2012 12 Hours of Sebring
It was the 60th 12 Hours of Sebring and the first round of both the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the 2012 American Le Mans Series (ALMS).
The car lost the race lead on the opening lap to a sister Audi driven by Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen, and Allan McNish.
The CORE Autosport Oreca FLM09 vehicle shared by Burt Frisselle, Alex Popow and E. J. Viso won the PC class by one lap over the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports team of Ken Dobson, Rudy Junco Jr. and Butch Leitzinger.
BMW Team RLL's trio of Joey Hand, Dirk Müller and Jonathan Summerton in a BMW M3 GT2 overcame a final lap collision with an AF Corse entered Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 to win the GT class from Corvette Racing's C6.R entry of Antonio García, Jan Magnussen and Jordan Taylor.
After losing the opportunity to win outright in GT due to a last lap spin, AF Corse's Olivier Beretta, Andrea Bertolini, and Marco Cioci won the LMGTE Pro category.
50 Larbre Compétition Corvette until driver Pedro Lamy suffered a driveshaft failure in the final hour, handing the victory to Team Felbermayr-Proton's Porsche 997 GT3-RSR of Christian Ried, Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti.
[10] Audi Sport Team Joest (the only factory LMP1 manufacturer after Peugeot's withdrawal) fielded three one-year-old R18 TDI cars, while Rebellion Racing entered two 2011 Lola B11/60s.
The GT-category Chevrolet Corvette C6.R received a 0.4 mm (0.016 in) larger air restrictor and more flexibiity in its rear wing placement, as did the Aston Martin Vantage GTE and the BMW M3 GT2.
95 HPD of Ryan Hunter-Reay lapped fastest in 1:53.094 late in the session, 0.322 seconds faster than Level 5 teammate Christophe Bouchut's No.
3 Audi missed the rest of the session due to major front and rear-end repairs, but all other drivers returned to the pit lane.
11 JDX car spun and crashed into the turn ten tire barrier, prompting an early end to the session with two minutes to go.
[51] OAK earned the LMP2 pole position with a time of 1:50.467 set by Pla after duelling the second-placed Sarrazin and Greaves Motorsport's third-placed Elton Julian.
[45]: 23 [51] Francesco Dracone became unwell and was replaced as a driver of the Conquest LMP2 car by Jan Heylen, who was granted a waiver despite not participating in night practice.
[69][71] The second full course caution was issued when Hansson's LMP2 Conquest Morgan entry stopped at the hairpin braking point with no fuel and was towed to the pit lane.
Duncan Ende lost control of the Dempsey PC car and lightly collided with the turn four tire barrier, causing the fourth full course caution.
37 Conquest Morgan entry necessitated the fifth full course caution after it stopped past the bridge at the first corner with a lack of drive and required recovery to the pit lane.
97 Aston Martin triggered the eighth full course caution when his left-rear wheel disconnected from the car entering the hairpin and went down the main straight.
[81][82] Soon after racing resumed, Henri Richard's Dempsey PC car spun in front of Performance Tech's Anthony Nicolosi, who collided with him in the turn 10 braking zone.
[69] Richard struck the concrete barrier just before the backstraightaway with the car's front and underside, necessitating its retirement and the eighth full course caution for debris cleanup by track marshals.
[59][87] The race's 11th and final full course caution (a new Sebring record) came when Nicolosi stopped in the opposite direction in the grass and the stranded Performance Tech entry was recovered to the pit lane.
Both drivers were able to continue, although Thiim ceded NGT's hold on second in GTC to Faulkner's Green Hornet car as he entered the pit lane for repairs.
12 Rebellion Lola was forced to drive on the starter motor after the exit of turn 16 in a safe place on the Ullman straight due to an electronic glitch.
[59][90] Sarrazin's Starworks LMP2 HPD car advanced to third overall after he and Barbosa raced nose-to-tail for the final two hours, exchanging the LMP2 lead several times.
50 Larbre Corvette lost the LMGTE Am lead when its driveshaft failed and the car stopped on track with 16 minutes remaining, advancing Ruberti's No.
[67] Beretta's 71 AF Corse Ferrari and Hand's 56 RLL Berrari traded the class lead in the preceding laps until Bruni's sister No.
71 AF Corse Ferrari fell behind Magnussen by slowing following his final lap spin but won in WEC LMGTE Pro and was third overall in GT.
[92] Dalziel praised his team's work in the preceding weeks and co-driver Enzo Potolicchio added that third was "the first step for us, being 3rd overall in a P2 car was amazing.
[59] Nevertheless, Hand said he enjoyed driving for RLL and was motivated by both team owner Bobby Rahal and his co-drivers, adding, "Did you see how many times we came in second and left in first?
[95] Von Moltke explained that following his accident with Thiim, he had to push hard during the closing two hours in which he built up a gap to enable AJR to win in GTC.
[90] ALMS president and CEO Scott Atherton said that the race exceeded his expectations and that "it had all the makings of a real challenging and potentially fraught-with-danger experience.
