2012 European Le Mans Series

Following the ELMS decision to no longer share races with the FIA World Endurance Championship (formerly the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup), the series required new races to replace the Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone races which now were part of the WEC. Circuit Paul Ricard was the only event carried over from 2011 and remained the season opener.[1] Circuit Zolder was supposed to serve as the second round of the series, but on 1 April the race was cancelled due to a lack of entrants. ELMS teams were instead invited to enter the 6 Hours of Spa WEC round.[2] Following a small number of entries at Donington, the season's two later rounds at the Brno Circuit and Autódromo Internacional do Algarve were cancelled. In place of these two rounds, an agreement was reached with the American Le Mans Series to allow ELMS competitors to participate in the Petit Le Mans for double points, with the ELMS providing transport assistance to full-season teams.[3]

Rnd	Race	Circuit	Date
–	Official Test Session	Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France	9–10 March
1	6 Hours of Castellet	Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France	1 April
2	6 Hours of Donington	Donington Park, Castle Donington, United Kingdom	15 July
3	Petit Le Mans	Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia	20 October

The Le Mans Series made changes to its class structure for the 2012 season, eliminating one previous class while adding another. The LMP1 Le Mans Prototype category were no longer featured in LMS races due to the large amount of LMP1 factory teams which switched from the Le Mans Series to the World Endurance Championship. This move promotes the LMP2 category to the top of the class structure. To replace LMP1, a new class has been created at the bottom of the class structure, named GTC. This class allowed only three cars from various one make series to compete: The Ferrari 458 Challenge, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, and the Lotus Evora GT4. Teams in GTC were not allowed more than one professional driver in their line-up.[4] Finally, the Formula Le Mans category was renamed LMP Challenge, aligning with the title utilized by the American Le Mans Series.[5]

Points are awarded to cars that finish in tenth place or higher, with unclassified entries failing to complete 70% of the race distance or entries failing to reach the finish not earning championship points. One bonus point is awarded for winning pole position (denoted by bold). Double points will be awarded at Petit Le Mans.[3]

The top two finishers in the LMP2, GTE Pro, and GTE Am championships earn automatic entry to the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans.

LMP2 Standings

Pos	Team	Chassis	Engine	CAS	DON	ATL	Total
1	Thiriet by TDS Racing	Oreca 03	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	26	18	50	94
2	OAK Racing	Morgan LMP2	Judd-BMW HK 3.6 L V8 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	8	26	37	71
3	Greaves Motorsport	Zytek Z11SN	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	12	6	30	48
4	Sébastien Loeb Racing	Oreca 03	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	18	12		30
5	Pecom Racing	Oreca 03	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	6	10		16
6	Status GP	Lola B12/80	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	15	0		15
7	Murphy Prototypes	MG-Oreca 03	Judd-BMW HK 3.6 L V8	0	15	0	15
8	Race Performance	Oreca 03	Judd-BMW HK 3.6 L V8	10			10
9	Extrême Limite ARIC	Norma M200P	Judd-BMW HK 3.6 L V8	4			4
10	JOTA	Zytek Z11SN	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	2	0		2
–	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Oreca 03	Judd-BMW HK 3.6 L V8	0			0

LMPC Standings

Pos	Team	Chassis	Engine	CAS	DON	ATL	Total
1	Boutsen Ginion Racing	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet 6.2 L V8	1	26		27
2	Curtis Racing Technologies	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet 6.2 L V8	25			25

LM GTE Pro Standings

Pos	Team	Chassis	Engine	CAS	DON	ATL	Total
1	JMW Motorsport	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Ferrari 4.5 L V8	25	26		51
2	JMB Racing	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Ferrari 4.5 L V8	19			19

LM GTE Am Standings

IMSA Performance took honors in the GTE Am class

Pos	Team	Chassis	Engine	CAS	DON	ATL	Total
1	IMSA Performance Matmut	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	18	25	51	94
2	AF Corse	Ferrari 458 Italia GT2	Ferrari 4.5 L V8	15	19	0	34
3	Prospeed Competition	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	26			26

• European Le Mans Series