2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour
The 2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour was an endurance race for
There were 25 starters in the race, the smallest field since the inaugural Bathurst 12 Hour event in 1991. Four of the six classes, B, C, E and I, each had only three starters.
The race was won by
Class structure
Cars competed in the following six classes.[1]
- Class A – GT3 Outright[1]
- Class B – GT3[1]
- Class C – GT4[1]
- Class D – Production (High Performance)[1]
- Class E – Production (Performance)[1]
- Class I – Invitational[1]
Classes D & E were open to Group 3E Series Production Cars and Class I was for cars complying with the regulations for the 2012 Dubai 24 Hour race.[1]
Qualifying
Two qualifying sessions were run on Saturday 25 February with New Zealand driver
The Clearwater Racing Ferrari was forced to carry addition weight during the race as, in a form of parity equalisation, any car undercutting a 2:08 lap time in any pre-race session was levied with a 50 kg penalty.[4]
Two cars were withdrawn before the race. The Consolidated Chemicals
Race
The Phoenix Racing Audi won by 1 minute and 13 seconds over the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG jointly run by international team Black Falcon and Australian team Erebus Racing. The Mercedes was driven by Dutch driver Jeroen Bleekemolen, American Bret Curtis and Australians Peter Hackett and Tim Slade. The two leading cars finished two laps ahead of the third placed car, the Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 GT3 driven by New Zealand driver Craig Baird, Irish driver Matt Griffin and Indonesian driver Weng Sun Mok.
The race was affected by inclement weather, with rain falling for over eight of the races twelve hours, exacting a high price amongst the fastest cars in the race. Of the Class A starters, only the three podium placed cars finished, with crashes eliminating the other two Audis, a second Mercedes and a Lamborghini. The only other car in the class was the Maranello Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3 which retired early with mechanical problems, but not before the car's lead driver, Dane Allan Simonsen, established a new outright lap record for the Mount Panorama circuit, the first time the record had been held by a GT car.
In fourth place outright, 14 laps behind the Clearwater Ferrari, was the first of the Class B cars, the
Class C was won by the Donut King Racing Nissan R35 GT-R driven by Tony Alford, Peter Leemhuis and Adam Beechey. The Nissan finished ten laps ahead of the Lotus Exige of Rob Thomson, Sarah Harley and Austrian driver Christian Klien.
Class D was won by the
Class E saw the
Class I saw only two classified finishers with the Dutch
Official results
Pos[6] | Class[6] | No[6] | Team / Entrant[6] | Drivers | Car[6] | Laps[6] | Time/Retired |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Engine | |||||||
1 | A | 1 | Phoenix Racing
|
Christer Jöns Christopher Mies Darryl O'Young |
Audi R8 LMS GT3
|
270 | 12:03:31.3753 |
5.2 L FSI 2×DOHC Audi V10 | |||||||
2 | A | 20 | Erebus Racing
|
Jeroen Bleekemolen Bret Curtis Peter Hackett Tim Slade |
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG | 270 | +13.2838 |
6.2 L Mercedes-Benz M159 V8 | |||||||
3 | A | 33 | Clearwater Racing | Craig Baird Matt Griffin Weng Sun Mok |
Ferrari 458 GT3 | 268 | +2 laps |
4.5 L Ferrari F142 V8
| |||||||
4 | B | 3 | Hunter Sports Group | Steven Johnson Steven Richards Nathan Tinkler |
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup
|
254 | +16 laps |
3.8 L Porsche H6 | |||||||
5 | B | 65 | Motorsport Services Limited | Simon McLennan Brett Niall Scott O'Donnell |
Porsche 997 GT3 Cup
|
244 | +26 laps |
3.8 L Porsche H6 | |||||||
6 | C | 54 | Donut King Racing | Tony Alford Adam Beechey Peter Leemhuis |
Nissan R35 GT-R
|
237 | +33 laps |
3.8 L Twin-turbo VR38DETT V6 | |||||||
7 | E | 50 | Racer Industries | Elliott Barbour Chris Pither Scott Pye |
HSV VXR Turbo | 231 | +39 laps |
2.2 L I4
| |||||||
8 | B | 66 | Motorsport Services Limited | Allan Dippie Mark Maddren Bruce Tomlinson |
Porsche 996 GT3 Cup
|
228 | +42 laps |
3.8 L Porsche H6 | |||||||
9 | C | 62 | Rob Thomson Racing | Sarah Harley Christian Klien Rob Thomson |
Lotus Exige S | 227 | +43 laps |
1.8 L I4
| |||||||
