2012 Racecar Euro Series

The 2012 Racecar Euro Series was the 4th season of Racecar Euro Series season, and the first EuroNASCAR season under NASCAR sanctioning. The season began on April 8 with the Nogaro 200 at Circuit Paul Armagnac and ended on 14 October with the Le Mans Finals at Bugatti Circuit after five championship rounds and a non-championship round at Tours Speedway. NASCAR's standard rules, such as beneficiary rule and green-white-checker finish, were adopted by the series starting from this season.

Locations of the circuits that hosted a round in the 2012 Racecar Euro Series season

TFT Racing driver Ander Vilariño was crowned as the first Driver's Champion in the NASCAR years after scoring six race wins during the season, edging Romain Thievin by 16 points in the final standings. Thievin did not win a race, but managed to score a podium in nine championship races. Fellow Spaniard Javier Villa was third, 64 points adrift from Vilariño. Villa took one victory at Brands Hatch, his only win in EuroNASCAR. Romain Iannetta and Gaël Castelli were the other winners in the championship rounds while Ben Kennedy and 2011 champion Éric Hélary took one win each in the Tours non-championship round. French driver Carole Perrin scored a third place finish in the fifth race at Spa-Francorchamps, making her the only female driver to finish on the podium in EuroNASCAR's top division as of the 2023 season.[1]

In the Open division, Simon Escallier became the first champion of the present-day EuroNASCAR 2 division. Escallier swept the races at Circuit Ricardo Tormo on his way to championship victory, 44 points ahead of Alain Grand. Six other drivers scored victories in 2012, most of them were taken by part-time competitors. Outside of Escallier, Vincent Gonneau was the only other full-time driver to win a race. Martin van Hove and Olivier Porta took two race wins while Adriano Medeiros, Loic Deman and Marc Duez secured one victory each.

Schedule

edit

With the exception of the non-championship round at Tours Speedway, all races in the 2012 season were held as support races for another championship.[2]

Round Race Title Track Date Supporting
1 R1 Nogaro 200   Circuit Paul Armagnac, Nogaro April 8 FIA GT1 World Championship
R2 April 9
2 R3 Brands Hatch 200   Brands Hatch, Swanley May 19 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
R4 May 20
3 R5 Spa 200   Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa June 9 Belgian Touring Car Series
R6 June 10
NC NC1 Michelin / Tours Evenements 100   Tours Speedway, Tours July 7 None
NC2 July 8
4 R7 Valencia Semifinals   Circuito Ricardo Tormo, Cheste September 29 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
R8 September 30
5 R9 Le Mans Finals   Circuit Bugatti, Le Mans October 13 European Truck Racing Championship
R10 October 14

Results

edit

Elite

edit
Round Race Pole position Fastest lap Most laps led Winning Driver Winning Team Winning Manufacturer
1 R1   Nogaro 200   Ander Vilariño   Javier Villa   Romain Thievin   Ander Vilariño TFT Racing Chevrolet
R2   Javier Villa   Ander Vilariño   Ander Vilariño   Ander Vilariño TFT Racing Chevrolet
2 R3   Brands Hatch 200   Romain Thievin   Ander Vilariño   Ander Vilariño   Ander Vilariño TFT Racing Chevrolet
R4   Ander Vilariño   Javier Villa   Ander Vilariño   Javier Villa TFT Racing Chevrolet
3 R5   Spa 200   Ander Vilariño   Ander Vilariño   Ander Vilariño   Ander Vilariño TFT Racing Chevrolet
R6   Ander Vilariño   Ander Vilariño   Romain Iannetta   Romain Iannetta Orhes Competition Dodge
NC NC1   Michelin / Tours Evenements 100   Romain Fournillier   Carole Perrin   Unknown   Ben Kennedy TFT Racing Chevrolet
NC2   Carole Perrin   Javier Villa   Unknown   Éric Hélary Still Racing Chevrolet
4 R7   Valencia SemiFinals   Javier Villa   Javier Villa   Ander Vilariño   Ander Vilariño TFT Racing Chevrolet
R8   Javier Villa   Ander Vilariño   Ander Vilariño   Ander Vilariño TFT Racing Chevrolet
5 R9   Le Mans Finals   Ander Vilariño   Gaël Castelli   Unknown   Gaël Castelli Rapido Racing Ford
R10   Gaël Castelli   Gaël Castelli   Unknown   Gaël Castelli Rapido Racing Ford

Open

edit
Round Race Pole position Fastest lap Most laps led Winning Driver Winning Team Winning Manufacturer
1 R1   Nogaro 200   Eric Quintal   Vincent Gonneau   Eric Quintal   Martin van Hove TFT Racing Dodge
R2   Simon Escallier   Eric Quintal   Vincent Gonneau   Martin van Hove[a] TFT Racing Dodge
2 R3   Brands Hatch 200   Philippe Marie   Adriano Medeiros   Unknown   Vincent Gonneau Gonneau Racing Chevrolet
R4   Martin van Hove   Martin van Hove   Unknown   Adriano Medeiros Autosport 42 Chevrolet
3 R5   Spa 200   Loic Deman   Loic Deman   Loic Deman   Loic Deman Rapido Racing Ford
R6   Gerald Cormon   Unknown   Marc Duez   Marc Duez TFT Racing Chevrolet
NC NC1   Michelin / Tours Evenements 100   Unknown   Unknown   Unknown   Sebastien Baron Rapido Racing Ford
NC2   Vincent Gonneau   Unknown   Vincent Gonneau   Vincent Gonneau Gonneau Racing Chevrolet
4 R7   Valencia SemiFinals   Simon Escallier   Josh Burdon   Simon Escallier   Simon Escallier Scorpus Racing Dodge
R8   Eric Quintal   Eric Quintal   Unknown   Simon Escallier Scorpus Racing Dodge
5 R9   Le Mans Finals   Olivier Porta   Olivier Porta   Unknown   Olivier Porta TFT Racing Chevrolet
R10   Donald Reignoux   Josh Burdon   Unknown   Olivier Porta TFT Racing Chevrolet
  1. ^ Vincent Gonneau originally won the race, but he received a post-race penalty for causing an avoidable collision.

Standings

edit

Elite

edit

(key) Bold - Pole position awarded by time. Italics - Pole position set by final practice results or rainout. * – Most laps led.

Rank Driver NOG1 NOG2 BRH1 BRH2 SPA1 SPA2 TOU1 TOU2 VAL1 VAL2 LMS1 LMS2 Points
1 Ander Vilariño 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 7 10 667
2 Romain Thievin 2 3 2 3 2 10 3 2 2 2 651
3 Javier Villa (J) 4 2 3 1 19 3 2 3 6 6 603
4 Antoine Lioen 13 7 6 4 5 11 4 5 15 9 567
5 Romain Iannetta 5 16 5 9 20 1 10 4 3 3 566

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Racecar: Vilarino remporte le Sprint" [Racecar: Vilarino wins the Sprint]. autohebdo.fr (in French). Auto Hebdo [fr]. 9 June 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  2. ^ "NASCAR: RACECAR Euro Series enters NASCAR family". auto123.com. Auto123.com. 22 February 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
edit