24 hours of Le Mans 2012

The dates of the tests and races were chosen taking into account the Formula 1 calendar to avoid intersections ^[10] .

Out of the submitted applications, the Western Automobile Club selected 55 participants in four categories: LMP1 (Le Mans Prototype 1), and LMP2 (Le Mans Prototype 2), LMGTE Pro (Le Mans GT Endurance — Professional), and LMGTE Am (Le Mans GT Endurance— Amateur), as well as 1 participant in the framework of the Garage 56 project.

Automated tickets

Winners of the previous year in their classes, as well as winners and some of the teams that took second place in the American Le Mans Series , Le Mans Series , , Michelin Green X Challenge and received automatic invitations. ^[12] .

A team that accepts an automatic invitation may speak in a different technique, but not in a different class. An exception is made for teams invited to both classes of LMGTE, which may switch between the two classes depending on the composition of the riders.

Garage 56

The 56th application was reserved by the Western Automobile Club for teams using innovative technologies, in particular in terms of productivity and environmental protection. The invitation was received by the American group Project 56, who developed DeltaWing , which was originally intended for the IndyCar Series and was very light in weight and original in appearance. The project was supported by Highcroft Racing , All American Racers and Panoz Group ^[13] . Two other applications - GreenGT LMP-H2 with a hydrogen fuel cell and electromechanical transmission ^[14] and Courage 0.12 electric car ^[15] - were accepted as spare.

List of Participants

On February 2, 2012, the Western Automobile Club announced a list of 56 participants in the race and 9 spare ^{[16] [17]} . On April 16, Dyson Racing withdrew its applications and its place was taken by Status Grand Prix and Murphy Prototypes. Jetalliance, Hope Racing, Lotus Cars and Aston Martin Racing also withdrew their applications and were removed from the list of spare.

9 spare were divided into two groups according to classes: LMP and GT. In case of refusal to participate, the retired car was replaced with a spare one from the same group. By the beginning of the tests, there were three participants in the spare list: the second crew of Lotus (LMP), IMSA Matmut Porsche and Proton Competition Porsche (GT).

The qualification consisted of three sessions lasting 2 hours each. During the first session on Wednesday night, the Audi trio led by No. 1 took the lead with a score of 3: 25.453. Toyota is 1.7 seconds behind the leaders. Thiriet by TDS Racing topped the LMP2 category, two tenths of a second ahead of Murphy Prototypes. Corvette Racing No. 74 in the LMGTE Pro class with a score of 3: 55.910 was ahead of Ferrari Luxury Racing and No. 73. The leader in the LMGTE Am class was Flying Lizard Motorsports, and the Prospeed Competition Porsche was half a second behind it.

The second qualifying session was held on Thursday at the beginning of the evening. Most of the teams improved their results, and the intermediate pole with a result of 3: 24.078 was won by the Audi crew No. 3. In the LMP2 class, OAK Racing No. 24 was ahead of Signatech. Luxury Racing and Aston Martin have improved the Corvette result in the LMGTE Pro class. Flying Lizard Motorsports did not improve the result, but did not lose leadership in the LMGTE Am class.

The third qualification session began an hour after the completion of the second and lasted until midnight. Andre Lotterer at Audi No. 1 already at the beginning of the session set the best time 3: 23.787, which allowed him to take the pole position for the first time in a car with a hybrid power plant according to the results of all three sessions. In second place is Audi No. 3 with a lag of almost three tenths of a second, in third place is Toyota No. 8 with a lag of more than a second. In the LMP2 class, ADR-Delta improved the OAK Racing result shown in the second session by almost half a second. Luxury Racing and Flying Lizard Motorsports have maintained their leading positions in the classes LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am, respectively. DeltaWing ranked 29th in qualifications.

Qualification Results

The pole position is highlighted in bold, the best time for each crew is highlighted in gray.

