Hybrid Audi R18 e-tron quattro Takes Pole for 2012 Le Mans

Photo Credit: Audi Motorsport

Considered the most prestigious sports car race in the world, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is an event victory equally desired by drivers and auto manufacturers. One of the few venues where greats in auto racing drivers can pilot the newest in automotive technology prepped for motorsports. Bio-fuels, hybrid powerplants, and the radical super-lightweight DeltaWing race car have been brought to the Circuit de la Sarthe for the 2012 edition of the day-long competition. With a unique field of prototype race cars and a slew of diverse GT cars, qualifying for the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans would be an interesting occasion to sample who could be the front-runners for the Saturday afternoon through Sunday race.

Claiming the first-ever pole for a hybrid prototype sports car for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Audi R18 e-tron quattro was the vehicle that prevailed for the glorious front row starting spot for Saturday's day-long endurance event for LMP1. The #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro shared by Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer took the top place by a slim 0.291-second advantage over the teammate #3 machine running the conventional TDI only R18 Ultra package.

The lead Audi R18 e-tron quattro was a second faster than the competing LMP1 brand competitor. Returning to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time since 1999, Toyota debuts the TS 030 Hybrid prototype at the Le Mans race in a continuing pursuit for a first overall victory at the French event. The #8 Toyota featuring the driving combination of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi, Stéphane Sarrazin will start on the second row of the 24-hour race alongside the second Audi e-tron quattro.

Leading LMP2 in the 14th overall position, the #25 Oreca-Nissan starts 0.417 seconds ahead of the #24 Morgan-Judd. Lighter cars than LMP1 with smaller engines, the LMP2 class is often known to be the most difficult category for competitors to finish making the endurance component of 24 hours very pivotal to the victor of this class.

The most wide open GTE category at the 2012 Le mans 24-hour race features strong professional efforts from Ferrari, Chevrolet, Aston Martin and Porsche. The #59 Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia took pole in the GTE class by 0.477 seconds over the #97 Aston Martin Vantage V8. Little more than half a second off the pace of the fastest Ferrari, the Corvette Racing group's #74 ZR1 sports car has sights set on reclaiming the GT class victory at the Le Mans race.

Running the race as an experimental entrant, the DeltaWing powered by Nissan was 29th fastest in qualifying outpacing four LMP2 cars.

Presenting a 56-car field, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is set to start at 3pm local time.