10 | D | 53 | James Atkinson Racing | James Atkinson Dean Lillie Rick Newman |
HSV GTS
|
222 | +48 laps |
6.2 L LS3 V8
| |||||||
11 | E | 26 | GWS Personnel Motorsport | Angus Chapel Richard Gartner Tony Prior |
BMW 130i
|
218 | +52 laps |
3.0 L I6
| |||||||
12 | D | 7 | Maximum Motorsport | Dean Herridge Angus Kennard John O'Dowd |
Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 211 | +59 laps |
2.5 L Subaru H4 | |||||||
13 | D | 28 | GWS Personnel Motorsport | Christian D'Agostin Garth Duffy Peter O'Donnell |
BMW 335i
|
205 | +65 laps |
3.0 L I6
| |||||||
14 | E | 27 | GWS Personnel Motorsport | Kean Booker Carl Oberhauser Allan Shephard |
BMW 130i
|
200 | +70 laps |
3.0 L I6
| |||||||
15 | D | 67 | Motorsport Services Limited | John de Veth Tony Head Todd Murphy Lewis Scott |
BMW 135i
|
198 | +72 laps |
3.0 L I6
| |||||||
16 | I | 14 | Red Camels Jordans | Martin Bailey Ivo Breukers Henk Thijssen |
SEAT León TDI
|
166 | +104 laps |
2.0 L I4
| |||||||
17 | D | 68 | Motorsport Services Limited | David Glasson Aaron Harris Dennis Roderick |
BMW 135i
|
162 | +108 laps |
3.0 L I6
| |||||||
18 | I | 32 | Massel Racing | Michael Caine Gerry Murphy Jim Pollicina |
Mazda RX-7 | 82 | +188 laps |
1.3 L Mazda 13B-REW Twin-turbo Two-Rotor | |||||||
DNF | A | 2 | Phoenix Racing
|
Mark Eddy Craig Lowndes Warren Luff |
Audi R8 LMS GT3
|
156 | Crash |
5.2 L FSI 2×DOHC Audi V10 | |||||||
DNF | A | 17 | Maranello Motorsport | John Bowe Peter Edwards Dominik Farnbacher Allan Simonsen |
Ferrari 458 GT3 | 114 | Electrical issues |
4.5 L Ferrari F142 V8
| |||||||
DNF | A | 23 | Lago Racing | Roger Lago Wayne Park David Russell |
Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 | 103 | Crash |
5.2 L Lamborghini V10 | |||||||
DNF | C | 10 | Simply Sports Cars | Adam Gowans Chris Lillingston-Price Richard Meins |
Lotus Exige S | 69 | Engine |
1.8 L I4
| |||||||
DNF | A | 22 | United Autosports | Alain Li Mark Patterson Frank Yu Siu Fung |
Audi R8 LMS GT3
|
59 | Crash |
5.2 L Audi V10 | |||||||
DNF | I | 35 | Ric Shaw Racing | Phil Alexander Andrew Bollom Duvashen Padayachee James Parish |
Mazda RX-7 | 53 | Crash |
1.3 L Mazda 13B-REW Twin-turbo Two-Rotor | |||||||
DNF | A | 21 | Black Falcon | Sean Patrick Breslin Sean Paul Breslin Vimal Mehta Rob Wilson |
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG | 52 | Crash |
6.2 L Mercedes-Benz M159 V8 | |||||||
DNS | A | 4 | Consolidated Chemicals Racing | Ted Huglin Peter Kox Cameron McConville Luke Searle |
Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 | 0 | Crash in Qualifying |
5.2 L Lamborghini V10 | |||||||
DNQ | E | 91 | Mark Bell Racing | Mark Bell Adam Dodd Aaron Zerefos |
Ford BF Falcon XR8
|
0 | Did not qualify |
5.4 L Boss 315 V8 |
- Note: Class winners are shown in Bold
- Race time of winning car: 12:03:31.3753
- Fastest race lap: 2:06.3311 – Car 17 – New outright lap record
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour – Further Supplementary Regulations No 3 As archived at www.webcitation.org from www.bathurst12hour.com.au on 6 May 2012
- ^ Bathurst 12 Hour qualifying prize set, www.speedcafe.com, 20 February 2012 Retrieved on 7 May 2012
- ^ International Audi crew take Bathurst pole, www.speedcafe.com, 25 February 2012 Retrieved on 7 May 2012
- ^ Baird unconcerned by weight penalty, www.speedcafe.com, 25 February 2012 Retrieved on 7 May 2012
- ^ McConville: We were a top three chance, www.speedcafe.com.au, 25 February 2012 Retrieved on 7 May 2012
- ^ a b c d e f 2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour - Mount Panorama, www.natsoft.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
External links
- Official website
- Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour - 24th to 26th February 2012 - 12 Hour Event Supplementary Regulations, www.bathurst12hour.com.au, as archived at www.webcitation.org Archived 16 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine
- 2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour Entry List as at 24/01/12, www.bathurst12hour.com.au, as archived at www.webcitation.org Archived 13 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine
- 2012 Results, www.bathurst12hour.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
- Reflections on the 2012 Bathurst 12 Hour, www.ausmotive.com, as archived at web.archive.org