The 2012 WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps was a six-hour automobile endurance race for two or three driver teams in Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) cars held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium on 5 May 2012 before 31,000 people. It was the second round of eight in the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship, featuring the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro), and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur (LMGTE Am) classes.
Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish shared the pole position in a hybrid Audi R18 e-tron quattro after McNish was fastest overall in qualifying. Kristensen led the first two laps before being passed on the third by the sister team of Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer. The trio led the race until they were passed by a non-hybrid Audi R18 ultra shared by Romain Dumas, Loïc Duval and Marc Gené, which they maintained for the final 96 laps to win outright and move Dumas and Duval to the lead of the World Endurance Drivers' Championship and keep Audi atop the LMP1 Manufacturers' World Championship. Fässler, Lotterer, and Tréluyer finished 46.801 seconds behind in second place, and the second Audi R18 ultra, driven by Marco Bonanomi and Oliver Jarvis, finished one lap behind in third place.
The LMP2 category was won by Jota's Zytek Z11SN-Nissan car of Simon Dolan and Sam Hancock, who took the lead in the final three laps from the ADR-Delta team of Tor Graves, Robbie Kerr and John Martin, who made a late race pit stop for fuel and finished 6.378 seconds behind the Jota entry to take the lead of the Endurance Trophy For LMP2 Teams. Brendon Hartley, Warren Hughes and Jody Firth were third in class in a Murphy Prototypes Oreca 03-Nissan car. Porsche won the LMGTE Pro category with a Porsche 997 GT3-RSR shared by Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz, holding off a late race challenge from an AF Corse-fielded Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 of Gianmaria Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella by 0.628 seconds to tie AF Corse on points in the Endurance Trophy For LMGTE Pro Teams. IMSA Performance Matmut's Porsche of Nicolas Armindo, Raymond Narac and Anthony Pons led all but four laps in LMGTE Am, while Team Felbermayr-Proton's Christian Ried, Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti finished second to extend their lead in the Endurance Trophy For LMGTE Am Teams.
Background
The 2012 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps was confirmed as part of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season at the FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in New Delhi on 7 December 2011. It was the second of eight scheduled rounds of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship and the race's debut appearance in the series. The event was held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium on 5 May 2012.
Before the race, Audi Sport Team Joest drivers Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish led the World Endurance Drivers' Championship with 25 points, seven ahead of their teammates Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Loïc Duval. Audi were unopposed in the LMP1 Manufacturers' World Championship with 25 points. With 33 points each, Ferrari and Porsche led the LMGTE Manufacturers' World Cup. Pescarolo Team led Strakka Racing in the Endurance Trophy for LMP1 Teams by seven points. A similar gap separated Starworks Motorsport and OAK Racing in the Endurance Trophy For LMP2 Teams as well as between AF Corse and Team Felbermayr-Proton in the Endurance Trophy For LMGTE Pro Teams. Proton led Larbre Compétition by seven points in the Endurance Trophy For LMGTE Am Teams.
Entry list The event included 42 cars divided into the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro), and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur (LMGTE Am) classes. There were 27 Le Mans Prototype (LMP) cars and 15 Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) cars competing. Following the cancellation of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) event at Circuit Zolder due to a lack of entries, eight ELMS teams received one-off entries to the Spa-Francorchamps race in order to prepare for the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. The WEC put all entries in the Formula One pitlane building rather than the former pit lane because Radical cars were there.
Audi were the only LMP1 manufacturer. It debuted two diesel-powered R18 Ultras (one by Audi Sport Team Joest and one by Audi Sport North America) and two Joest-entered hybrid R18 e-tron quattros. Rebellion Racing introduced the 2012 bodywork for its two Lola B12/60-Toyotas at Spa, while Strakka Racing and JRM both had HPD ARX-03a-Honda cars. OAK Racing fielded a single OAK Pescarolo 01-Judd car, while the Pescarolo Team debuted the Judd-powered Dome S102.5. Toyota delayed the debut of its TS030 Hybrid car at Spa-Francorchamps following a heavy testing accident involving driver Nicolas Lapierre at Circuit Paul Ricard in France the previous month that required the car to be rebuilt. Henri Pescarolo withdrew intentions to run his team's Pescarolo 03-Judd car at Spa because it was not ready for the race due to a production delay caused by late payment for car components delivered from England.
LMP2 had 18 entries from five manufacturers due to the inclusion of six full-season ELMS teams. Oreca entered seven 03 vehicles in the class, with Signatech Nissan fielding two (expanding from one) and ADR-Delta, Race Performance, Boutsen Ginion Racing, Murphy Prototypes and Pecom Racing fielding one apiece. Lola had five Lola B12/80 vehicles at Spa with two each for Gulf Racing Middle East and Lotus and one for Status GP. OAK Racing expanded to running two Morgan LMP2-Judds for the first time in the season. Zytek was represented by two Zytek Z11SN cars with one each for Jota and Greaves Motorsport. Extrême Limite ARIC entered one Judd-powered Norma M200P and Starworks Motorsport fielded the lone HPD ARX-03b.