2012 FIA World Endurance Championship
24 Hours of  Le Mans
Le Mans, France
Qualifying Results

	Car #	Class	Drivers	Race Car
1	1	LMP1	Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer	Audi R18 e-tron quattro
2	3	LMP1	Romain Dumas, Loic Duval, Marc Gené	Audi R18 Ultra
3	8	LMP1	Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi, Stéphane Sarrazin	Toyota TS 030 - Hybrid
4	2	LMP1	Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish	Audi R18 e-tron quattro
5	7	LMP1	Alexander Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre, Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS 030 - Hybrid
6	4	LMP1	Marco Bonanomi, Oliver Jarvis, Mike Rockenfeller	Audi R18 Ultra
7	21	LMP1	Nick Leventis, Danny Watts, Jonny Kane	HPD ARX 03a - Honda
8	12	LMP1	Nicolas Prost, Neel Jani, Nick Heidfeld	Lola B12/60 Coupe - Toyota
9	13	LMP1	Andrea Belicchi, Harold Primat, Jeroen Bleekemolen	Lola B12/60 Coupe - Toyota
10	17	LMP1	Sébastien Bourdais, Nicolas Minassian, Seiji Ara	Dome - Judd
11	22	LMP1	David Brabham, Karun Chandhok, Peter Dumbreck	HPD ARX 03a - Honda
12	15	LMP1	Franck Montagny, Bertrand Baguette, Dominik Kraihamer	Oak Pescarolo - Judd
13	16	LMP1	Emmanuel Collard, Jean-Christophe Boullion, Stuart Hall	Pescarolo 03 - Judd
14	25	LMP2	John Martin, Jan Charouz, Tor Graves	Oreca 03 - Nissan
15	24	LMP2	Jacques Nicolet, Matthieu Lahaye, Olivier Pla	Morgan - Judd
16	26	LMP2	Nelson Panciatici, Pierre Ragues, Roman Rusinov	Oreca 03 - Nissan
17	46	LMP2	Mathias Beche, Pierre Thiriet, Christophe Tinseau	Oreca 03 - Nissan
18	49	LMP2	Luis Perez Companc, Soheil Ayari, Pierre Kaffer	Oreca 03 - Nissan
19	48	LMP2	Jody Firth, Warren Hughes, Brendon Hartley	Oreca 03 - Nissan
20	35	LMP2	David Heinemeier Hansson, Bas Leinders, Maxime Martin	Morgan - Nissan
21	30	LMP2	Alexander Sims, Yelmer Buurman, Romain Ianneta	Lola - Judd
22	44	LMP2	Vincente Potolicchio, Ryan Dalziel, Thomas Kimber-Smith	HPD ARX 03b - Honda
23	45	LMP2	Bastien Briere, Jens Petersen, Shinji Nakano	Oreca 03 - Nissan
24	42	LMP2	Lucas Ordoñez, Martin Brundle, Alex Brundle	Zytek Z11SN - Nissan
25	38	LMP2	Simon Dolan, Sam Hancock, Haruki Kurosawa	Zytek Z11SN - Nissan
26	23	LMP2	Franck Mailleux, Olivier Lombard, Jordan Tresson	Oreca 03 - Nissan
27	33	LMP2	Scott Tucker, Christophe Bouchut, Luis Diaz	HPD ARX 03b - Honda
28	41	LMP2	Christian Zugel, Ricardo Gonzalez, Elton Julian	Zytek Z11SN - Nissan
29	0	CDNT	Marino Franchitti, Michael Krumm, Satoshi Motoyama	DeltaWing Nissan
30	40	LMP2	Michel Frey, Jonathan Hirschi, Ralph Meichtry	Oreca 03 - Judd
31	31	LMP2	Thomas Holzer, Mirco Schultis, Luca Moro	Lola B12/80 Coupe - Lotus
32	28	LMP2	Fabien Giroix, Stefan Johansson, Ludovic Badey	Lola B12/80 Coupe - Nissan
33	43	LMP2	Fabien Rosier, Philippe Thirion, Philippe Haezebrouck	Norma MP 2000 - Judd
34	59	LMGTE Pro	Frédéric Makowiecki, Jaime Melo, Dominik Farnbacher	Ferrari 458 Italia
35	97	LMGTE Pro	Adrian Fernandez, Stefan Mücke, Darren Turner	Aston Martin Vantage V8
36	74	LMGTE Pro	Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, Richard Westbrook	Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
37	71	LMGTE Pro	Andrea Bertolini, Olivier Beretta, Marco Cioci	Ferrari 458 Italia
38	73	LMGTE Pro	Jordan Taylor, Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen	Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
39	79	LMGTE Am	Seth Neiman, Patrick Pilet, Spencer Pumpelly	Porsche 911 RSR (997)
40	77	LMGTE Pro	Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz, Wolf Henzler	Porsche 911 RSR (997)
41	75	LMGTE Am	Abdulaziz Alfaisal, Bret Curtis, Sean Edwards	Porsche 911 RSR (997)
42	80	LMGTE Pro	Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Long, Marco Holzer	Porsche 911 RSR (997)
43	99	LMGTE Am	Allan Simonsen, Christoffer Nygaard, Kristian Poulsen	Aston Martin Vantage V8
44	58	LMGTE Am	Pierre Ehret, Franck Montecalvo, Gunnar Jeannette	Ferrari 458 Italia
45	29	LMP2	Jean-Denis Deletraz, Keiko Ihara, Marc Rostan	Lola B12/80 Coupe - Nissan
46	88	LMGTE Am	Christian Ried, Gianluca Roda, Paolo Ruberti	Porsche 911 RSR (997)
47	50	LMGTE Am	Patrick Bornhauser, Julien Canal, Pedro Lamy	Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
48	66	LMGTE Pro	James Walker, Jonny Cocker, Roger Wills	Ferrari 458 Italia
49	51	LMGTE Pro	Giancarlo Fisichella, Gianmaria Bruni, Toni Vilander	Ferrari 458 Italia
50	81	LMGTE Am	Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Nicola Cadei, Matt Griffin	Ferrari 458 Italia
51	67	LMGTE Am	Nicolas Armindo, Raymond Narac, Anthony Pons	Porsche 911 RSR (997)
52	61	LMGTE Am	Robert Kauffman, Rui Aguas, Brian Vickers	Ferrari 458 Italia
53	57	LMGTE Am	Tracy Krohn, Niclas Jonsson, Michele Rugolo	Ferrari 458 Italia
54	83	LMGTE Am	Manuel Rodrigues, Alain Ferte, Philippe Illiano	Ferrari 458 Italia
55	70	LMGTE Am	Jean-Philippe Belloc, Christophe Bourret, Pascal Gibon	Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1
56	55	LMGTE Am	Joël Camathias, Markus Palttala, Paul Daniels	Porsche 911 RSR (997)

