The 2012 6 Hours of Silverstone 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 Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, England on 26 August 2012. It was the fourth round 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.
Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer shared the pole position in a hybrid Audi R18 e-tron quattro after Tréluyer set the fastest overall lap in qualifying. Lotterer led the first ten laps until a Toyota TS030 Hybrid shared by Nicolas Lapierre, Kazuki Nakajima and Alexander Wurz passed him for the race lead on lap 11. Fässler, Lotterer and Tréluyer led the final 54 laps to win outright and move into the lead of the World Endurance Drivers' Championship and secure the LMP1 Manufacturers' World Championship for Audi. Lapierre, Nakajima and Wurz finished 55.675 seconds behind in second and the sister Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish took third.
The LMP2 category was won by ADR-Delta's Oreca 03-Nissan vehicle of Jan Charouz, Tor Graves and John Martin, who was 5.653 seconds ahead of the second-placed Starworks Motorsport team of Ryan Dalziel, Enzo Potolicchio and Stéphane Sarrazin sharing a HPD ARX-03b-Honda, reducing their Endurance Trophy For LMP2 Teams lead to 12 points. The Signatech-Nissan team of Nelson Panciatici, Pierre Ragues and Roman Rusinov were third in the category. Ferrari won the LMGTE Pro category with a Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 shared by Gianmaria Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella of AF Corse leading the JMW Motorsport pair of Jonny Cocker and James Walker by two laps to further increase AF Corse's Endurance Trophy For LMGTE Pro Teams advantage over Aston Martin Racing. AF Corse-Waltrip's Ferrari of Marco Cioci, Matt Griffin and Piergiuseppe Perazzini beat out the Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 997 GT3-RSR shared by Christian Ried, Gianluca Roda, Paolo Ruberti to win the LMGTE Am category and went from fourth to third in the Endurance Trophy For LMGTE Am Teams.
Background The 2012 6 Hours of Silverstone 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 fourth of eight scheduled rounds of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship, the race's debut appearance in the series, and it was the last European round of the season, coming two months after the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The event took place at the 18-turn Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom on 26 August 2012, and the facility held its first world championship endurance race since the 1992 500 km of Silverstone.
Before the race, Audi Sport Team Joest drivers Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish led the World Endurance Drivers' Championship with 77 points, six-and-a-half ahead of their teammates Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer. Audi were unopposed in the LMP1 Manufacturers' World Championship with 103 points with Toyota having scored no points. With 154 points, Ferrari led Porsche and Chevrolet Corvette in the LMGTE Manufacturers' World Cup by 78 points. Rebellion Racing led JRM in the Endurance Trophy for LMP1 Teams by 24 points. A gap of 18 points separated Starworks Motorsport and ADR-Delta in the Endurance Trophy For LMP2 Teams while there was an 39-point gap between AF Corse and Luxury Racing in the Endurance Trophy For LMGTE Pro Teams. Larbre Compétition led Krohn Racing by 30 points in the Endurance Trophy For LMGTE Am Teams.
Entries A total of 35 vehicles 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 were officially entered for the race. There were 22 Le Mans Prototype (LMP) cars and 13 Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) cars competing. There were seven cars in the LMP1 class. Audi fielded a hybridised R18 e-tron Quattro and a diesel-powered R18 ultra while Toyota entered a single TS030 Hybrid that featured a revised aerodynamic package to improve downforce for the rest of the season. Rebellion Racing sent two Lola B12/60-Toyota cars to Silverstone and a HPD ARX-03 was fielded by both JRM and Strakka Racing. OAK Racing withdrew from the LMP1 class due to continued reliability concerns with the engine in their OAK Pescarolo-Judd entry that had affected the car since the beginning of the season. Roald Goethe wished to not invest any more money into the Pescarolo 03 car project, forcing Pescarolo Team to withdraw from the race.
LMP2 had 15 cars from five manufacturers. Oreca was the most represented manufacturer in the category with five 03 cars; two fielded by Signatech Nissan and one each from ADR-Delta, PeCom Racing and Murphy Prototypes. Lola had four Lola B12/80 vehicles with two entered by Lotus and one each by Gulf Racing Middle East and Status Grand Prix. With their withdrawal from the LMP1 category, OAK Racing decided to focus on the LMP2 class, entering two Morgan LMP2-Nissan entries for the race. Zytek was represented by three Zytek Z11SN-Nissan cars, with two entered by Greaves Motorsport and one by Jota. The only HPD ARX-03b-Honda was fielded by Starworks Motorsport. Gulf Team Middle East withdrew one of their Nissan-powered Lola cars due to injuries sustained by drivers Stefan Johansson and Fabien Giroix, leaving the squad with a solitary entry.
