2012 MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships

The 2012 MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships^[2] was the 15th and final showdown of the 2012 IndyCar Series season. The event took place on September 15, at the 2.000-mile (3.219 km) Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. It was the first IndyCar race at this facility since 2005, the first 500-mile open-wheel race outside Indianapolis since the CART-sanctioned 2002 The 500 at Fontana (the planned 2003 CART race was canceled due to wildfires in the area), and the first 500-mile IndyCar Series race outside Indianapolis.^[3]

2012 MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships

Race details
Race 15 of 15 in the 2012 IndyCar Series season
Date	September 15, 2012
Official name	MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships
Location	Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, California
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.000 mi / 3.219 km
Distance	250 laps 500.000 mi / 804.672 km
Weather	98 °F (37 °C), fair skies[1]
Pole position
Driver	Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosport)
Time	216.069 mph (347.729 km/h)
Podium
First	Ed Carpenter (Ed Carpenter Racing)
Second	Dario Franchitti (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Third	Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing)

The race, originally scheduled for 400 miles (200 laps), as was the case for the 2002–05 IndyCar races at Auto Club Speedway, reverted to the classic 500 mile, 250-lap distance used at the Ontario Motor Speedway for major races and both the six CART FedEx Championship Series races (1997–2002) and the first 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup races (1997–2010) held at Auto Club Speedway. Attendance at the event was estimated to be 25,000 to 30,000 people.^[4]

Report

Qualifying

Marco Andretti took his first pole position since Milwaukee in 2008 with a two lap average speed of 216.069 mph (347.729 km/h).^[5] Over half the field incurred 10-place grid penalties for engine changes, most for an unapproved engine change – engines must clock 1850 miles before they be changed without penalty – however both championship contenders Will Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay incurred a penalty for exceeding the five engine limit for the year, both of whom fit their sixth Chevrolet engine.^[6]

Classification

Starting grid

Row	Inside			Outside
1	26	Marco Andretti	216.069	2	Ryan Briscoe	216.058
2	11	Tony Kanaan	214.877	4	J. R. Hildebrand	214.719
3	20	Ed Carpenter	214.684	8	Rubens Barrichello	213.527
4	6	Katherine Legge (R)	213.308	22	Oriol Servià	212.533
5	10	Dario Franchitti	211.999	17	Sebastián Saavedra	210.619
6	5	E. J. Viso	210.134	19	James Jakes	208.056
7	12	Will Power	215.940 ‡	67	Josef Newgarden (R)	215.919 †
8	9	Scott Dixon	215.391 †	98	Alex Tagliani	215.226 †
9	3	Hélio Castroneves	214.409 ‡	38	Graham Rahal	214.015 †
10	27	James Hinchcliffe	213.726 †	77	Simon Pagenaud (R)	213.282 †
11	15	Takuma Sato	213.222 †	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	212.773 ‡
12	83	Charlie Kimball	211.531 †	14	Wade Cunningham (R)	209.526 †
13	18	Justin Wilson	No Speed †	78	Simona de Silvestro	No Speed †
† Newgarden, Dixon, Tagliani, Rahal, Hinchcliffe, Pagenaud, Sato, Kimball, Cunningham, Wilson and de Silvestro penalized 10 places for unapproved engine change ‡ Power, Castroneves and Hunter-Reay penalized 10 places for exceeding five-engine limit

Race results

Ed Carpenter, winner of the 2012 MAVTV 500

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Laps Led	Points1
1	20	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	250	2:57:34.7433	5	62	52
2	10	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	250	+ 1.9 s	9	15	40
3	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	250	+ 2.6 s	15	25	35
4	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	250	+ 3.0 s	22	0	32
5	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Chevrolet	250	+ 4.2 s	17	2	30
6	38	Graham Rahal	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	250	+ 5.4 s	18	0	28
7	15	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	249	Contact	21	6	26
8	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	249	+ 1 lap	1	3	25
9	6	Katherine Legge (R)	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet	249	+ 1 lap	7	0	22
10	83	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	249	+ 1 lap	23	0	20
11	4	J. R. Hildebrand	Panther Racing	Chevrolet	248	+ 2 laps	4	56	19
12	19	James Jakes	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	248	+ 2 laps	12	10	18
13	27	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	247	+ 3 laps	19	0	17
14	14	Wade Cunningham	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Honda	246	+ 4 laps	24	0	16
15	77	Simon Pagenaud (R)	Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports	Honda	246	+ 4 laps	20	0	15
16	67	Josef Newgarden (R)	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda	244	+ 6 laps	14	1	14
17	2	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	Chevrolet	244	+ 6 laps	2	2	13
18	11	Tony Kanaan	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	240	Contact	3	47	12
19	22	Oriol Servià	Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Chevrolet	231	+ 19 laps	6	0	12
20	98	Alex Tagliani	Team Barracuda – BHA	Honda	229	Contact	16	21	12
21	17	Sebastián Saavedra	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	118	Electrical	10	0	12
22	8	Rubens Barrichello	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	107	Mechanical	6	0	12
23	18	Justin Wilson	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	80	Mechanical	25	0	12
24	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	66	Contact	13	0	12
25	5	E. J. Viso	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	65	Mechanical	11	0	10
26	78	Simona de Silvestro	HVM Racing	Lotus	16	Mechanical	26	0	10
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE [7]

Notes

¹ Points include 1 point for pole position and 2 points for most laps led.