60th Running of 2012 Twelve Hours of Sebring Opens and Finishes Big

Photo Credit: DPPI

First held in 1950, the Sebring International Raceway has provided the United States motorsport fans a chance to witness the world’s most awesome sports car operating at the peak of performance. As the American Le Mans Series and the newly formed World Endurance Championship arrived at the Sebring 5.95-kilometer (3.7-mile), the venue was prepared to play host to the 60^th running of their famous 12-hour event. The 2012 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida recorded a stellar 64-car field starting the event from race team representing countries of Germany, France, the United Kingdom as well as the United States.

A hot day where the sun toasted the asphalt/concrete surface of the Sebring International Raceway at 26 degrees Celsius, the race commenced with the three Audi R18 TDI prototype sports cars storming away through the advantage of the lead track position on the start. Deeper in the field, the traffic of 60-plus cars played a part in a collision between two GT cars as the race was just beginning. The #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR and the #51 Ferrari both sustained serious damage to sports cars requiring extended work in the garage area.

Photo Credit: DPPI

The story of the 60^th anniversary of the 2012 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida would circulate around a high frequency of caution periods. With the first full course yellow slowing the sports car field at the 13 minute mark for a stopped #61 Ferrari F458 Italia, the 12-hour race proved to be a close one in several of the five categories racing at the track. It was only in the lead LMP1 class that a race car was able to dominate.

The lead prototype category presented the least amount of suspense but still featured a historical performance of the three-car effort that was Audi Sport Team Joest. While the #1 car (consisting of Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler) took pole on Friday, it the #2 Audi R18 would control much of the Sebring race. In the middle of the fifth hour, the #1 Audi R18 TDI suffered an electronic issue in the gearbox shifter. Originally making an unscheduled stop to repair the issue at the end of hour four of the Sebring event, the Audi Sport Team Joest operation realized their #1 car needed extended repairs costing the 2011 driving combination a chance to win.

Like clockwork, the remaining two Audi R18 TDI sailed to prototype and overall victory. At the end, the #2 car helmed by Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello took the top honours with a four-lap lead over the #3 car. Finishing in the top-2 overall positions at the 2012 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida, the Audi R18 TDI executed a near masterful run for this 10^th win in 14 starts at the Florida sports car track.