The LMGTE field included 13 vehicles from four different car brands. The LMGTE Pro category again had five cars entered. Ferrari had the most cars in the category, with three 458 Italias, two of which were run by AF Corse and one by JMW Motorsport. Luxury Racing withdrew their two Ferrari 458 Italias from the race due to funding issues dating back to the 24 Hours of Le Mans after the team lost one of its primary shareholders that was due to provide funding for the season's final five races. The sole Porsche 997 GT3-RSR was fielded by Team Felbermayr-Proton and the only Aston Martin Vantage GTE was entered by Aston Martin Racing. The LMGTE Am class included eight vehicles for Silverstone. Larbre Compétition were the only Chevrolet team, fielding two Chevrolet Corvette C6.Rs. Ferrari had two 458 Italias in the category with one from Krohn Racing and a second by AF-Corse-Waltrip as AF Corse resumed their partnership with Michael Waltrip Racing at the event. Porsche were represented by two 997 GT3-RSRs with one each by JWA-Avila and Team Felbermayr-Proton while Aston Martin Racing represented the manufacturer with two Vantage V8s.
Regulation and balance of performance changes The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) specified the four braking zones where the hybrid LMP1 cars were permitted to recover energy generated under braking. The braking zones were designated at Village corner, Brooklands turn and Club corner sequence. The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and FIA imposed a maximum of energy that could be recovered between two braking zones.
The FIA Endurance Committee approved a series of balance of performance adjustments to the 2012-spec LMGTE Pro class Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The car was allowed to be driven with the front splitter being larger, the rear wing further back, the air restrictor being larger and the car was lighter for better performance.
Practice The first two 90-minute practice sessions took place on 24 August and the third one-hour session was held the following day. The first practice session took place in sunshine until clouds covered the circuit and the air temperature decreased by the session's conclusion. Tréluyer set the fastest lap time in the 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro at 1:45.777, 0.233 seconds faster than Nicolas Lapierre's No. 7 Toyota TS030 Hybrid. McNish's No. 2 R18 ultra was third-fastest. Dominik Kraihamer led LMP2 with a time of 1:51.561 set aboard the No. 35 OAK Morgan-Nissan, lapping two-thousands of a second faster quicker than the second-placed No. 42 Greaves entry of Alex Brundle. Matthieu Lahaye's sister No. 24 OAK vehicle was third in the category. Gianmaria Bruni's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari led the LMGTE Pro class with a 2:02.757 lap, with his teammate Andrea Bertolini aboard the sister No. 52 Ferrari going second quickest late in the session. AF Corse led the LMGTE Am time sheets with a 2:04.080 lap set by Matt Griffin's No. 61 AF Corse-Waltrip car. No major incidents occurred during the session.
The second practice session held later in the afternoon took place in overcast weather conditions with some drizzle. Kristensen set the day's fastest lap time in the No. 2 Audi with a 1:45.645 set in the closing ten minutes. Tréluyer's No. 1 Audi was second and Danny Watts's No. 21 Strakka HPD car took third after a late lap. McNish and Pascal Gibon's No. 70 LMGTE Am-class Larbre Corvette collided at Brooklands corner. Three different manufacturers had the first three places in the LMP2 category. Nicolas Minassian set the pace in the class with a lap time of 1:50.759 on his first quick run aboard the No. 38 Jota Zytek car. He was 0.442 seconds quicker than Kraihamer's No. 35 OAK car in second and third was Pierre Kaffer's PeCom Racing Oreca entry. AF Corse continued to lead the LMGTE Pro category with Giancarlo Fisichella's lap time of 2:02.121 being 0.067 seconds faster than Team Felbermayr-Proton's No. 77 Porsche of Richard Lietz. The No. 61 AF Corse-Waltrip Ferrari continued to pace LMGTE Am with a lap of 2:02.918 set by Marco Cioci.
The final practice session took place on the morning with some parts of the track wet following overnight rain and under dark skies that were lifting to reveal sunlight. Numerous cars ran off the circuit as only the racing line became dry after a period of sunshine. McNish lapped fastest with a quickest time of the weekend thus far at 1:43.628 set 46 minutes into the session. Tréluyer set the second fastest lap late in the session with Lapierre third. As the session ended, Lapierre sustained damage to the No. 7 Toyota's right-rear wheelarch following a collision between himself and Olivier Beretta's No. 71 Ferrari. The LMP2 lead changed multiple times during the session, but Brundle was quickest with a lap of 1:49.524, the only sub 1:50 lap in the class. He was more than a second faster than the second-placed No. 35 Morgan car of Bertrand Baguette with Franck Mailleux's No. 23 Signatech Oreca car third. Bruni's No. 51 Ferrari set the weekend's first sub-2:02 time in a GT vehicle with a 2:01.937 lap set late in the session to lead the LMGTE Pro category, ahead of James Walker's No. 66 JMW Ferrari. Aston Martin had the two fastest times in LMGTE Am with Jonny Adam's No. 99 car setting a lap time of 2:02.920 that was two-tenths of a second faster than Stuart Hall's sister No. 98 entry.
Qualifying