championship Race. It is divided into three twenty-minute sessions. Each car has two drivers, designated "Driver 1" and "Driver 2". Driver 1 takes part in the first and third sessions, while Driver 2 takes part in the second session. At the end of the first session, the three slowest cars are eliminated, while the six slowest cars in the second session are also eliminated. The third and final session is contested between the remaining eight cars.

As the No. 11 Sunred Ford of Emmanuel Moncini and Andy Soucek was withdrawn from the event, three cars were eliminated from the first session instead of the normal four.

Driver 1 Team Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Driver 2 1 3 Toni Vilander AF Corse 1:26.776 1:26.907 1:26.138 1 Filip Salaquarda 2 32 Stéphane Ortelli Belgian Audi Club Team WRT 1:26.930 1:26.750 1:26.250 2 Laurens Vanthoor 3 33 Frank Stippler Belgian Audi Club Team WRT 1:26.915 1:26.736 1:26.292 3 Oliver Jarvis 4 38 Marc Basseng All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 1:27.617 1:26.876 1:26.876 4 Markus Winkelhock 5 4 Enzo Ide AF Corse 1:27.932 1:26.705 1:27.010 5 Francesco Castellacci 6 37 Nicky Pastorelli All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 1:29.163 1:26.916 1:27.020 6 Thomas Jäger 7 24 Albert von Thurn und Taxis Reiter Engineering 1:27.418 1:26.400 no time 7 Tomáš Enge 8 2 Grégoire Demoustier Hexis Racing 1:28.873 1:27.017 no time 8 Álvaro Parente 9 9 Mike Parisy Exim Bank Team China 1:27.220 1:27.099 9 Matt Halliday 10 25 Darryl O'Young Reiter Engineering 1:27.058 1:27.321 10 Peter Kox 11 17 Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof Vita4One Racing Team 1:28.571 1:27.765 11 Mathias Lauda 12 18 Yelmer Buurman Vita4One Racing Team 1:28.308 1:27.895 12 Michael Bartels 13 7 Maxime Martin Valmon Racing Team Russia 1:28.724 1:32.763 13 Alexey Vasilyev 14 1 Frédéric Makowiecki Hexis Racing 1:28.004 no time 14 Stef Dusseldorp 15 8 Benjamin Lariche Exim Bank Team China 1:29.325 15 Ren Wei 16 6 Andreas Zuber Valmon Racing Team Russia 1:29.921 16 Sergey Afanasyev 17 10 Miloš Pavlović Sunred 1:31.835 17 Matteo Cressoni Notes: — The No. 24 Reiter Lamborghini had its Qualifying 3 times cancelled following a stewards decision.

Race results

Qualifying Race Pos No. Team Drivers Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired 1 32 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Laurens Vanthoor Stéphane Ortelli Audi 35 2 33 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Frank Stippler Oliver Jarvis Audi 35 +6.030 3 24 Reiter Engineering Albert von Thurn und Taxis Tomáš Enge Lamborghini 35 +6.914 4 2 Hexis Racing Álvaro Parente Grégoire Demoustier McLaren 35 +7.164 5 3 AF Corse Filip Salaquarda Toni Vilander Ferrari 35 +31.293 6 38 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Marc Basseng Markus Winkelhock Mercedes-Benz 35 +33.785 7 37 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Nicky Pastorelli Thomas Jäger Mercedes-Benz 35 +34.414 8 25 Reiter Engineering Peter Kox Darryl O'Young Lamborghini 35 +47.177 9 9 Exim Bank Team China Mike Parisy Matt Halliday Porsche 35 +48.622 10 4 AF Corse Francesco Castellacci Enzo Ide Ferrari 35 +49.997 11 17 Vita4One Racing Team Mathias Lauda Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof BMW 35 +1:02.466 12 18 Vita4One Racing Team Michael Bartels Yelmer Buurman BMW 35 +1:27.791 13 6 Valmon Racing Team Russia Sergey Afanasyev Andreas Zuber Aston Martin 34 +1 Lap 14 8 Exim Bank Team China Ren Wei Benjamin Lariche Porsche 34 +1 Lap 15 10 Sunred Miloš Pavlović Matteo Cressoni Ford 33 +2 Laps 16 7 Valmon Racing Team Russia Alexey Vasilyev Maxime Martin Aston Martin 33 +2 Laps DNS 1 Hexis Racing Frédéric Makowiecki Stef Dusseldorp McLaren – Did not start Notes: — The No. 18 Vita4One BMW was given a 30 second post-race penalty for failing to turn off their engine during their pit stop.

Championship Race Pos No. Team Drivers Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired 1 32 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Laurens Vanthoor Stéphane Ortelli Audi 40 2 33 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Frank Stippler Oliver Jarvis Audi 40 +3.731 3 38 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Marc Basseng Markus Winkelhock Mercedes-Benz 40 +4.421 4 37 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Nicky Pastorelli Thomas Jäger Mercedes-Benz 40 +6.366 5 4 AF Corse Francesco Castellacci Enzo Ide Ferrari 40 +18.925 6 3 AF Corse Toni Vilander Filip Salaquarda Ferrari 40 +21.231 7 25 Reiter Engineering Peter Kox Darryl O'Young Lamborghini 40 +21.682 8 24 Reiter Engineering Tomáš Enge Albert von Thurn und Taxis Lamborghini 40 +35.234 9 9 Exim Bank Team China Mike Parisy Matt Halliday Porsche 40 +49.619 10 18 Vita4One Racing Team Michael Bartels Yelmer Buurman BMW 40 +1:00.307 11 17 Vita4One Racing Team Mathias Lauda Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof BMW 40 +1:05.808 12 7 Valmon Racing Team Russia Maxime Martin Alexey Vasilyev Aston Martin 40 +1:27.167 13 6 Valmon Racing Team Russia Sergey Afanasyev Andreas Zuber Aston Martin 39 +1 Lap 14 10 Sunred Miloš Pavlović Matteo Cressoni Ford 38 +2 Laps 15 8 Exim Bank Team China Ren Wei Benjamin Lariche Porsche 37 +3 Laps 16DNF 2 Hexis Racing Grégoire Demoustier Álvaro Parente McLaren 18 Retired 17DNF 1 Hexis Racing Frédéric Makowiecki Stef Dusseldorp McLaren 3 Throttle

References