Photo Credit: Porsche Cars

Third overall, the class-winning P2 entry from Starworks Motorsports found success with the Honda-powered HPD-ARX 03b race machine. The #44 prototype picked up the third overall in the 12-hour event due to a fuel rig failure with the Muscle Milk Pickett Racing #6 car in the race‘s late stage. Vicente Potolicchio, Ryan Delziel and Stephane Sarrazin made up the driving team for the #44 car’s win. The #44 Starworks Motorsports poached the lead from the #055 Level 5 Motorsports operation competing in an identical HPD-ARX 03b P2 sports car by 32.27 seconds. Finishing third in P2 category was the #24 Oak Racing Morgan-Judd. Leading the P2 class early in the event, the Oak Racing Morgan lost touch with the top spot in class partly due to a spin in turn four that resulted in a full course yellow to retrieve the car.

In what proved to be the most competitive class during the entire 12-hour running of the Sebring event, the production car-based GT category ended as a fight among multiple teams. In the first hour of the race, the Ferrari F458 Italia cars were planted in the top three GT class positions. However, as the Sebring event clock continued to tick, the #17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 GT3 RSR took the lead. The #155 BMW M3 car prepped by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing were also in the hunt early but a stop and start penalty on pit road robbed the team of momentum early.
In hour two, the #17 Porsche encountered a vibration that took the victory-contending race machine out of the GT lead pack. With Porsche’s losing a chance to claim the primary GT class victory out, the German sports car maker still only had the GTE-AM sub category and the GT Challenge consisting of all-Porsche 911 Cup cars to cheer.

Photo Credit: Porsche Cars

By hour five in the Sebring 12-Hour race‘s GT contest, the Chevrolet Corvette C6R ZR1 race cars appeared to gain the upper hand. Having won the GT class seven times before at Sebring International Raceway, he Corvette Racing squad were motivated by the performance of both the #03 and #4 car. As night time dawned on the Sebring race, the Chevrolet Corvette C6R ZR1 continued to pace their class until the #56 BMW M3 poured on some serious speed in the final two hours. Setting a class fast lap just above 2-minutes flat, the second Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing BMW M3 car took the lead from the Corvette team cars into the final hour.

In the last hour, the GT class of the 2012 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida provided a terrific on-track bout where five cars on the lead lap fought. The #56 BMW M3 continued leading while the Corvette Racing squad efforts to keep pace fell short of class victory. One GT with the best chance to spoil the #56 BMW M3 was the #71 AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia. Closing from 4.64 to 1.64 seconds within the last minutes of the event, the #71 Ferrari caught the #56 and bravely fought for the GT category victory on the last lap. Almost capturing the lead, the #71 AF Corse Ferrari handled by Oliver Beretta went off course, dramatically costing the team Sebring victory as well as second place as the #03 Corvette C6R ZR1 crept by for second place. The #56 BMW M3 of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing soared to win the GT class for the second straight year at Sebring.

Photo Credit: BMW Motorsports

While each category of racing in the American Le Mans Series and the FIA World Endurance Championship competitions provided their own level of excitement, the 60th annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring supplied a memorable, lively sports car event. Topping the 12 hours of on-track racing, the Audi fulfilled their near-duty by capturing overall victory  Due to a multitude of full course yellow flags in the 2012 edition of the Sebring sports car competition, an overall distance of 1,201.6 miles recorded this year was the shortest since the 2000 race.



2012 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida 
American Le Mans Series/ FIA World Endurance Championship
Race Results

LMP1/P1

1 #2 McNish, Kristensen, Capello, Audi R18
2 #3 Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas,Loic Duval, Audi R18
3 #16 Collard, Boullion, Jousse; Pescarolo Judd
4 #6 Dyson, Smith, Kane Lola B12/60 Mazda
5 #21 Kane, Leventis, Watts; HPD ARX-03a Honda

LMP2/P2

1 #44 Sarrazin, Potolicchio, Dalziel; HPD ARX-03b Honda
2 #055 Tucker; Bouchut, Barbosa, HPD ARX-03b
3 #24 Pla, Nicolet, Lahaye; Morgan/Judd
4 #49 Kaffer, Ayari, Companc; Oreca/Nissan
5 #41 Julian, Zugel, Gonzalez; Zytek Z11SN-Nissan

