The 2012 6 Hours of Bahrain was an auto race held at Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain on Saturday 29 September 2012. It was the inaugural running of the 6 Hours of Bahrain and the sixth round of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship season.
The race was dominated by Audi Sport Team Joest who swept to a 1–2 victory with Benoît Tréluyer, Marcel Fässler and André Lotterer taking a one lap win over the Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen. Nicolas Lapierre for Toyota lead early in the race only to pit with faulty number plate illumination, losing over ten minutes in the pits before ultimately retired after a collision. The Strakka Racing HPD claimed third, six laps behind the winners.
The LMP2 category was won by the Pecom Racing Oreca 03 driven by Pierre Kaffer, Nicolas Minassian and Luís Pérez Companc, who held a two lap gap over the bulk of the class Signatech's of Jordan Tresson, Olivier Lombard and Franck Mailleux finished in second place. The AF Corse Ferrari pair of Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella won LMGTE Pro by a lap over Aston Martin Racing, which allowed AF Corse to wrap up the class championship. AF Corse's Olivier Beretta, driving another Ferrari, was excluded from the event after making avoidable contact with Greaves Motorsports' Ricardo González. Porsche won LMGTE Am class with the Team Felbermayr-Proton 997 of Christian Ried, Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti leading by a lap over the Waltrip Ferrari.
Qualifying
Qualifying result Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold.
Pos Class Team Driver Lap Time Grid 1 LMP1 #2 Audi Sport Team Joest Allan McNish 1:45.814 1 2 LMP1 #1 Audi Sport Team Joest Marcel Fässler 1:45.888 2 3 LMP1 #7 Toyota Racing Nicolas Lapierre 1:46.254 3 4 LMP1 #12 Rebellion Racing Neel Jani 1:47.638 4 5 LMP1 #21 Strakka Racing Danny Watts 1:48.446 5 6 LMP1 #22 JRM Karun Chandhok 1:48.784 6 7 LMP2 #44 Starworks Motorsport Stéphane Sarrazin 1:51.798 7 8 LMP2 #25 ADR-Delta John Martin 1:52.285 8 9 LMP2 #24 OAK Racing Olivier Pla 1:52.368 9 10 LMP2 #35 OAK Racing Dominik Kraihamer 1:52.609 10 11 LMP2 #49 Pecom Racing Nicolas Minassian 1:52.624 11 12 LMP2 #32 Lotus James Rossiter 1:52.696 12 13 LMP2 #26 Signatech-Nissan Roman Rusinov 1:53.328 13 14 LMP2 #31 Lotus Thomas Holzer 1:53.733 14 15 LMP2 #23 Signatech-Nissan Jordan Tresson 1:53.793 15 16 LMP2 #29 Gulf Racing Middle East Fabien Giroix 1:55.465 16 17 LMP2 #41 Greaves Motorsport Christian Zugel 1:58.603 17 18 LMGTE Pro #97 Aston Martin Racing Stefan Mücke 2:00.234 18 19 LMGTE Pro #77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Richard Lietz 2:00.532 19 20 LMGTE Pro #51 AF Corse Giancarlo Fisichella 2:01.522 20 21 LMGTE Pro #71 AF Corse Olivier Beretta 2:01.861 21 22 LMGTE Am #61 AF Corse-Waltrip Rui Águas 2:02.812 22 23 LMGTE Am #50 Larbre Compétition Fernando Rees 2:03.253 23 24 LMGTE Am #88 Team Felbermayr-Proton Paolo Ruberti 2:03.686 24 25 LMGTE Am #70 Larbre Compétition Christophe Bourret 2:04.934 25 26 LMGTE Am #55 JWA-Avila Joël Camathias 2:05.572 26 27 LMGTE Am #57 Krohn Racing Tracy Krohn 2:06.806 27 — LMP1 #13 Rebellion Racing No Time 28
Race
Race result Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC). Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tyre LapsTime/Retired Engine 1 LMP1 1 Audi Sport Team Joest Benoît Tréluyer Marcel Fässler André Lotterer Audi R18 e-tron quattro 1916:00:56.244 Audi TDI 3.7 L Turbo V6(Hybrid Diesel) 2 LMP1 2 Audi Sport Team Joest Allan McNish Tom Kristensen Audi R18 e-tron quattro 190 +1 Lap Audi TDI 3.7 L Turbo V6(Hybrid Diesel) 3 LMP1 21 Strakka Racing Jonny Kane Danny Watts Nick Leventis HPD ARX-03a 185 +6 Laps Honda LM-V8 3.4 L V8 4 LMP1 12 Rebellion Racing Nicolas Prost Neel Jani Lola B12/60 184 +7 Laps Toyota RV8KLM 3.4 L V8 5 LMP1 13 Rebellion Racing Harold Primat Andrea Belicchi Lola B12/60 181 +10 Laps Toyota RV8KLM 3.4 L V8 6 LMP2 49 Pecom Racing Pierre Kaffer Nicolas Minassian Luís Pérez Companc Oreca 03 179 +12 Laps Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 7 LMP2 23 Signatech-Nissan Jordan Tresson Olivier Lombard Franck Mailleux Oreca 03 177 +14 Laps Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 8 LMP2 44 Starworks Motorsport Stéphane Sarrazin Tom Kimber-Smith Enzo Potolicchio HPD ARX-03b 177 +14 Laps Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6 9 LMP2 32 Lotus Kevin Weeda James Rossiter Vitantonio Liuzzi Lola B12/80 177 +14 Laps Lotus 3.6 L V8 10 LMP2 26 Signatech-Nissan Pierre Ragues Roman Rusinov Nelson Panciatici Oreca 03 176 +15 Laps Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 11 LMP2 24 OAK Racing Olivier Pla Matthieu Lahaye Jacques Nicolet Morgan LMP2 172 +19 Laps Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 12 LMP2 41 Greaves Motorsport Elton Julian Ricardo González Christian Zugel Zytek Z11SN 170 +21 Laps Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 13 LMGTEPro 51 AF Corse Toni Vilander Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 170 +21 Laps Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 14 LMGTEPro 97 Aston Martin Racing Darren Turner Stefan Mücke Aston Martin Vantage GTE 169 +22 Laps Aston Martin AM05 4.5 L V8 15 LMGTEPro 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Richard Lietz Marc Lieb Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 169 +22 Laps Porsche M97/74 4.0 L Flat-6 16 LMGTEPro 71 AF Corse Olivier Beretta Andrea Bertolini Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 169 +22 Laps Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 17 LMGTEAm 88 Team Felbermayr-Proton Christian Ried Gianluca Roda Paolo Ruberti Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 165 +26 Laps Porsche M97/74 4.0 L Flat-6 18 LMGTEAm 61 AF Corse-Waltrip Robert Kauffman Brian Vickers Rui Águas Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 164 +27 Laps Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 19 LMGTEAm 57 Krohn Racing Tracy Krohn Niclas Jönsson Michele Rugolo Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 162 +29 Laps Ferrari F136 4.5 L V8 20 LMP2 25 ADR-Delta Tor Graves John Martin Oreca 03 161 +30 Laps Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 21 LMGTEAm 50 Larbre Compétition Patrick Bornhauser Julien Canal Fernando Rees Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 157 +34 Laps Chevrolet LS5.5R 5.5 L V8 22 LMGTEAm 70 Larbre Compétition Jean-Philippe Belloc Christophe Bourret Pascal Gibon Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 153 +38 Laps Chevrolet LS5.5R 5.5 L V8 23 LMGTEAm 55 JWA-Avila Joël Camathias Benny Simonsen Paul Daniels Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 150 +41 Laps Porsche M97/74 4.0 L Flat-6 DNF LMP1 7 Toyota Racing Alexander Wurz Nicolas Lapierre Toyota TS030 Hybrid 144Did Not Finish Toyota RV8KLM 3.4 L V8(Hybrid) DNF LMP2 31 Lotus Luca Moro Thomas Holzer Lola B12/80 103Did Not Finish Lotus 3.6 L V8 DNF LMP2 29 Gulf Racing Middle East Jean-Denis Délétraz Keiko Ihara Fabien Giroix Lola B12/80 97Did Not Finish Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 DNF LMP1 22 JRM Peter Dumbreck Karun Chandhok David Brabham HPD ARX-03a 61Did Not Finish Honda LM-V8 3.4 L V8 DNF LMP2 35 OAK Racing Alex Brundle Dominik Kraihamer Bertrand Baguette Morgan LMP2 14Did Not Finish Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8+ Tyre manufacturers Key Symbol Tyre manufacturer Dunlop MichelinPirelli Olivier Beretta was excluded from the race by the stewards for making avoidable contact. The No. 71 Ferrari's result was not affected.
References