Check-in started at 15:00 CET . By the end of the first hour, Audi No. 1 retained the lead while Audi No. 2 came second, ahead of Toyota No. 8, and Audi No. 3 dropped out of the top ten after a long visit to the boxes. In the LMP2 and LMGTE Pro classes, OAK Racing and AF Corse took the lead, respectively; in LMGTE Am, Flying Lizard Motorsports No. 79 was still the leader. DeltaWing still took 29th position ^[22] .

At the beginning of the 6th hour, Toyota No. 7 under the control of Nicolas Lapierre ahead of the Audi No. 1 under the control of Benoit Trelouille on the highway, and Romain Dumas made a mistake when overtaking a roundabout in the 1st chicane on the Mülsan straight line and crashed into the fence, but was able to get to the boxes. Soon, however, Toyota No. 8, when overtaking in a corner, Mülsan collided with a circular one from the LMGTE Am class, soared into the air, made a full revolution, hit the asphalt and crashed into a tire barrier. The circular Ferrari also crashed into a tire barrier and rolled over. Anthony Davidson, who was driving Toyota, needed medical attention ^{[23] [24]} . To ensure his evacuation to the medical center and repair of the fence, safety cars drove onto the track, at which time Audi was able to regain leadership ^{[25] [23]} . Already at the hospital, Davidson was diagnosed with a compression fracture of two vertebrae ^{[26] [K 3]} .

Shortly after the restart of the race, Kazuki Nakajima, who replaced Lapierre at the wheel of Toyota No. 7, had a collision with DeltaWing, which became fatal for both cars: DeltaWing retired right after it hit the concrete fence of the track, and Toyota after several long visits boxes. Therefore, eight hours after the launch, Audi firmly took the first three places in the general classification ^{[28] [29]} .

At the beginning of the 18th hour, after contact with Corvette No. 74, Marcel Fessler hit the barrier, which cost him an unscheduled visit to the boxes and loss of leadership ^[30] .

At the 22nd hour of the race, Marc Genet first crashed into a fence in the 1st chicane, and soon Alan McNish, the leader in the race, collided with a circular Ferrari, and then with a fence. The damage was not as serious as during the previous race , but nevertheless, McNish had to call in the boxes for unscheduled repairs, and the track was strewn with debris, which led to the departure of the security cars on the track ^[31] .

After the accident, leadership passed to the crew of Audi No. 1, who finished first, despite problems in the operation of the energy recovery system that arose towards the end of the race ^[32] . The victory went to Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fessler and Benoit Trelouillet, who won the second time in a row. In addition to them, podium places were taken by Audi No. 2 (Rinaldo Capello, Tom Christisen, Alan McNish) and Audi No. 4 (Oliver Jarvis, Marco Bonanomi, Mike Rockenfeller). The best private crew in the LMP1 class was Rebellion No. 12 (Nicolas Prost, Neil Yani, Nick Heidfeld). In the LMP2 class, the podium was taken by Starworks Motorsports No. 44 (Enzo Potolicchio, Ryan Deel, Tom Kim-Smith), Thiriet By TDS Racing No. 46 (Pierre Tierier, Matias Besch, Christoph Tinso) and Pecom Racing No. 49 (Luis Perez Kompanc, Soei Ayari , Pierre Kaffer); in the LMGTE Pro class - AF Corse No. 51 (Giancarlo Fisichella, Janmaria Bruni, Tony Wilander), Luxury Racing No. 59 (Frederic Makovecki, Jaimi Melo, Donminik Farnbacher) and Aston Martin Racing No. 97 (Adrian Fernandez, Stefan Myukke, Darren Turner) ; in the class LMGTE Am - Larbre Competition No. 50 (Patrick Bornhauser, Julien Canal, Pedro Lamy), IMSA Performance Matmut No. 67 (Nicolas Armindo, Raymond Narrac, Anthony Pon) and Krohn Racing No. 57 (Tracy Kron, Niklas Johnson, Michele Rugolo) .

Race Results

Class winners are marked in bold , participants in the World Endurance Racing Championship are highlighted in yellow. Cars that do not cover 70% of the winner's distance (264 laps) are not classified ^[33] .