Poor visibility caused the warm-up session (8am) to be cancelled when the medical helicopter was unable to land, so the WEC teams were not able to make any last-minute adjustments before the start.
The final round of the 2012 championship started at 11am local time, but there were few spectators in the huge grandstands. There were blue skies above the hanging layer of pollution…
Nicolas Lapierre got away to the best start in the Toyota TS030 Hybrid/Michelin, as the Audis of McNish and Tréluyer tucked in behind. By the end of Lap 1, the two German prototypes were already more than two seconds adrift. In the course of its first stint (23 laps), the Toyota pulled about a second per lap clear of the Audis which pitted at the same time after 27 laps.
Nicolas Lapierre’s slightly longer second stint (25 laps) saw him extend his lead. “It’s the best set-up I’ve ever had,” he said. “We had to fit fresh tyres because of the ‘pick-up’, but everything went very well.” The N°7 Toyota had an advantage of 34 and 41 seconds over the N°2 and N°1 Audis when Alex Wurz re-joined the race. “We can’t compete with them today,” admitted Benoît Tréluyer after handing the N°1 Audi to Fassler. “The balance of our car is good but the Toyota is faster. It’s going to be tough,” confided Allan McNish.
In the LMP1 ‘privateer’ class, Karun Chandhock (N°22 HPD-ARX03a) pulled clear of Neel Jani (N°12 Lola-Toyota) on Lap 1, but the Swiss driver eased into the lead four laps later. The N°22 prototype (JRM) was then also passed by Jonny Kane (N°21 HPD-ARX03a) on the following lap. The Strakka Racing car (N°21) was reported to be in difficulty just before the race’s midpoint, however.
In LMGTE Pro, Richard Lietz (N°77 Porsche) quickly passed the pole-winning Aston Martin, but Stefan Mücke responded to recover the lead at the half-hour mark. The N°51 AF Corse Ferrari is second. Joël Camathias (N°55 Porsche) got away to a first class start in the LMGTE Am class and is currently second behind the N°88 Porsche (Ruberti) which is itself splitting the two AF Corse’s LMGTE Pro Ferraris. Just before the halfway point, however, Pedro Lamy (N°50 Corvette) moved into the class lead.
In LMP2, Olivier Pla (N°24 Morgan) succeeded in passing the pole-winning N°32 Lotus (James Rossiter) before being chased by Stéphane Sarrazin (N°44 HPD). The latter then picked up a slow puncture, however, and was forced to relinquish second spot to the N°25 Oreca03-Nissan (ADR-Delta). Thanks to a strong double stint by Mathias Beche, and helped by a spin by Jacques Nicolet, the class is currently topped by the ADR-Delta car.
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