Spa's LMGTE field included 14 vehicles from four different car brands. LMGTE Pro featured the same five cars from the season-opening 12 Hours of Sebring. Ferrari had the most cars in the category, with three 458 Italias, two of which were run by AF Corse and one by Luxury Racing. Aston Martin Racing fielded an Aston Martin Vantage GTE, while Porsche had a single Porsche 997 GT3-RSR entered by Team-Felbermayr Proton. LMGTE Am included nine cars because of two ELMS teams competing. There were four 2011 Ferrari 458 Italias in the class, one each from AF Corse, AF Corse-Waltrip, Luxury Racing and Krohn Racing. Porsche were represented by three one-year-old 997 GT3-RSRs, one each by JWA-Avila, Team-Felbermayr Proton and IMSA Performance Matmut. Larbre Compétition were the sole Chevrolet team, fielding two Chevrolet Corvette C6.Rs.
Balance of performance changes The Porsche 911 GT3-RSR had a weight increase, while the Ferrari 458 Italia received a ballast addition to improve handling in the LMGTE Pro balance of performance changes. The Aston Martin Vantage GTE and all LMGTE Am vehicles received no performance updates.
Practice The first two 90-minute practice sessions took place on 3 May and the third one-hour session was held the following day. The first session took place in overcast weather on a damp circuit. Audi took the first four overall positions, with Benoît Tréluyer's 1 Audi e-tron quattro setting the fastest lap of 2:04.434 early in the session. Duval's No. 3 Audi R18 ultra was 0.044 seconds slower. Capello's No. 2 Audi e-tron quattro was third with Marco Bonanomi's No. 4 Audi R18 ultra fourth. The fastest petrol-powered LMP1 car was Andrea Belicchi's No. 13 Rebellion Lola-Toyota in fifth. Soheil Ayari's No. 49 Pecom Oreca led LMP2 with a time of 2:10.646. Alexander Sims' Status GP Lola-Judd and Stéphane Sarrazin's Starworks HPD cars were second and third in class. Gianmaria Bruni's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari led the LMGTE Pro class with a 2:20.916 lap, beating Marc Lieb's No. 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche by four-tenths of a second. Paolo Ruberti's No. 88 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche paced LMGTE Am with a 2:23.135 lap. With 20 minutes remaining, Nick Leventis locked the No. 21 Strakka HPD car's brakes on oil through the La Source hairpin and crashed into the tyre barrier leaving the turn. The car received minor damage and was placed behind the tyre wall.
The second 90-minute practice session was delayed due to marshals replacing a barrier at Blanchimont corner damaged by a Radical car during the second Radical European Masters practice session and ended early to comply with mid-week noise rules. André Lotterer's No. 1 Audi set the pace on new tyres with a 2:03.075 lap in the final third of practice. He was three-tenths of a second faster than McNish's sister No. 2 car, ahead of Oliver Jarvis' No. 4 entry and Duval. Nick Heidfeld's No. 12 Rebellion car was the highest-placed petrol powered car in fifth. OAK led in LMP2 with a 2:10.058 lap from Olivier Pla's No. 24 Morgan car, four-tenths of a second faster than Thomas Holzer's No. 31 Lotus Lola vehicle. Sims collided into the barriers in Radillion corner, on a hill above Eau Rouge turn, to stop practice with 20 minutes remaining. He was unhurt, but the 6G hit forced the Status Lola to withdraw from the event due to a lack of spare parts. Three different manufacturers had the first three fastest laps in LMGTE Pro. Lieb led the category with a 2:19.668 lap ahead of Darren Turner's No. 97 Aston Martin and Luxury's No. 59 Ferrari. Nicolas Armindo's IMSA Porsche paced LMGTE Am at 2:21.872 from Jean-Philippe Belloc's No. 30 Luxury Ferrari and AF Corse-Waltrip's Ferrari.
During a simulated driver change, Gulf Racing Middle East owner Frédéric Fatien got his foot snagged on a wheel behind him, fell, and broken his lower leg in three places. He was hospitalised and withdrew from the race, leaving Jean-Denis Delétraz and Keiko Ihara to drive the No. 29 Lola car. The final session was held in sunny weather with intermittent rain. Marcel Fässler's No. 1 Audi posted the quickest lap, 2:01.998, right before the session finished. He was three-tenths of a second quicker than Bonanomi with Marc Gené's No. 3 Audi and McNish in second through fourth. Ayari lapped fastest in LMP2 at 2:09.170, with Pla second and James Rossiter's No. 32 Lotus Lola third. Stefan Mücke's No. 97 Aston Martin led LMGTE Pro with a lap of 2:19.785, almost one second quicker than Frédéric Makowiecki's No. 59 Luxury Ferrari, and Giancarlo Fisichella's No. 51 AF Corse came third. Belloc's lap of 2:22.073 paced LMGTE Am. Anthony Pons' IMSA Porsche and the No. 58 Luxury Ferrari were second and third in class. When Rob Kauffman locked up at Les Combes corner and lost control of his AF Corse-Waltrip Ferrari, he hit the rear of Pons (who had passed him on the Kemmel straight) and rear-ended the barrier. Starworks ended practice early because driver Enzo Potolicchio lost control of the HPD LMP2 car and failed to restart.
Qualifying