2012 FIA World Endurance Championship


The 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship was the inaugural running of the World Endurance Championship. It was co-organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest. The series replaced the former Intercontinental Le Mans Cup held by the ACO from 2010 to 2011. The series was open to Le Mans Prototypes and grand tourer-based racing cars meeting four ACO categories. Several championships, cups, and trophies were awarded in the series' four categories following an eight race season, with a World Championship available to the top scoring drivers and LMP1 category manufacturer.
Following a partial-season match-up against newcomers Toyota, Audi won the Manufacturers' World Championship, while the company's driver line-up of André Lotterer of Germany, Benoît Tréluyer of France, and Marcel Fässler of Switzerland earned the Drivers' World Championship ahead of their teammates Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen. Toyota's Alexander Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre were third in the Drivers' Championship standings. Ferrari defending their two Intercontinental Le Mans Cup LMGTE manufacturers title with the Manufacturers' World Cup, outscoring Porsche and Corvette. In the four FIA Trophies for the four categories in the championship, Rebellion Racing won the LMP1 Privateers title, while Starworks Motorsport secured the LMP2 championship; AF Corse won the LMGTE Pro category for the second season in a row, as did Larbre Compétition in LMGTE Am.

Calendar

An initial calendar was announced on 12 November 2011, featuring eight races in eight countries on four continents. Sebring, Spa-Francorchamps, Le Mans, and Silverstone are retained from the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, while the Chinese round remained undecided between 2011's Zhuhai International Circuit or the Shanghai International Circuit. Three new races at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Bahrain International Circuit, and Fuji Speedway expand the series to a new continent, replacing the former ILMC round for the Petit Le Mans. A revised calendar released on 7 December swapped the dates of the events in Bahrain and Fuji, while ACO confirmed on 2 February that the final round would be hosted in Shanghai, with the date moved to 27 October. All races were timed events. The 12 Hours of Sebring was a joint event with competitors from the American Le Mans Series sharing half of the race grid, but not scoring points in the World Championship.
RndRaceCircuitLocationDate
112 Hours of Sebring Sebring International RacewaySebring, Florida, United States17 March
26 Heures de Spa-Francorchamps Circuit de Spa-FrancorchampsSpa, Belgium5 May
324 Heures du Mans Circuit de la SartheLe Mans, France16–17 June
46 Hours of Silverstone Silverstone CircuitSilverstone, United Kingdom26 August
56 Hours of São Paulo Autódromo José Carlos PaceSão Paulo, Brazil15 September
66 Hours of Bahrain Bahrain International CircuitSakhir, Bahrain29 September
76 Hours of Fuji Fuji SpeedwayOyama, Japan14 October
86 Hours of Shanghai Shanghai International CircuitShanghai, China28 October

Entries

The World Endurance Championship received entries in four classes, including Le Mans Prototype 1, Le Mans Prototype 2, Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance — Professional and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance — Amateur. The entry list for the 2012 season was released by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest on 2 February, and included nine LMP1 and LMP2 cars, five LMGTE Pro entries, and seven LMGTE Am cars, bringing the full grid up to thirty entrants. Additional entries from full-season teams were also allowed over the course of the season, with a maximum of three cars per entrant.

LMP1

LMP2

LMGTE Pro

LMGTE Am

Results and standings

Race results

The highest finishing competitor entered in the World Endurance Championship is listed below. Invitational entries may have finished ahead of WEC competitors in individual races.
Rnd.CircuitLMP1 WinnersLMP2 WinnersLMGTE Pro WinnersLMGTE Am WinnersReport
1Sebring No. 2 Audi Sport Team Joest No. 44 Starworks Motorsport No. 71 AF Corse No. 88 Team Felbermayr-ProtonReport
1Sebring Allan McNish
Tom Kristensen
Rinaldo Capello
Ryan Dalziel
Enzo Potolicchio
Stéphane Sarrazin
Andrea Bertolini
Marco Cioci
Olivier Beretta
Christian Ried
Paolo Ruberti
Gianluca Roda
Report
2Spa-Francorchamps No. 3 Audi Sport Team Joest No. 25 ADR-Delta No. 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton No. 88 Team Felbermayr-ProtonReport
2Spa-Francorchamps Romain Dumas
Loïc Duval
Marc Gené
John Martin
Robbie Kerr
Tor Graves
Marc Lieb
Richard Lietz
Christian Ried
Gianluca Roda
Paolo Ruberti
Report
3Le Mans No. 1 Audi Sport Team Joest No. 44 Starworks Motorsport No. 51 AF Corse No. 50 Larbre CompétitionReport
3Le Mans Marcel Fässler
Benoît Tréluyer
André Lotterer
Ryan Dalziel
Enzo Potolicchio
Tom Kimber-Smith
Gianmaria Bruni
Giancarlo Fisichella
Toni Vilander
Patrick Bornhauser
Julien Canal
Pedro Lamy
Report
4Silverstone No. 1 Audi Sport Team Joest No. 25 ADR-Delta No. 51 AF Corse No. 61 AF Corse-WaltripReport
4Silverstone Marcel Fässler
Benoît Tréluyer
André Lotterer
Jan Charouz
Tor Graves
John Martin
Giancarlo Fisichella
Gianmaria Bruni
Piergiuseppe Perazzini
Marco Cioci
Matt Griffin
Report
5São Paulo No. 7 Toyota Racing No. 44 Starworks Motorsport No. 51 AF Corse No. 88 Team Felbermayr-ProtonReport
5São Paulo Alexander Wurz
Nicolas Lapierre
Ryan Dalziel
Enzo Potolicchio
Stéphane Sarrazin
Giancarlo Fisichella
Gianmaria Bruni
Christian Ried
Gianluca Roda
Paolo Ruberti
Report
6Bahrain No. 1 Audi Sport Team Joest No. 49 Pecom Racing No. 51 AF Corse No. 88 Team Felbermayr-ProtonReport
6Bahrain Marcel Fässler
Benoît Tréluyer
André Lotterer
Luís Pérez Companc
Nicolas Minassian
Pierre Kaffer
Giancarlo Fisichella
Toni Vilander
Christian Ried
Gianluca Roda
Paolo Ruberti
Report
7Fuji No. 7 Toyota Racing No. 25 ADR-Delta No. 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton No. 50 Larbre CompétitionReport
7Fuji Alexander Wurz
Nicolas Lapierre
Kazuki Nakajima
Tor Graves
John Martin
Shinji Nakano
Marc Lieb
Richard Lietz
Patrick Bornhauser
Julien Canal
Pedro Lamy
Report
8Shanghai No. 7 Toyota Racing No. 25 ADR-Delta No.97 Aston Martin Racing No. 50 Larbre CompétitionReport
8Shanghai Alexander Wurz
Nicolas Lapierre
Tor Graves
John Martin
Mathias Beche
Stefan Mücke
Darren Turner
Patrick Bornhauser
Julien Canal
Pedro Lamy
Report