PC

1 #06 Papow, Viso, Frisselle; Oreca FLM09
2 #52 Leitzinger, Dobson, Junco Jr; Oreca FLM09
3 #05 Bennett, Braun, Lux; Oreca FLM09
4 #7 Sanchez, Ducote, Echeverria; Oreca FLM09
5 #5 Guasch, Gidley, Wills; Oreca FLM09

GT/GTE-PRO

1 #56 Mueller, Summerton; Hand; BMW E92 M3
2 #03 Magnussen, Garcia, Taylor; Corvette C6-ZR1
3 #71 Beretta, Cioci, Bertolini; Ferrari F458 Italia
4 #4 Gavin, Milner, Westbrook; Corvette C6-ZR1
5 #055 Auberlen, Alzen, Muller; BMW E92 M3

GTE-AM

1 #88 Ruberti, Ried, Roda; Porsche 911 RSR 997
2 #70 Belloc, Bourret, Gibon; Corvette C6-ZR1
3 #50 Lamy, Bornhauser, Canal; Corvette C6-ZR1
4 #57 Jonsson, Rugulo, Krohn; Ferrari F458 Italia
5 #55 Camathias, Binnie, Palttala; Porsche 911 RSR 997

GTC

1 #023 Moltke, Sweedler, Bell; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
2 #022 Keen, Dumoulin, MacNeil; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
3 #34 Faulkner, Bleekemolen, Lesaffre; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
4 #66 Di Guida, Bunting, Pumpelly; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
5 #11 Estre, Cumming, Bullitt; Porsche 911 GT3 Cup

Toyota Returning to Le Mans with Oreca Partnership

Photo Credit: Toyota Europe

Surging to the top of production car sales during the late 1990s, Japanese automaker Toyota attempted to secure the crown jewel in sports car endurance racing. In the 1997 running of the 24 hours of Le Mans race, Toyota’s GT-One prototype car appeared primed to celebrate motorsport’s greatest staple in durability. However, within 30 minutes of the race's completion, a mechanical problem suffered on the lead car cost the Japanese brand the right to claim a precious manufacturer victory. Attempting two more times to take the Le Mans 24-Hour event, Toyota gave up on their ambition for sports car racing supremacy at the famous French race for 12 years. In 2012, the prototype class will once again have a Toyota branded vehicle competing for top honours.

Displayed as a closed cockpit prototype, the rendering released on the new LMP1 sports car will be built at Toyota's technical and motorsport center in Cologne, Germany. Campaigning in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as select sports car events, the Toyota LMP1 car will be powered by a gasoline engine combined with hybrid technology. Toyota Motor Corporation experience in hybrid gas/electric powertrain technology in road cars will play a part in developing the brand new race car.

Unlike the last time where Toyota Motor Corporation set up a European racing operation (which later became the base for a Toyota Formula 1 program), the Japanese auto company has entered a partnership deal with Groupe Oreca for field cars through the 2012 World Endurance Championship of sports car racing rounds. President of Oreca Hugues de Chaunac boasted “It's a very big day for Oreca.” following the announced collaboration with Toyota. Making a household name of itself when it campaigned the Dodge Viper (known as the Chrysler Viper in European) through GT competition in the late 1990s, Oreca has been consistently involved with the prototype sports car categories. Oreca's most recent landmark triumph on the race track was an overall class victory at the 2011 12 Hours of Sebring where the group competed with a customer Peugeot 908 race car. In the American Le Mans Series' LMPC category, all race chassis structures are sourced from France's Groupe Oreca. Well-seasoned French sports car team Oreca is set to provide the operational support. (similar to the work Team Joest performs for Audi Sport’s Audi R18).

Testing for the new Toyota prototype sports car should be conducted over the winter. Along with more extensive details on the race vehicle, the driver line-up for the 2012 Oreca/Toyota team should be finalized at a later date.