Championships

Entries were required to complete the timed race as well as to complete 70% of the overall winning car's race distance in order to earn championship points. A single bonus point was awarded to the team and all drivers of the pole position car in qualifying in each category. For the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the points allocation was doubled.

Drivers' World Championship

, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler won the Drivers' World Championship at the 6 Hours of Shanghai. They had won three races including the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving the No.1 car of Audi Sport Team Joest.

;Notes
  • † — Drivers were classified, but did not score as they drove for less than the required minimum time during the race.

    Manufacturers' World Championship

The FIA LMP1 Manufacturers' World Endurance Championship was open to full-season manufacturer entries participating in the LMP1 category. Points were only awarded to the highest scoring entry for that manufacturer for each event. Further, only the scores from six events counted towards the championship, Le Mans plus the five best race results over the season. Audi secured the Manufacturers' World Championship at the 6 Hours of Silverstone following four consecutive victories in the first half of the championship.
ManufacturerSEB
SPA
LMS
SIL
SÃO
BHR
FUJ
SHA
1 Audi11112122173
2 ToyotaRet21Ret1196

Manufacturers' World Cup

The LMGTE Manufacturers' World Cup was open to full-season manufacturer entries participating in either of the two LMGTE categories. Results in the LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am categories were combined for the World Cup. Only the two best classified cars of the same manufacturer in an event scored points for the World Cup. Ferrari secured the Manufacturers' World Cup title at the 6 Hours of Bahrain following four consecutive victories.
ManufacturerSEB
SPA
LMS
SIL
SÃO
BHR
FUJ
SHA
Total
points
1 Ferrari12111122338
1 Ferrari63223335338
2 Porsche21832211233
2 Porsche35Ret54464233
3 Chevrolet Corvette46365743143
3 Chevrolet Corvette5Ret6EXEX877143

LMP1 Trophy

The FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP1 Teams was open to full-season privateer LMP1 entries not designated as manufacturers. Only the best classified car of a team at each event scored points for the Trophy. Rebellion Racing secured the LMP1 Trophy at the 6 Hours of Fuji, winning five of the first seven races in the season including five races with both team cars on the privateer podium.
TeamSEB
SPA
LMS
SIL
SÃO
BHR
FUJ
SHA
Total
points
1 Rebellion Racing41111211205
2 Strakka Racing23422133148
3 JRM34244Ret22123
4 OAK Racing6RetRet5430
5 Pescarolo Team1Ret25

LMP2 Trophy

earned the LMP2 Trophy at the 6 Hours of Fuji, winning three races and earning four class pole positions.
TeamSEB
SPA
LMS
SIL
SÃO
BHR
FUJ
SHA
Total
points
1 Starworks Motorsport18121322177
2 ADR-Delta51415611154
3 PeCom Racing36232144141
4 OAK Racing24Ret43433100
5 Greaves Motorsport4337456799
6 Signatech-NissanRet75RetRet27560
7 Gulf Racing Middle East72Ret57Ret5Ret44
8 Lotus6RetRet66RetRet632

LMGTE Pro Trophy

The LMGTE Pro Trophy was won by AF Corse, who secured the championship at the 6 Hours of Bahrain. The team had finished every race of the season in either first or second place with either of their two Ferraris.
TeamSEB
SPA
LMS
SIL
SÃO
BHR
FUJ
SHA
Total
points
1 AF Corse12111123201
2 Aston Martin Racing3Ret322231142
3 Team Felbermayr-Proton21Ret33312133
4 Luxury RacingRet3253

LMGTE Am Trophy

won the LMGTE Am Trophy at the 6 Hours of Shanghai, winning three races with either of their two Chevrolet Corvettes.
TeamSEB
SPA
LMS
SIL
SÃO
BHR
FUJ
SHA
Total
points
1 Larbre Compétition22142411179
2 Team Felbermayr-Proton11Ret21132153
3 Krohn Racing5523Ret323119
4 AF Corse-Waltrip4DNS41324108
5 JWA-Avila6455465688
6 Luxury RacingDNS3Ret18

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